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FDA Regs Aim to Boost Food Security WASHINGTON, DC, October 10, 2003 (ENS) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new rules Thursday to protect the nation's food supply from bioterrorism. The food regulatory agency says the new regulations will enable better targeted efforts to monitor and inspect imported foods and will allow quick identification and notification of food processors and other establishments involved in any deliberate or accidental contamination of food."By requiring advance notice for imported food shipments and registering domestic and foreign food facilities, we are providing critical new tools for the FDA to identify potentially dangerous foods and better keep our food supply safe and secure," said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. "These new requirements represent the latest steps in our ongoing efforts to respond to new threats and improve the safety of all the foods that we eat in this country." The two new regulations will implement key provisions of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, which provided FDA new authority to protect the nation's food supply against actual or threatened terrorist acts and other food-related emergencies. One regulation requires domestic and foreign food facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold food for human or animal consumption in the United States to register with the agency by Dec. 12, 2003. A second regulation requires food importers to provide the FDA with advance notice of human and animal food shipments imported or offered for import on or after Dec. 12, 2003 - the FDA expects to receive about 25,000 notifications about incoming shipments each day. It mandates that prior notice of imported foods be received and confirmed electronically by FDA no more than five days before its arrival and no fewer than: two hours before arrival by land via road; four hours before arrival by air or by land via rail; or eight hours before arrival by water. But some critics are far from convinced this second regulation achieves the goal of the law. "These regulations are critically needed to protect the food supply, but we are concerned that the agency is requiring less advance notice for imported food shipments," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). "If trucks of food can arrive at our borders with just two hours notice, it might be easier for someone to avoid inspection." According to CSPI, it is not clear if that is enough time for the FDA to move its finite number of food inspectors to examine shipments that might pose a threat.
Judge Halts BLM Plan for Algodones Dunes SAN FRANCISCO, California, October 10, 2003 (ENS) - A federal judge ruled this week that current off road vehicle closures at the Algodones Dunes will remain in place for at least the immediate future.The ruling puts an injunction on the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) proposed management plan for the nation's largest dune ecosystems. Conservationists filed a lawsuit in May challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's biological opinion for the BLM's plan, which allows off road vehicle use in areas currently off limits. The groups argue that the biological opinion wrongly determines that the BLM's plan would not jeopardize the Peirson's milkvetch, an endemic plant protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). When the Peirson's milkvetch was listed under the ESA in 1998, the primary threat cited in the listing was the impact of off road vehicle use. Located in the Sonoran desert of southeastern California's Imperial County, the Algodones Dunes is one of the most heavily visited off road vehicle sites in the United States Conservationists say heavy off road vehicle use has caused ecological harm to the Dunes, which harbors at least 160 different animal and plant species, many of which are endemic. The BLM's plan would open some 50,000 acres of the currently protected dunes habitat. The agency implemented these closures in November 2000 in accordance with a court approved consent decree negotiated with conservation groups and several off road vehicle advocacy groups. The new BLM proposal - and the Fish and Wildlife Service biological opinion - are "slipshod," said Elden Hughes, chair of the Sierra Club's Desert Committee. "I hope by revisiting these decisions, they ultimately will reflect the needs of the Peirson's milk-vetch," Hughes said. The plaintiffs in the suit are The Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Desert Survivors.
Energy Department Gets Permit to Ship Plutonium to France WASHINGTON, DC, October 10, 2003 (ENS) - A U.S. Energy Department plan to ship weapons plutonium to France for processing presents an unacceptable proliferation and safety risk, environmentalists say. The department has recently filed an export license with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ship up to 140 kilograms of plutonium, enough to for some fifty nuclear weapons.The Energy Department's plan reveals that "the U.S. refuses to apply the same non proliferation standards to itself which it is attempting to dictate to the world," said Tom Clements of Greenpeace International. "Given the risk of accident or deliberate attack presented by transporting plutonium, the United States must show the world that it will abide by the highest non proliferation norms and cancel this shipment." Clements pointed out that the October 7 filing of the export license comes in the wake of a decision by French government to safeguard information on plutonium transports and all other nuclear matters as state secrets on the grounds of national security. "No security system can guarantee the safety of plutonium and that is why the French authorities are trying to stop the public's right to know what threatens them," added Shaun Burnie of Greenpeace International in France. The Energy Department has proposed to export the weapons plutonium to France from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, via the Charleston Naval Weapons Station in South Carolina. The hazardous material would be placed in containers on a British flagged transport vessel destined for Cherbourg, France, where the plutonium would be turned over to French officials. The plutonium would then be taken to the Cadarache plutonium facility, although the facility was recently closed by French safety authorities due to seismic safety concerns The Energy Department has declined to comment on the plan and has refused requests by Greenpeace and other environmental and non proliferation organizations to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement on the shipment, as mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act.
