In The News

Global Rush to Energy Crops Threatens to Bring Food Shortages and Increase Poverty, Says UN

John Vidal May 25, 2007
No one denies that there are benefits when a country adopts biofuel to supplement oil as a source of energy. But while production of biofuels could help stabilize oil prices and create new markets, the poor could also experience higher commodity prices. Not surprisingly a recent UN report warns governments to take into consideration the human and environmental impacts, which could have dire...

Tainted Chinese Imports Common

Rick Weiss May 24, 2007
US inspection records are showing that imports from China are unfit for human consumption.The US Food and Drug Administration has detained more than one thousand shipments at ports containing tainted Chinese dietary supplements, toxic cosmetics and counterfeit medicines. Consumer activists and politicians, upset about contaminated food products, are demanding action. With the numerous pet deaths...

Moroccan Immigrants, Spanish Strawberries and Europe's Future

Daniela Gerson May 14, 2007
When strawberries ripen, Spanish farmers seek short-term workers who can pick the berries carefully and quickly – and then return home, rather than stay and cause any problems in European communities that have come to resent illegal immigrants. And the strawberry farmers are adamant about their employment preferences: fit woman under the age of 40 who are married and have children in neighboring...

From China to Panama, A Trail of Poisoned Medicine

Walt Bogdanich May 8, 2007
In 1937, more than 100 people in the US died, after taking medicine that contained diethylene glycol, a solvent used in some anti-freeze products that looks and tastes like glycerin syrup, a common base for cough syrup and other medical products. The tragedy led to tough regulations and the start of the modern Food and Drug Administration. Decades later, counterfeiters in China tried the same...

Filler in Animal Feed Is Open Secret in China

David Barboza May 4, 2007
Since it joined the WTO in 2001, China has come under increasing pressure to crack down on manufacturing of counterfeit and illegal goods within its borders. Beyond intellectual property concerns, safety fears are becoming increasingly prominent amid criticism of China’s lax enforcement against counterfeiters. Tales of fake medicines on US shelves and faithful replications of name-brand cars on...

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...