Opinions

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Jan 7, 2013

''Safer Food Is on Its Way''

On Friday, the new law moved a step closer to reality with the FDA’s announcement of proposed rules in two major areas: produce safety and food processing. The new rules will, if adopted, set standards for equipment, tools, buildings, water, soil and other sources of possible contamination.

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Food Safety
Dec 31, 2012

A New Year's Resolution: Put Animals on an Antibiotics Diet

As Americans ring in the new year, many of us will resolve to get healthy. Meat and poultry producers can help -- by making a resolution to put their farm animals on an antibiotics diet.

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Antibiotics in Food Animal Production
Dec 22, 2012

''Prevention Matters More Than Peanuts''

An opinion editorial by Sandra Eskin, director of the Food Safety Campaign at the Pew Health Group, about the Food Safety Modernization Act and prevention of foodborne illness.

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Food Safety
Dec 4, 2012

''Looking for More Food Regulation Success''

"All Americans, even those who rail about government’s regulatory overreach, would agree it’s critical to keep our food supply safe. That’s why it’s heartening that the Food and Drug Administration for the first time took action to shut down a peanut butter plant in New Mexico after it failed to clean up its act. At least 41 people nationwide have been sickened by the salmonella-tainted organic peanut butter."

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Food Safety
Nov 29, 2012

''Safe Peanut Butter, And Beyond''

"Citing the conditions at Sunland as well as its history of health violations, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration put at least a temporary hold on those plans Monday, suspending operations at the plant and exercising for the first time its new authority to shut down potentially dangerous food facilities. Luckily for consumers, this was made possible by the Food Safety Modernization Act, signed into law nearly two years ago — and long overdue even then. But other, much more sweeping changes required by the law haven't yet been implemented."

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Food Safety
Nov 26, 2012

''Editorial: White House Dallies on Food-Safety Law''

''The Obama administration continues to drag its feet on a landmark consumer-protection law that could have made this week's Thanksgiving feast, leftovers and snacks considerably safer to eat.''

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Food Safety
Nov 19, 2012

Mr. President: Pardon the Turkey, Not Industrial Animal Agriculture

In just a few days, Americans will prepare and serve about 45 million turkeys. This bounty is worthy of our thanks, but the conditions in which most of these birds were raised are not.

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Antibiotics in Food Animal Production
Nov 12, 2012

''Lawmakers face a torrent of delayed decisions''

In recent months, the White House has stalled on a host of pending rules, including implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act.

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Food Hazards
Oct 26, 2012

PTA President to Parents: Support the New School Meals

In a new opinion editorial in Education Week, Betsy Landers, National PTA President, comments on the importance of parental support for the new school lunches.

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School Food
Oct 17, 2012

Recent Outbreak Stresses Need for New Antibiotics

Following the deadly superbug outbreak in 2011, a recent report published by the NIH indicates new antibiotics could help fight antibiotic resistant bacteria. Senior Officer of Pew's Antibiotics and Innovation Project Nicole Mahoney discusses the new report and the need for a comprehensive strategy to prevent superbug outbreaks.

 

 

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Antibiotic Innovation
Oct 15, 2012

''Release Food Safety Rules''

"President Obama signed the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act into law in January 2011, hailing the first comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s food safety regulations in seven decades. Yet the rules remain mired in the Office of Management and Budget at the White House. The president should direct that the new food safety rules be finalized before millions more Americans fall victim."

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Food Safety
Oct 11, 2012

''Save Lives Now: Implement Food Safety Rules''

Paul Schwarz's father was a World War II veteran and double Purple Heart recipient. Tragically, he was killed by lethal bacteria listeria that he received from a cantaloupe. In order to get better food safety regulations implemented, Schwarz has a clear message for Washington. 

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Food Safety
Oct 10, 2012

''Letter: Keep Our Food Supply Safe''

In a letter printed in The Detroit News, Neogen Corp. CEO James Herbert applauded the FDA Safety and Innovation Act and stressed the need for bold leadership to help ensure that the food we put on our tables is safe. Neogen Corp. has been involved in food safety testing for 30 years, developing diagnostic tests and products for food allergies and pathogens.

