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By Category: Policy & Initiatives

Expert slams process for releasing bird flu studies; ‘kicked can down the road’

(Winnipeg Free Press) A member of the U.S. biosecurity panel that recently lifted its objections to the publication of two controversial bird flu studies has slammed the way the decision was reached, saying the meeting held to reconsider the issue was “one-sided” and designed to produce the eventual outcome. Michael Osterholm, a flu expert and Read More »

April 17, 2012
| Filed under North America, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Seoul, Beijing, Tokyo agree to share information on food security

(Yonhap News) South Korea, China and Japan agreed Sunday to share information on food security and to enhance their trade of agricultural products. The agreement was made at a trilateral meeting on the southern resort island of Jeju attended by agriculture ministers of the three neighboring Northeast Asia countries, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry Read More »

April 16, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Agriculture, International, and Policy & Initiatives
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Scientists warn of more disease outbreaks if vets’ labs are shut

(Yorkshire Post) A report by the Surveillance Advisory Group (SAG) into Defra’s plans to shake-up the way diseases such as foot-and-mouth are detected said that the current surveillance network needs to expand. Defra announced last year that the surveillance system, currently running at a cost of £10m per year would have to fall to £6m Read More »

April 16, 2012
| Filed under Europe, Agriculture, Countermeasures, and Policy & Initiatives
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NSABB member says officials stacked deck for board’s H5N1 decision

(CIDRAP News) In a leaked letter, a member of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) has charged that federal officials planned the board’s meeting in late March in a way designed to lead the board to reverse its earlier recommendation against full publication of two studies describing lab-modified H5N1 viruses with increased transmissibility Read More »

April 16, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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A Flawed Flu Papers Process?

(Science Now) Now one of the six dissenters, influenza epidemiologist Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, has written a sharp critique of the meeting that led to the decision. In a letter sent yesterday to Amy Patterson, an official at the U.S. National Institutes of Health whose office oversees NSABB, Osterholm charged Read More »