In The News

Managing Globalization: Has It Hurt US Workers?

Daniel Altman April 18, 2007
Workers in the wealthy nations like the US are not losing jobs to immigrants or outsourcing, suggests globalization analyst Daniel Altman in “The International Herald Tribune.” However, intense competition among global labor markets, along with rising health-care costs in the US, could be keeping the lid on wages. “The largest cost isn't those who lose their jobs but those who have lower...

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...

Freak Waves Swamp Mozambican Coastal Areas

March 22, 2007
People converge to coastal communities for economic purposes, including trade and tourism, but coastal living has become more hazardous along the eastern shores of Africa. Unusual high tides from the Indian Ocean have displaced thousands in the impoverished nation of Mozambique, prompting other governments to issue warnings to tourists. The reports coincide with testimony from former US Vice...

Malaria: GM Mosquitoes Offer New Hope for Millions

Ian Sample March 21, 2007
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have announced the development of a genetically modified mosquito that cannot transmit malaria. Malaria leads to 1 million deaths each year, mostly in developing nations. Initial experiments in cages suggest that the modified mosquitoes eventually overwhelm the ordinary mosquitoes who serve as vectors in passing malaria to humans. In developing such...

Rise of a Deadly TB Reveals a Global System in Crisis

Lawrence K. Altman March 20, 2007
A new form of tuberculosis so resistant to antibiotics that doctors label it as “incurable” has emerged in South Africa – and could also be present in China, Russia and India. “The recipe for spreading the disease is the same throughout the world: inappropriate use of antibiotics,” writes physician Lawrence Altman for “The New York Times.” Bacteria become resistant to antibiotics when the drugs...

Prizes, Not Patents

Joseph E. Stiglitz March 19, 2007
The pharmaceutical industry relies on patent protection for profits and claims to reinvest those profits into more research for medicines that save lives. But the system has an inherent flaw when people with infectious diseases cannot afford the life-saving drugs and companies focus most effort on the health woes of the wealthiest who can afford treatment. Economist Joseph Stiglitz recommends an...