Biologists Discover Structure of West Nile WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana, October 10, 2003 (ENS) - Purdue University biologists have determined the structure of the West Nile virus, a development that could increase understanding of the virus' life cycle."We can now clearly understand how these proteins interact with one another," said Richard J. Kuhn, a professor of biological sciences in Purdue's School of Science. "We can not cure West Nile yet, but we can now start thinking about how to interfere with these interactions, which could be a key to stopping the infection's progress." The study was published in today's edition of "Science." The research team used cryoelectron microscopy and advanced imaging techniques to determine the orientation of the major surface proteins in a West Nile viral particle. These proteins are instrumental in allowing the virus to bind to and invade a host cell. "The West Nile virus is formed from three protein types," according to Kuhn. "After the virus assembles in its host cell, these protein molecules fit together like a jigsaw puzzle and form a well ordered symmetrical particle. From the structure, we now know, essentially, how the major sets of protein molecules interlock with each other chemically." Kuhn says this could enable scientists to develop methods of interrupting the viral assembly process, but cautioned that much additional work will be required to understand the virus' life cycle on the molecular level. "Our structural map now shows only the general orientation of the proteins," Kuhn said. "What we need now is to include what you might think of as an 'inset map' - an even smaller scale picture that details the structure of each of the three protein varieties that make up the virus particle. Then researchers will have more insight into how the proteins bond with cells and each other." Since it first appeared in New York City in 1999, West Nile virus has spread to 44 states, hitting the northern plains and eastern Rocky Mountains particularly hard. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports some 6,613 cases and 139 deaths nationwide in 2003.
Greens Criticize EPA for Copper Smelter Pollution WASHINGTON, DC, October 10, 2003 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulation of toxic air pollution from copper smelters is inadequate and violates the Clean Air Act, environmentalists argued in federal court today.The Sierra Club, represented by the non profit environmental law firm Earthjustice, contends the agency has failed to set emissions standards for the range of pollutants smelters emit. Copper smelters operating in the United States emit more than 50 tons of lead, 30 tons of arsenic and 20 tons of selenium each year. Studies show that some towns near operating smelters have ambient arsenic levels are more than 150 times higher than public health guidelines and the EPA has estimated the lifetime cancer risk for people in these towns may be as high as one in 100. The EPA has set an emissions standard for particulate matter from copper smelters, but the environmental groups say it does not reflect the actual performance of the best smelters, as required by the Clean Air Act. They also argue that EPA's failure to consider the health environmental effects of copper smelter emissions was unlawful. "Lead, arsenic, selenium and particulate matter from copper smelters contaminate the bodies of people living downwind and downstream," said Jim Pew, attorney for Earthjustice, who argued the case today on behalf of the Sierra Club. "No one should have to face a higher risk of cancer or other health problems, just because they happen to live in the shadow of a copper smelter." The Clean Air Act requires the agency to consider the environmental impacts of its standard, but the plaintiffs say the EPA did not consider the impacts on people and wildlife caused by the deposition of persistent pollutants such as lead and arsenic into the environment. In addition, the environmentalists say the EPA did not consulted with the Department of Interior to ensure that smelter emissions would not jeopardize endangered species, as required by the Endangered Species Act. The case is being heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Organic Farmers Eye Carbon Sinks KUTZTOWN, Pennsylvania, October 10, 2003 (ENS) - A two decade study found that organic soils increased carbon sequestration 15 percent to 28 percent compared to other farming methods.Carbon sequestered in vegetation and soil is not readily released as carbon dioxide (CO2) - the concept is appealing to environmentalists and policymakers keen to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas. The finding comes from the Rodale Institute's Farming Systems Trial, which the world's longest running study of organic farming. "This is very good news," said Paul Hepperly, The Rodale Institute's research manager. "The extent of carbon sequestration found and the impressive ability of organic systems to capture carbon are important results that should be used by policy makers when planning future agriculture development." The Rodale Institute's studies show an average increase in soil carbon of about 1,000 pounds per acre foot of soil, or about 3,500 pounds of CO2 per acre foot per year sequestered. If multiplied over the 160 million acres of corn and soybean produced nationally, 580 billion pounds of CO2 could potentially be sequestered using existing low input organic farming methods. Pennsylvania's Departments of Agriculture and Environmental Protection have agreed to support studies with The Rodale Institute on the effects of organic agriculture on greenhouse gas emissions. "Rodale's data and findings will be most helpful in the development of future greenhouse gas mitigation strategies that will be beneficial to Pennsylvania's citizens, its farmers and its business owners," said Secretary Kathleen McGinty of Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection. The carbon sink results are the extension of findings first published in the journal "Nature" in 1999 and have undergone additional peer review.
