• Pandemic Flu Preparedness Plan Open for Comment
  
• Scientists to Review U.S. Trade Case on Transgenic Crops
  
• California Cruise Ship Pollution Bills on Governor's Desk
  
• Maryland Rules Aim to Keep MTBE Out of Well Water
  
• Invasive Flathead Catfish Moving North
  
• New Chemicals Use Light to Kill Tumors, Viruses
  
• Common Aquatic Plant Removes Pollutants from Wetlands
  
• Carbon Monoxide Joins Hydrogen as Fuel Cell Energy Source
  

Pandemic Flu Preparedness Plan Open for Comment

"This plan will serve as our roadmap on how we as a nation, and as a member of the global health community, respond to the next pandemic influenza outbreak, whenever that may be," Secretary Thompson said Thursday. "Our proposed strategy draws upon the wealth of experience and knowledge we have gained in responding to a number of recent public health threats, including SARS and avian influenza."

The HHS plan supports pandemic influenza activities in five key areas: surveillance, vaccine development and production, antiviral stockpiling, research, and public health preparedness.

The plan provides guidance to national, state, and local policy makers and health departments for public health preparation and response in the event of pandemic influenza outbreak.

Influenza pandemics are explosive global events in which most, if not all, persons worldwide are at risk for infection and illness.

While rare, the appearance of such a pandemic virus will be unaffected by the available flu vaccines that are modified each year to match the strains of the virus known to be in circulation among humans around the world.

A pandemic influenza virus is one that represents a major, sudden shift in the virus' structure that increases its ability to cause illness in a large proportion of the population.

Three influenza pandemics occurred during the 20th century. The most recent occurred in 1968 with the Hong Kong flu outbreak, which resulted in nearly 34,000 deaths in the United States. In 1957, the Asian flu pandemic resulted in about 70,000 deaths.

The most deadly influenza pandemic outbreak was the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, which caused illness in roughly 20 to 40 percent of the world's population and more than 50 million deaths worldwide. Between September 1918 and April 1919, approximately 675,000 deaths from the Spanish flu occurred in the United States alone.

This draft plan includes a core section and twelve annexes. The core plan describes coordination and decisionmaking at the national level; provides an overview of key issues; and outlines action steps that should be taken at the national, state, and local levels before and during a pandemic.

Annexes provide additional information to health departments and private sector organizations for use in developing local preparedness plans as well as additional technical information to support the core document.

The nation needs all the help it can get to handle a flu pandemic which could very well prove resistant to currently available drugs.

A drug envisioned as a front-line defense for the next flu pandemic might have a genetic Achilles' heel that results in a drug-resistant influenza virus capable of infecting new human hosts, according to a study published this week in the British medical journal "The Lancet."

The study of Japanese children with influenza and treated with the antiviral drug oseltamivir was conducted by an international team of researchers led by virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Tokyo.

Results of the study showed that nearly 20 percent of patients treated with the drug produced mutant drug-resistant viruses as soon as four days after treatment. Moreover, patients continued to shed significant amounts of infectious viral particles even after five days of treatment with the potent antiviral agent.

"The problem with this compound is that a single (genetic) mutation makes the virus resistant," says Kawaoka, an authority on influenza. "The importance of this work is that when a pandemic occurs with a new virus and this drug is extensively used, then we may be faced with the rapid appearance of resistant viruses," Kawaoka says.

The draft Pandemic Influenza Response and Preparedness Plan is online at: http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/pandemicplan/ and is available for public comment for 60 days.

Scientists to Review U.S. Trade Case on Transgenic Crops

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Panel has decided that the case raises scientific and technical issues on which the Panel might benefit from expert advice. Scientists will now be appointed by the WTO to prepare an advisory report in writing from an expert review group. This process will delay a decision until early next year.

The United States, Canada and Argentina started proceedings last year in the WTO over Europe's position on GM foods. Responding to widespread protests by consumers, the EU has not approved any genetically modified crops or foods since 1998 until this year. A genetically modified maize was approved for animal feed in May.

The WTO set up a three-person Panel to meet behind closed doors to decide on the case.

U.S. companies are the main source of genetically modified seeds, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture does not impose any testing that is unique to transgenic crops.

Over the past several months, the Bush administration has been fighting to prevent the WTO Panel from calling in scientists and has argued its case on narrow trade rules.

The United States stated in its submission to the WTO on the European Community's request for scientific advice, that there is "no need or value in consulting experts."

The European Union has questioned whether the WTO is the appropriate place to settle such disputes and has been asking that scientists be involved in the debate.

Adrian Bebb of Friends of the Earth Europe said, "The first round of this dispute may have gone to Europe but the long term implications of this case could be devastating for everyone. The World Trade Organization is a secretive and undemocratic organisation and should not be deciding what we eat."

Many people see the dispute as a sovereignty issue, and believe that every country should have the right to write their own laws governing what genetically modified plants and animals are acceptable within its borders.

In May campaigners delivered a petition to the WTO signed by more than 100,000 citizens from 90 countries and more than 544 organisations representing 48 million people.

