Health News: Americans are dying from contaminated food ♦ Dozens reportedly sickened after banquet ♦ Catered wedding reception in NY resulted in 35 illnesses

Americans are dying from contaminated food but congress does nothing In 2010, after thousands of Americans were sickened by tainted spinach, peanut butter and eggs, Congress passed the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), a sweeping reform bill that gave the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) new powers to help ensure the safety of the nation’s food system.

Dozens reportedly sickened after banquet in San Diego Dozens of people attending a banquet at Bali Hai Restaurant on Shelter Island in San Diego harbor last week were reportedly sickened, and health officials have been busy trying to figure out the source. The event on July 29, sponsored by the San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, drew 170 people,

Catered wedding reception in NY resulted in 35 illnesses About 35 people were sickened after a wedding reception Friday night in Brewerton, NY, which is about 15 miles north of Syracuse. Nine of the 35 were reportedly taken via ambulance to local hospitals, but all have apparently been released. The reception was being held at Arrowhead Lodge at Oneida Shores Park,

Texting while driving bans save 19 lives per year On average, there was a 7 percent reduction in crash-related hospitalizations in states that have enacted bans on texting and driving, researchers say. Hospitalizations were reduced the most -- 9 percent -- among 22-64 year olds and those aged 65 and older.

Scientists create functional liver cells from stem cells Evaluating drug-induced liver injury is a critical part of pharmaceutical drug discovery and must be carried out on human liver cells. Now, scientists report that they produced large amounts of functional liver cells from human embryonic and genetic engineered stem cells. The cells can detect the toxic effect of over a dozen drugs with greater than 97 percent accuracy

10/24/2013 Daily Food News: AG Runoff Causing Health Risk, Meat with Drug Residue, Vaccine for Multiple Strains of FLu, Russia Bans Foods

EMERGING CONTAMINANTS: AG RUNOFF POSES HEALTH RISKS

The most well-documented impacts of agriculture runoff on human and ecological health are primarily related to nutrient pollution in water, where nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers cause oxygen-starved “dead zones” in water. Now, scientists and government agencies are also examining the impacts of agriculture runoff as a significant source of emerging contaminants, substances that may... Continue Reading

FOOD-SAFETY COALITION ASKS FARM BILL CONFEREES TO REJECT TWO AMENDMENTS

Note: Time to Write your Congressman

Members of a food-safety coalition are gunning for two amendments to the Farm Bill they say would delay implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act and impede a state’s ability to protect its citizens from foodborne illness. Eight consumer groups comprising the Make Our Food Safe Coalition and the Safe Food Coalition sent a...Continue Reading

FDA WARNS NY RANCHER ABOUT POTENTIALLY HARMFUL DRUG RESIDUES

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning letter to the owner of Riverview Ranch and Livestock in New York, after an investigation found that the operation sold an adulterated animal for slaughter for food.. Continue Reading

Study: Flu vaccine plus immune suppressor may offer broader protection

US researchers reported yesterday that giving mice a flu vaccine and simultaneously treating them with rapamycin, an immune-suppressing drug, caused them to generate antibodies that were protective against other flu strains, including H5N1 and H7N9. Continue Reading

PROBLEMS POSED BY ANIMAL AGRICULTURE HAVE WORSENED IN RECENT YEARS

In the past five years, policies by the Obama administration and Congress have worsened the problems that animal agriculture poses to public health, the environment and animal welfare, Continue Reading

Russia’s Food Patriotism and Bans on Select Imports

You may not have heard of Gennady Onishchenko, but if his own accounts are to be believed, he’s the Russian government official who single-handedly averts major public health crises posed by foreign countries’ dangerously lax and unsophisticated food safety standards. To others, Onishchenko, Russia’s chief sanitary inspector, is also Russia’s chief manufacturer of elaborate food safety scares to wage geopolitically motivated trade wars with other countries, particularly former Soviet republics. Continue Reading