In The News

Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons

Alexei Barrioneuvo April 25, 2007
Researchers are scrambling to determine the reasons behind the disappearance of 25 percent of US honey bees – as well as colony crashes in Europe and South America, which may or may not be linked. Culprits could include viruses, funguses or pesticides. Honeybees are the principal pollinators of hundreds of crops and essential for fruits, vegetables, flowers and nuts – and the insect’s decline...

US Pet Deaths: Wake-Up Call on Global Food Safety?

Susan Froetschel April 24, 2007
Pesticides and fertilizers have long contributed to global food security. But some farmers, tempted by high crop yields and profits, overuse the products, allowing excess agrochemicals to infiltrate water supplies and soil. The US Food and Drug Administration confirmed deaths of 16 pets and received more than 15,000 complaints of ill pets, linked to gluten imported from China. The reports...

How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor

C. Ford Runge April 24, 2007
With rising oil prices and growing demand for ethanol as an alternative fuel, US corn producers anticipate a huge boost in profitability. Any spike in corn prices caused by increasing ethanol consumption, however, could devastate the developing world. Billions of impoverished people depend on corn and other staples for their caloric intake, but higher corn prices would decrease affordability of...

Global Effort to Save Endangered Crops Gets $37.5 Million Infusion

Andrew C. Revkin April 20, 2007
The combined pressures of climate change with a growing population could threaten crop diversity and global food supplies. An international effort to save endangered crop seeds, including a global database on plant gene banks, is underway, from Global Crop Diversity Trust and the United Nations Foundation. Weather, neglect and war can eliminate rare strains of barley, coconut, taro, wheat and...

Let Pragmatism Rule in Indonesia-Singapore Ties

Sabam Siagian April 17, 2007
Indonesia is emerging as an increasingly prominent country in international affairs, but its interests may be best met by stabilizing its relations with regional powers in Southeast Asia. In particular, as Sabam Siagian contends, Indonesia can benefit tremendously by forging strong ties with Singapore, widely recognized as a modern economic force. Although there seems to be a desire to establish...

Who's Monitoring Chinese Food Exports?

Nicholas Zamiska April 13, 2007
Food inspectors have traced to China a contaminated ingredient in pet food that has killed an unknown number of animals. Wheat gluten is a common ingredient in pet food, cereal and pasta. The discovery of batches tainted with a pesticide illegal in the US raises questions about China's growing role in the international agricultural market. In 2006, 12 percent of world fruit and vegetable...

Even as Africa Hungers, Policy Slows Delivery of US Food Aid

Celia W. Dugger April 10, 2007
Intervention, even with the best intentions, can cause unforeseen tragic consequences. Thousands of people starve in Zambia, caught in a web of international health groups that supply drugs for AIDS, improving health yet increasing the pangs of hunger; weather patterns that deliver drought; local politicians who don’t want to release large food supplies; and wealthy nations in the West that...