The signatories, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and French small farmers' leader Jose Bové, have called on the WTO not to undermine the sovereign right of any country to protect its citizens and the environment from genetically modified foods and crops.

Since the WTO dispute was filed, the European Union has passed a tracing and labeling regime for genetically modified crops and foods and has begun approving crops for animal feed, although not for human food as yet.

California Cruise Ship Pollution Bills on Governor's Desk

Maryland Rules Aim to Keep MTBE Out of Well Water

The rules require installation of double-walled pipes on all regulated motor fuel underground storage systems and require built-in sensors to warn of leaks.

“For Maryland families that rely on wells,” said Governor Robert Ehrlich. “these new measures will provide additional assurance that their water supplies are clean and safe from MTBE and other petroleum products. These are tough, but necessary regulations to strengthen our environmental laws.”

Under the federal Clean Air Act, MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether) replaced lead in gasoline in the 1980s and is used to reduce carbon monoxide emissions from vehicles.

The MDE says the chemical, an oxygenate added to make gas burn more cleanly, improves Maryland’s air quality and keeps gas prices affordable.

But the chemical is water soluable and gives drinking water an unpleasant taste and smell at low levels and at higher levels may have adverse health effects, although it has not been classed as carcinogenic. "There is no evidence that MTBE causes cancer in humans," the Centers for Disease Control states.

Maryland's emergency regulations will require increased groundwater sampling, mandate regular testing of tanks and fittings, and define steps that gas station owners and others must take when underground storage systems are suspected of contaminating groundwater.

The regulations will apply in areas where wells are the primary source of household drinking water and local geology makes it impractical for homeowners to find a new water source. The MDE will identify the areas and notify affected tank farm operators.

The regulatory review committee of the General Assembly must review and approve the proposed emergency regulations before they can become effective. They could take effect as soon as October.

Service stations and other underground storage facilities in areas covered by the regulations will have 30 days after the effective date of the regulations to begin quarterly sampling of water in on-site domestic wells and tank field observation pipes. They will also be required to conduct annual tightness tests for fittings in catchment basins and containment sumps. Results must be reported to the MDE.

If MTBE at levels greater than 20 parts per billion (ppb), more than 5 ppb of benzene or more than 100 ppb of total BETX (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes) are found, the operator will be required to drill three groundwater monitoring wells and submit samples from the new wells to MDE.

They will also be required to perform an advanced helium leak detention test to identify vapor leaks.

In addition to repairing all leaks immediately, each operator will be required to install a soil vapor extraction system in the tank area to remove vapors from the soil or other advanced technology to keep vapors within the tank system.

The MDE regulations establish a timetable for installing double-walled piping with sensors and alarm systems on all new and replacement systems, and systems that are 15 years old or older must be upgraded by January 1, 2006. All systems must be upgraded no later than January 1, 2009.

Invasive Flathead Catfish Moving North

The non-native species is a voracious predator that has decimated native populations of other catfish, certain species of sunfish and rare species of sturgeon in the southeastern United States. This sighting is the farthest north the flathead has been found.

"The threat of the flathead is significant, given its ravenous appetite and its potential for causing damage to native New Jersey fish populations," said DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell. "Anglers should report any catches or sightings of this fish to the Department."

The fish was caught in the Lambertville section of the Delaware and Raritan Canal on July 23rd using a live nightcrawler for bait.

Flathead catfish can grow as large as 100 pounds. (Photo by Noel Burkhead courtesy USGS)

"The flathead catfish has been intentionally stocked in most cases," according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

They are a predatory catfish, reproducing and dispersing rapidly in river systems. Their presence has been called the most biologically harmful of all fish introductions in North America.

In the southeastern United States, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed it as its highest priority among invasive animal species.

Flathead catfish have been introduced to the Gila basin in the Salt, Verde, and San Pedro rivers in Arizona,

Flathead catfish have been documented to eat substantial numbers of American shad during their spawning run, the DEP says. Flatheads can grow to a large size, and in warmer climates 90 to 100 pound fish have been documented.

The body is yellowish brown to dark brown with black or brown mottling on lighter brown sides. It has a broadly flattened head and a tail that is only slightly indented, appearing more rounded or square. The key characteristic that helps anglers distinguish the flathead catfish from other catfish is that the lower jaw of the flathead projects past the upper jaw.

Anglers who catch what they think is a flathead catfish are asked not to release it back into the water, and to notify the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife's Bureau of Freshwater Fisheries at: 908-236-2118 or by email: njfishandwildlife@dep.state.nj.us. A photograph of the fish is requested to confirm identification.

New Chemicals Use Light to Kill Tumors, Viruses

"We have proven in principle that light and chemistry together can destroy tumor cells and the Sindbis virus, a member of a group of viruses that cause encephalitis, fever and arthritis," said Dr. Harry Morrison, who is professor of chemistry and former dean of Purdue's School of Science.

Unlike ordinary substances used for chemotherapy, these rhodium-based chemicals are not harmful to the body - they only become lethal to DNA when activated by light of a specific frequency.

