Featured Reports

Retirement Security for Women

As the baby boomers approach retirement, hardly a day passes without reference to concerns — in media outlets, policy discussions, and research circles — about whether households are saving enough to finance adequate living standards in retirement. Most of this discussion, however, focuses on the generation as a whole. In this paper, we explore financial prospects and problems for women and policies that could materially improve their financial security in retirement.

Results of a National Survey on Produce Safety

A national survey of likely voters conducted for the Produce Safety Project, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts at Georgetown University, finds that the American voting public has significant concerns about produce safety. Voters believe that the federal government and food packagers bear the greatest responsibility for ensuring that produce is safe, and they say that neither group is doing a good job in this regard. Thus it is not surprising that most voters—across the demographic and ideological spectrums—wish to see the produce safety system significantly reformed, supporting new safety requirements even if they increase the cost of produce.

Ready or Not? Protecting the Public's Health from Disease, Disasters, and Bioterrorism, 2006

Ready or Not? 2006 finds that five years after September 11, public health emergency preparedness is still not at an acceptable level. Limited progress continues to be but the big-picture goals of adequate preparedness remain unmet. As a result, Americans continue to face unnecessary and unacceptably high levels of risk.

In 2002, Congress passed the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Act, allocating nearly $1 billion annually to states to bolster public health emergency preparedness. Even after this investment of almost $4 billion, the government health agencies have yet to release state-by-state information to Americans or policymakers about how prepared their communities are to respond to health threats.

Public Health at Risk

The Human Genome Project unleashed a torrent of information about the human genome and the role of genetic variation in human health. As a result, genetic testing is now among the fastest growing areas of laboratory medicine. Today, genetic tests for about 1000 diseases are clinically available, with hundreds more available in a research setting.

Protecting Low-Income Families' Savings

The eligibility rules for certain means-tested programs like Food Stamps and Medicaid often discourage saving for retirement by people who are potentially otherwise eligible for and may need these programs. By excluding 401(k) and IRA savings from these asset tests, we would increase the likelihood that lower-income earners will save for retirement. Those who do the right thing by saving should not be excluded from programs that help so many Americans make it through hard times.

Produce Safety Summit: Implications of Mandatory Safety Standards

Every year in the United States, foodborne illnesses cause sickness, death, and significant economic and social costs that extend beyond the immediate victims. In January 2007, the Government Accountability Office designated federal oversight of food safety as a high-risk area because of the need to reduce risks to public health as well as the economy. In March 2009, President Obama announced the creation of a Food Safety Working Group to address the need to reduce foodborne illness.

A number of actions are being proposed to address these issues, including mandatory safety standards for foods such as fresh produce. However, there are significant inherent challenges in the implementation and enforcement of safety standards, primarily due to multi-stakeholder involvement, increased complexities in the food production and distribution chains, and fragmentation of oversight responsibilities.

PharmFree Scorecard

Most of the 150 U.S. medical schools are failing when it comes to building strong conflict of interest policies to limit pharmaceutical marketing on campus, according to the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) PharmFree Scorecard released today.

Pandemic Influenza: Warning, Children At Risk

Experts predict a severe pandemic flu outbreak could result in up to 1.9 million deaths in the United States, approximately 9.9 million Americans needing to be hospitalized, and an economic recession with losses of over $680 billion to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. How to treat and care for the nation’s 73.6 million children and adolescents during an influenza pandemic is a significant concern.

Oversight of Next Generation Nanotechnology

Since 1980, the capability of the federal agencies responsible for environmental health and safety has steadily eroded. The agencies cannot perform their basic functions now, and they are completely unable to cope with the new challenges they face in the 21st century. This paper describes some of these challenges, focusing on next-generation nanotechnologies, and suggests changes that could revitalize the health and safety agencies. More info

Notes from the President: Passages (Winter 2005-2006 Trust Magazine)

Is any institution so perfectly organized as to be immune to change? For sure, organizations must be well designed for their mission, but also adapt to changing times—not to fads, but to the deeper currents that distinguish an era. Those that reinvent themselves are more likely to be relevant to the next generation.

Nation's Child Welfare System Doubles Number of Adoptions from Foster Care

The United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recently announced the awarding of the final round of currently authorized adoption incentive payments (totaling $14.9 million to 25 states and Puerto Rico) for increasing the number of children adopted from state-supervised foster care in fiscal year 2002. These incentive payments, announced every year at the close of the federal fiscal year, are part of a sweeping set of reforms outlined in the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA). The enactment of ASFA was coupled with a call to double the number of adoptions from the nation’s child welfare system by 2002. Our nation’s child welfare system succeeded in meeting this challenge, more than doubling the number of adoptions out of foster care by 2002. More info

Nanotechnology, Synthetic Biology, & Public Opinion

A groundbreaking poll finds that almost half of U.S. adults have heard nothing about nanotechnology, and nearly nine in 10 Americans say they have heard just a little or nothing at all about the emerging field of synthetic biology, according to a new report released by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies and Peter D. Hart Research. Both technologies involve manipulating matter at an incredibly small scale to achieve something new.