Press Releases
Press Releases
| Date | Press Releases | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 29, 2009 |
Survey of State Health Departments Underscores Gaps in Foodborne Illness Response A survey of state health departments regarding their capacity to track produce-related foodborne illnesses found that the response and investigation of outbreaks varies greatly and can lead to delays in public-health response. |
Food Safety |
| Oct 28, 2009 |
Pew Report Finds Deceptive Credit Card Practices Remain Widespread One hundred percent of credit cards offered online by the leading bank card issuers continue to include practices that will be outlawed once legislation passed in May takes effect next year, according to a new report by the Pew Health Group’s Safe Credit Cards Project. |
|
| Oct 20, 2009 |
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew) today announced the launch of the Health Impact Project, a national initiative designed to promote the use of health impact assessments (HIAs) as a decision-making tool for policy makers. |
Health Impact Assessment |
| Oct 19, 2009 |
Foodborne Illness Victims Meet With White House to Push for Food Safety Reform Sixteen Americans who have been directly affected by foodborne illness gathered at the White House recently to share their personal stories and meet Sam Kass, assistant White House chef, who cooks for the Obama family and is an advisor on food policy; Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, who is the lead staffer for the White House Food Safety Working Group; and David Lazarus, senior advisor to the Secretary of Agriculture, who coordinates with the White House on food safety issues. |
Food Hazards |
| Oct 7, 2009 |
Four Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences have received grants totaling $7 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to explore bold ideas that have the potential to catapult fields forward and speed the translation of research into improved health. |
Biomedical Research |
| Oct 6, 2009 |
Rebecca W. Rimel, President and CEO of The Pew Charitable Trusts, issued the following statement today, congratulating Pew Biomedical Scholar Carol W. Greider, Ph.D., on receiving the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. |
Biomedical Research |
| Sep 29, 2009 |
Nanotechnology and Synthetic Biology: What Does the American Public Think? Nanotechnology and synthetic biology continue to develop as two of the most exciting areas of scientific discovery, but research has shown that the public is almost completely unaware of the science and its applications. A groundbreaking poll of 1,001 U.S. adults conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates and the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) found 90 percent of Americans think that the public should be better informed about the development of cutting-edge technologies. |
Health Topics |
| Sep 10, 2009 |
Advocates Urge Senate to Pass Food Safety Legislation Today, victims of foodborne illness, their families, concerned parents of young children and members of the Make Our Food Safe coalition hand-delivered lunch bags that detail potential hazards in common lunch items to every member of the United States Senate in Washington, D.C., as well as several in-state Senate offices. |
Food Hazards |
| Sep 8, 2009 |
Pew-Commissioned Poll Finds Large Majority of Americans Want Stronger Food Safety Rules Among likely voters surveyed across the nation, about 9 in 10 support the federal government adopting additional food safety measures, and 64 percent believe that imported foods are often or sometimes unsafe, according to a new Pew-commissioned poll by the bipartisan team of Hart Research and Public Opinion Strategies. |
Food Hazards |
| Sep 3, 2009 |
U.S. Sen. Harkin: Statement on The Pew Charitable Trusts Forum on Food Safety The office of Iowa Senator Tom Harkin issued the following news release. |
Food Hazards |
| Sep 2, 2009 |
Pew-Commissioned Poll Finds Nine in Ten Iowa Voters Support More Government Oversight of Food Ninety percent of voting Iowans believe the government should be given additional authority to ensure the food they eat does not make them sick, according to a new poll commissioned by The Pew Charitable Trusts and conducted by Hart Research and Public Opinion Strategies. |
Food Hazards |
| Aug 25, 2009 |
Nanotech-Enabled Consumer Products Top the 1,000 Mark Over 1,000 nanotechnology-enabled products have been made available to consumers around the world, according to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN). The most recent update to the group’s three-and-a-half-year-old inventory reflects the increasing use of the tiny particles in everything from conventional products like non-stick cookware and lighter, stronger tennis racquets, to more unique items such as wearable sensors that monitor posture.
|
Health Topics |
| Aug 18, 2009 |
New Data Show Nanotechnology-Related Activities in Every U.S. State Data released today by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) highlights more than 1,200 companies, universities, government laboratories, and other organizations across all 50 U.S. states and in the District of Columbia that are involved in nanotechnology research, development, and commercialization. This number is up 50 percent from the 800 organizations identified just two years ago.