Fruit Flies Could Hold Clues to Human Hearing MADISON, Wisconsin, October 10, 2003 (ENS) - Scientists have found genetic evidence linking humans and fruit flies through their hearing. The link makes it possible that the insect's auditory system may serve as a model for understanding human deafness and other hearing disorders.The discovery by researchers at the University of Wisconsin Medical School was published in September in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online." The scientists found that a mutated fruit fly gene controlling hearing and the mutated human counterpart gene both produced similar consequences: hearing loss as well as limb deformities and genital abnormalities. The mutated human gene is responsible for a disorder called Townes-Brocks' syndrome. "We were very surprised to learn about this specific genetic similarity," said Dr. Grace Boekhoff-Falk, study leader and an associate professor of anatomy. "Developmental biologists have known that there are remarkable parallels between fruit fly and human genetics, but the parallels have been restricted to tissues and organs that existed before the evolutionary divergence of vertebrates and invertebrates, which occurred more than 600 million years ago." Sensing mechanisms that helped ancient organisms function were thought to exist before that divergence, Boekhoff-Falk explained, but not the ability to hear. Until now, the conventional wisdom has been that hearing evolved separately in vertebrates and invertebrates. "Our data supports the novel idea that hearing already existed 600 million years ago," she said. In the past 15 years or so, it has become clear that many genes occurring in humans are also found in fruit flies. Some six years ago scientists discovered that the same gene regulates eye development in flies and humans. "We are hoping that our work can turn out to be equally useful for hearing researchers," said Boekhoff-Falk, adding that fly genetics also now serve as a model for Parkinson's disease. In the near term, scientists could use flies to identify additional genes critical to human hearing, she predicted, possibly leading to tests to screen newborns for hearing disorders.
Researchers Link African Drought to Ocean Temperatures NEW YORK, New York, October 10, 2003 (ENS) - There is a strong link between sea surface temperatures and precipitation in Africa's semi-arid Sahel, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal "Science."Previously, it was not known how much land use changes may have led to the region's recent history of prolonged drought, or whether variability in ocean temperatures was the primary driver of the region's climate. The new study indicates that sea surface temperatures, particularly in the Indian Ocean, are the most powerful indicators of precipitation in the Sahel. Tropical Pacific surface temperature variation, such as that occurring with the El Niño and Southern Oscillation phenomena, have an effect on the variation of year to year rainfall, while the Indian and possibly Atlantic Oceans, affect longer term trends. The new study tracked sea surface temperatures and precipitation rates from 1930 to 2000, the first time that ocean and climate trends have been studies on a decadal time scale. The authors say that the evidence shows that the "recent drying trend in the semi arid Sahel is attributed to warmer than average low latitude waters around Africa which, by favoring the establishment of deep convection over the ocean, weaken the continental convergence associated with the monsoon, and engender widespread drought from Senegal to Ethiopia." Land surface factors do feed back into the climate system of the Sahel, but "they are a consequence, not the cause, of variability in precipitation," according to Alessandra Giannini, study coauthor and a climate expert with the Earth Institute at Columbia University. The findings could lead to "seasonal predictions of precipitation in the Sahel, and all the implications and uses for such predictions," Giannini says.
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