Opinions
Opinions
| Date | Opinions | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 11, 2009 |
''You Can't Catch MRSA by Reading About It...'' "…as far as we know. But one of the journalistic challenges here is that we don’t know a lot about MRSA, and so the challenge in my Thursday column was how to raise public concern about a legitimate public health issue without becoming alarmist and exaggerating the danger." |
Antibiotics in Food Animal Production |
| Apr 3, 2013 |
''Yes, Antibiotic-Resistant Bugs Can Jump from Animals to Humans'' "For decades, the meat industry has denied any problem with its reliance on routine, everyday antibiotic use for the nation's chickens, cows, and pigs. But it's a bit like a drunk denying an alcohol problem while leaning on a barstool for support. Antibiotic use on livestock farms has surged in recent years — from 20 million pounds annually in 2003 to nearly 30 million pounds in 2011." |
Antibiotics in Food Animal Production |
| May 15, 2010 |
''Working to Save Lives With Safe Food'' "At age 2, Kyle Allgood of Chubbuck, Idaho, became sickened by a deadly strain of E. coli O157:H7, from contaminated spinach. When Kyle's abdominal pains would not subside, he was flown to a Salt Lake City hospital, where his downward spiral ended in kidney failure, a heart attack and, ultimately, death. The tragedy the Allgood family endured is far from rare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year, food-borne illness strikes tens of millions of Americans, hospitalizes hundreds of thousands and kills several thousand—mostly young children like Kyle, the elderly or others who are especially vulnerable." |
Food Safety |
| Aug 7, 2012 |
''Will Humans Lose the Battle With Microbes?'' Bacteria have become increasingly resistant to the drugs we've come to rely on. Only a concerted effort can avert a public health crisis. |
Antibiotic Innovation, Antibiotics in Food Animal Production |
| Jan 20, 2012 |
''Who Else Is Paying Your Doctor?'' "It took longer than expected, but the Obama administration is finally poised to enact badly needed regulations requiring that the manufacturers of drugs, medical devices and medical supplies disclose all payments they make to doctors or teaching hospitals." |
Conflicts of Interest |
| Jun 11, 2011 |
"The deaths of 31 people in Europe from a little known strain of E. coli have raised alarms worldwide, but we shouldn't be surprised. Our food often betrays us." |
Food Safety |
| Dec 17, 2007 |
''When a Child Can't Be Home for Christmas'' "For youth from foster care, the holidays are often a stark reminder of what it means not to have a family. We miss the comfort of knowing we have a place where we are always welcome, year after year. We don't know the family traditions of mom's best tablecloth and china, dad's carving the turkey, grandma's famous stuffing recipe, football in the den with the cousins, or even the inevitable family dramas." |
Health Topics |
| Dec 28, 2008 |
''We need antibiotic ban in foods'' "For two years my colleagues at the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production and I poured over volumes of data on what the Food and Drug Administration calls on its Web site 'a growing threat,' ..." |
Antibiotics in Food Animal Production |
| Sep 21, 2010 |
"Most of the antibiotics sold in the United States — 70 percent — go to the animals we eat, especially pigs and chickens. To speed up growth and to prevent the spread of disease in crowded conditions, growers put small amounts of antibiotics into animals’ daily feed." |
Medical Safety, Antibiotics in Food Animal Production |
| Jul 26, 2012 |
''Washington's election-year paralysis hurts the nation'' "A federal food safety law shifting the government's focus from responding to dangerous contamination to preventing it has been heralded as the most sweeping food security reform in decades. But 18 months after the law was enacted, the rules needed to put it into effect are nowhere to be seen. That inaction is just one example of a disheartening election-year paralysis in Washington." |
Food Safety |