|
Health Topics |
| Jul 31, 2009 |
We commend the FDA for moving forward on initiatives to improve the safety of fresh produce. The proposed guidance documents put out for comment today address three of the highest-risk commodities, and we hope that the agency will finalize these documents quickly. We also look forward to the agency's next steps regarding produce safety: issuance of proposed regulations. Science-based, risk-based, enforceable safety standards will restore consumer confidence in foods that are key components of a healthy diet. |
Food Safety |
| Jul 30, 2009 |
Pew Statement on House Passage of Food Safety Legislation Erik D. Olson, Director of Food and Consumer Product Safety at The Pew Charitable Trusts, issued the following statement. |
Food Hazards |
| Jul 21, 2009 |
On July 21 in Philadelphia, the Academy of Natural Sciences’ Center for Environmental Policy and The Pew Charitable Trusts will convene health, agriculture and environmental experts for a special town hall meeting on the human health impacts related to the routine use of antibiotics on industrial farms. |
Antibiotics in Food Animal Production |
| Jul 13, 2009 |
Pew Calls FDA Testimony on Use of Antibiotics on Industrial Farms a Key First Step, More is Needed Laura Rogers, director of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming issued the following statement today, commenting on the testimony of FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Joshua M. Sharfstein, in which he said that antibiotics used on industrial farms should be phased out for growth promotion and feed efficacy, and should be more rigorously overseen for disease control and prevention. |
Antibiotics in Food Animal Production |
| Jul 8, 2009 |
Contaminated Site Remediation: Are Nanomaterials the Answer? A new review article appearing in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) co-authored by Dr. Todd Kuiken, a research associate for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN), focuses on the use of nanomaterials for environmental cleanup. It provides an overview of current practices; research findings; societal issues; potential environment, health, and safety implications; and possible future directions for nanoremediation. The authors conclude that the technology could be an effective and economically viable alternative for some current site cleanup practices, but potential risks remain poorly understood. |
Health Topics |
| Jun 16, 2009 |
The Pew Charitable Trusts today named 17 early-career scientists as Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences. |
Biomedical Research |
| Jun 16, 2009 |
Over one-fifth of U.S. medical schools improved their conflict-of-interest rules in the past year, yet dozens of others lag behind according to the 2009 American Medical Student Association (AMSA) PharmFree Scorecard, released today. |
Conflicts of Interest |
| May 20, 2009 |
Pew Analysis Shows Senate Bill Would Curb Billions in Credit Card Penalty Charges A full 82 percent of credit cards allow penalty interest rate hikes that could last indefinitely, giving responsible cardholders no right to return to the originally agreed upon interest rate, according to a new issue brief from The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Safe Credit Cards Project. |
|
| May 19, 2009 |
Pew Statement Applauding Senate Vote to Stop Many Deceptive Credit Card Practices "The Senate today joined the House in coming together to pass smart, strong, bipartisan legislation that puts an end to many unfair and deceptive credit card practices. This is a tremendous victory for the millions of credit card carrying consumers, many of whom will be able to avoid hundreds, even thousands of dollars in unfair fees and interest rate hikes." |
|
| May 11, 2009 |
Pew Statement Urging Senate to Protect Consumers from Deceptive Credit Card Practices "The current economic crisis has made it clear that ignoring unfair and deceptive lending practices can hurt both family finances and our economy. Fortunately, the U.S. Senate has the opportunity this week to join the House in passing legislation to ensure credit card companies use safe, fair and transparent policies." |
|
| May 7, 2009 |
Dueling Produce Safety Standards Highlight Void Left by Lack of FDA Regulation A side-by-side analysis of a variety of produce safety standards shows significant variations in guidance given fruit and vegetable growers in what steps they need to take to minimize microbial contamination in light of the lack of federal rules. Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its voluntary produce safety guidance 11 years ago, a number of organizations and one state have stepped into the regulatory void and adopted their own standards for the growing and harvesting of fresh produce (fruits and vegetables intended to be consumed raw). Some standards are general in nature, and others are commodity specific. |
Food Safety |
| Apr 30, 2009 |
Statement Applauding Bipartisan Passage of the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights "The passage of the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights is a victory for all consumers and for credit card issuers who want to offer a safe and fair product." |
