Food fight.
SAFE FOOD: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism by Marion Nestle University of California Press, $27.50 IN THE ILLUSTRIOUS HISTORY OF the American meat industry, few moments stand out quite like the day in 1999 when Rosemary Mucklow, director of the National Meat Association, suggested that tighter E. coli...

Scred cow? Canada's response to the BSE crisis; Evaluating North American integration, science, and questions of intrusiveness and autonomy.
I. INTRODUCTION This study focuses on foreign and domestic pressures related to Canada's first indigenous case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in May 2003. At the international level, the integration of the North American cattle and beef industry, export considerations in other markets, and the role of...

A systems-based food safety evaluation: an experimental approach.
Introduction Traditionally, government food safety programs have used, as the basis for their work, an inspectional or code-based approach. This approach involves comparing a list of "dos and don'ts" to what is actually observed in any particular food service establishment. Many of these lists are derived from...

Egg labels and certifications: what do they mean?
RECENT POLLS AND SURVEYS SUGGEST THAT CONSUMERS are becoming more and more concerned about farm animal welfare. In a May 2003 poll, Gallup reported that 62 percent of Americans support passing strict laws concerning the treatment of farm animals. A 1995 national survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation reported...

Beef Wars.
Is the USDA's E. coli policy undercooked? ONE EARLY MORNING IN AUGUST 1998, Frank Bauer arrived at his Ocala, Florida meat packing plant to find some 30 government agents from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scouring every corner of the family-owned company. Investigators seized all the...

FDA losing credibility with public, own staff: half of survey respondents in the agency said they did not think it was headed in the right direction.
WASHINGTON -- Members of the scientific community have raised a red flag over the apparent increasing influence of money and politics on the supposedly independent and unbiased internal workings of the Food and Drug Administration and other federal watchdog agencies. In a confidential survey of staff scientists...

Drug companies drain scientific brains from FDA, leaving less confident staff.
As drug companies siphon off FDA's most experienced scientists, they leave an increasingly leaner, less confident staff that is hesitant to put new drugs on the market, analysts say in article in the June 4 "USA Today." FDA's leadership is scrambling to recruit a new generation of...

FDLI publishes handbook on pharmaceutical risk management.
To help pharmaceutical companies, consultants and other drug industry stakeholders prepare and comply with the new rules on risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) mandated under the Food and Drug Administration Act Amendments of 2007, the Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI) has issued a handbook on risk evaluation...

FDA requests recall of Xiadafil VIP tabs.
FDA requested that SEI Pharmaceuticals of Miami recall all Xiadafil VIP Tabs sold in eight-tablet bottles (Lot # 6K029) or blister cards of two tablets (Lot # 6K029-SEI) because these products contain a potentially harmful, undeclared ingredient that may dangerously affect a person's blood pressure and can cause other...

Militarism and women's health.
By Women's Action for New Directions (WAND) Fully half of all the money that the U.S. Congress allocates for the federal budget goes to the Pentagon, and the amount is rising leaving less money for other crucial programs. The negative effects of the U.S.'s overzealous promotion of...