Tag Archive: industrial agriculture

Links of interest: Antibiotic resistance

Rising Plague (Brad Spellberg) Before getting to the numerous recent news items on antibiotic resistance and urinary tract infections, let me quote from Dr. Brad Spellberg's

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Overuse of antibiotics: A remote study (part 2)

The controversy about the overuse of antibiotics in raising livestock (see the last post) is background for an interesting scientific study that took place in the Galapagos. It looked at the spread of antibiotic resistant strains ...

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Overuse of antibiotics: Follow the money (part 1)

Unlike climate change, where there’s a large contingent of denialists who spread doubt about the scientific evidence, no one denies that antibiotic resistance is a problem. There is controversy, however, on the question of just how much the widespread use of antibiotics contributes to ...

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Links of interest: Organic food

Organic Foods Slideshow: To Buy or Not to Buy Organic (WebMD) A slide show with advice on when to buy organic and when it’s OK to use conventionally grown fruits and vegetables. Peaches, apples, peppers, strawberries, pears, grapes, broccoli, and more..

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Do houseflies spread antibiotic resistance?

There was a one-day Congressional hearing last week on antibiotic resistance and industrial agriculture. Members of congress were looking for evidence that would link agricultural use of antibiotics to human illness. One Republican specifically asked for research done in ...

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Pig dignity: Animal welfare in Europe

Picture source: BBC Wiltshire The European Parliament, the governing body of the EU (European Union), met last week to consider (among many other things) a new animal welfare action plan. Last December animal welfare became a core value for the EU, ...

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Daily Dose: Celebrity health; Livestock antibiotics; Transplants

The body as machine Source: The Daily Mail Inventor spends Christmas with his perfect woman - a £30,000 custom-made fembot (The Daily Mail) "Inventor Le Trung spent Christmas Day with the most important woman in his life - his robot Aiko. ... Her ...

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After health care reform, will Big Insurance be the enemy of Big Food?

Source: eHow Michael Pollan has a great editorial in today's New York Times on Big Insurance and Big Food. Could health care reform motivate the insurance industry to lobby for healthier food? The argument goes like this. According to the Centers for Disease Control ...

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Health Culture Daily Dose #15

In today's Dose: Health care reform (A public option plan emerges from HELP committee; Arguments for the public option from the Urban Institute; Obama stands Harry & Louise on their heads) Health news (Should Steve Jobs use his celebrity status for pancreatic cancer awareness and funding?) Industrialized agriculture (Labeling organic food: What can ...

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Health Culture Daily Dose #6

In today's Dose: Health care reform (Congressionional Budget Office numbers; Why Maggie Mahar isn't worried; Kevin MD, Daniel Callahan) Foodborne illness (Cookie dough) Industrialized agriculture (Food Inc.) The risk society (Jodi Picoult novels) Health care reform A recent Ezra Klein Klein column in the Washington Post discussed the bad news this ...

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What's wrong with our food?

A new movie, Food, Inc., will be in theaters starting June 12. The film documents how industrialized agriculture has changed the food we eat and explores the impact of this change on health, food safety, and the environment. In the movie's trailer (see below), a woman ...

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