The compounds have potential as anti-cancer agents, but therapies that may emerge from the discovery are years away.

Rhodium is a rare silvery-white hard metal and a member of the platinum group of elements. It is found in platinum ores and is used in alloys with platinum and as a catalyst.

Chemotherapy has long used platinum-based compounds to poison cancer cells. These compounds bind DNA in the cell and effectively destroy the cell by stopping its ability to reproduce. But in the process such chemicals also kill healthy cells.

"That's the reason cancer patients often lose their hair," said Harry Morrison, Purdue University professor of chemistry. "Hair cells, like many others in the patient's body, are also destroyed by these platinum-based chemotherapy drugs. So for a long time, physicians have sought other substances they have more control over. If we had a drug we could activate when it reached a certain place in the body - and nowhere else - it would reduce the stress on the rest of a cancer patient's system."

The rhodium compound - known as DPPZPHEN, an abbreviation of its long chemical name - is activated by light, but there is no light inside the human body.

"The interior of the body is dark," Morrison said, "but it might be possible to thread a fiberoptic cable through the arteries and flood a tumor with light. Some lasers are also capable of shining through tissue without damaging it, and they might also be candidates for light delivery."

DPPZPHEN also has potential as an anti-viral or blood sterilizing agent because it is lethal to any nucleic acid it encounters, including the RNA found in viruses.

"Since blood cells and platelets do not themselves have nucleic acid, they are safe from the compound," explained Morrison. "But it is potentially possible to purify blood of foreign organisms and viral particles with the rhodium complex and light exposure before it is used in transfusions."

"We have only proven in principle that such therapies are possible," he said. "Our experiments have only been on tumor cells in the laboratory, not in living animals. It will require further research to determine how rhodium based drugs could be created."

The research, which appears in the August 23 issue of the journal "Inorganic Chemistry," was conducted by lead author Elton Menon along with Rushika Perera, Richard Kuhn and Morrison, all of Purdue, and Maribel Navarro of the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas, Venezuela. It was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health.

Common Aquatic Plant Removes Pollutants from Wetlands

POPs are chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods of time, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of living organisms and are toxic to humans and wildlife. The compounds circulate globally and cause damage wherever they travel.

Environmental engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found that the plant tissue of duckweed absorbs and stores various POPs, particularly chlorinated, fluorinated and mixed chloro-fluoro compounds.

They may be agrochemicals such as pesticides or pharmaceutical residuals like those from antidepressants that are excreted in human waste.

"Our plants take up this large class of compounds quickly, at rates faster than bacteria would degrade the contaminants," said Professor Michael Saunders of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

The compounds are sequestered in the plant, but there is concern about their ultimate fate in the global ecosystem as the plants are eaten by animals, or die and decay in wetland sediments, researchers noted.

In the next phase of this research, Saunders' research team will investigate whether duckweed sequesters additional compounds - those in the tri-fluoro methyl group. These compounds are found in medications such as Prozac and in pesticides.

The findings have implications for water monitoring regulations and wastewater treatment practices. The study built on previous research in Saunders' lab funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

An international treaty to rid the world of POPs took effect in May, and now 76 governments are parties to the agreement. The United States promoted the negotiating process that led to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and signed the agreement. The State Department has recommended that the Senate ratify the agreement, but to date the Senate has not done so.

Carbon Monoxide Joins Hydrogen as Fuel Cell Energy Source

To generate electricity in a hydrogen fuel cell, hydrocarbons such as gasoline, natural gas or ethanol must be reformed into a hydrogen rich gas.

A large, costly and critical step to this process requires generating steam and reacting it with carbon monoxide. This process, called the water-gas shift, produces hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

Scientists have now eliminated the water-gas shift reaction from the process, removing the need to transport and vaporize liquid water in the production of energy for portable applications such as fuel cell cars.

James Dumesic, professor of chemical and biological engineering , postdoctoral researcher Won Bae Kim, and graduate students Tobias Voitl and Gabriel Rodriguez-Rivera reported their work in today's issue of the journal "Science."

The team uses an environmentally benign polyoxometalate (POM) compound to oxidize CO in liquid water at room temperature. The compound removes CO from gas streams for fuel cells, and also converts the energy content of CO into a liquid that can be used to power a fuel cell.

"CO has essentially as much energy as hydrogen," says Dumesic. "It has a lot of energy in it."

Dumesic says the process is especially promising for producing electrical energy from renewable oxygenated hydrocarbons derived from biomass, such as ethylene glycol derived from corn - because these fuels generate hydrogen and carbon monoxide in nearly equal amounts during catalytic decomposition.

The hydrogen could be used directly in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell operating at 50 percent efficiency, and the remaining CO could be converted to electricity via the researchers' new process.

The overall efficiency of such a system is equal to 40 percent and, unlike traditional ethylene glycol reforming, does not require water. The overall efficiency is equivalent to 60 percent of the energy content of octane.

Dumesic believes the advance will make possible a new generation of inexpensive fuel cells operating with solutions of reduced POM compounds.