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Food Safety
Oct 8, 2012

''Fighting Superbugs''

"One of the most urgent global public health problems is the increasing capability of bacteria to resist antibiotic drugs. The crisis of antimicrobial resistance is particularly acute in hospitals, where superbugs able to resist multiple drugs have spawned. More than 70 percent of the bacteria that cause hospital-related infections are already resistant to at least one type of antibacterial drug."

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Antibiotic Innovation, Antibiotics in Food Animal Production
Oct 4, 2012

''New Food Safety Rules Need to Be Implemented''

Debbie Frederick remembers her father, who passed away from a foodborne illness, as well as millions of Americans who suffer from preventable foodborne illnesses and the thousands who will die each year. She asks that proper protections be put in place to ensure the food on their dinner tables is safe to eat.

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Food Safety
Aug 31, 2012

''President Fumbles on Food-Safety Law''

"Twenty months after President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act, the landmark legislation appears to have suffered the same fate as another important measure: the Physician Payment Sunshine Act. Both historic laws have yet to become a reality because the Obama administration hasn't completed the work of turning the laws' language into practical regulations, then issuing that guidance to the public."

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Food Safety
Aug 30, 2012

''Deadly Wait for Food Safeguards''

Almost two years after President Barack Obama signed the first major changes to food-safety laws since the 1930s, they're still sitting on the back burner. The Office of Management and Budget hasn't signed off on the changes, further delaying reforms that have been debated for years.

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Food Safety
Aug 27, 2012

''An Uncontrollable Outbreak''

''The menace posed by germs resistant to powerful antibiotics was all too apparent when a deadly, drug-resistant form of pneumonia bacteria struck the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health last year. It infected 17 patients and killed 6 of them. This disheartening episode shows again the importance of slowing the development of resistant strains by reducing rampant overuse of antibiotics — and of developing new, more effective antibiotics."

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Antibiotic Innovation
Aug 24, 2012

''Food safety law is being delayed''

"In 2011, the president signed the Food Safety Modernization Act, the most ambitious overhaul of the nation’s food safety system since the 1930s, which passed Congress with broad bipartisan support and industry backing."

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Food Hazards
Aug 24, 2012

''Tracking a Superbug at the NIH''

"A deadly outbreak of antibiotic-resistant bacteria last year at the Clinical Research Center of the National Institutes of Health offers a fascinating and frightening window on the future of medicine. Fascinating because scientists used whole-genome sequencing to obtain a fine-grained blueprint of the genetic material in the bacteria and to track how it spread. Frightening because the bacteria, resistant to multiple antibiotics, defied efforts to control it in the 234-bed hospital in Bethesda."

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Aug 20, 2012

''Get Antibiotics Off the Farm''

"Earlier this month, a federal magistrate judge in New York told the Food and Drug Administration to quit dillydallying on its three-decade effort to curb indiscriminate use of antibiotics in farm animals to spur their growth. He set a timetable for the agency to follow in withdrawing two important drugs — penicillin and two forms of tetracycline — from widespread use in animals. The trouble is, that timetable will give the FDA. five more years to complete the process."

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Antibiotics in Food Animal Production
Aug 13, 2012

''Food Safety Delay Puts Lives at Risk''

"It's been a year since a tragic listeria outbreak in cantaloupes began on a Colorado farm, claiming at least 30 lives and infecting nearly 150 people in the largest outbreak of foodborne illness in almost 90 years. Yet, even as we've entered another summer outbreak season, important provisions of a landmark food safety law are still not implemented."

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Food Safety
Aug 13, 2012

''Rules Delayed, Governing Denied''

"It has been 19 months since President Obama signed into law the Food Safety Modernization Act, the first overhaul of the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety laws since the 1930s. But if you think the food supply has become markedly safer since then, think again."

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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.

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Antibiotic Innovation, Antibiotics in Food Animal Production
Aug 6, 2012

Biomedical Science Programs Make a Positive Impact on Research

The Pew Scholars Program and The Pew Latin American Fellows Program support promising early-career scientists from North, South and Central America in the health sciences — particularly young researchers with innovative approaches and ideas. Anita Pepper, Director of the Pew Programs in the Biomedical Sciences, explains the benefits of the programs.

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Biomedical Research