In The News

Globalization Exposes Food Supply to Unsanitary Practices

June 13, 2008
Countries that import food must check on producers’ sanitary standards, warn scientists attending an American Society for Microbiology meeting, reported on by Science Centric. Lower wages in developing nations and specialized growing environments contribute to the trends in food trade. The US imports more food than it exports, the article reports, and about 15 percent of food consumed in the US...

Voters See Very Different Healthcare Plans From Obama, Clinton & McCain

Michelle Andrews May 29, 2008
Democrats traditionally have placed greater emphasis on health care as a political issue than Republicans did – and criticize the government as the number of uninsured Americans continues to climb. However, when forced to pay, patients pursue the most affordable programs and voters may well follow suit. Plans from the Democratic presidential candidates propose expanding coverage, while...

The Global Abortion Bind

Joseph Chamie May 29, 2008
Induced abortion has been practiced throughout recorded history in all societies. While legal restrictions do not affect incidence, governments continue to debate appropriate reasons, technology, limits and ethics. The result is dilemmas. Even the strongest supporters of a woman’s right to choose may find themselves opposed to procedures conducted for trivial reasons, including sex selection,...

Virus in China Highlights an Old Problem

Nicholas Zamiska May 6, 2008
Hand, foot and mouth disease is a common and highly contagious childhood ailment that can be prevented by washing hands often and thoroughly. But people must know about the disease to practice vigilance. Thousands of children in China have contracted the disease, and international health officials raised questions before China’s closed media system reported a government announcement. “Communist...

Deadly Greed: The Role of Speculators in the Global Food Crisis

Beat Balzli April 25, 2008
Investors, sensing opportunity in climbing food prices, made record profits in the commodities markets, including wheat, corn, rice and palm oil. “Commodity speculation spread long ago from standard products like oil and gold to anything edible and available for trade on the Chicago Futures Exchange,” write Beat Balzli and Frank Hornig for Spiegel Online. The futures market allowed farmers to...

Global Approach Required to Tackle Food Prices

Dominique Strauss-Khan April 21, 2008
Warnings about climate change, biofuels, use of agricultural land for other purposes and the herd mentality of the financial markets have been ample over the past year. Still, food shortages, rising prices and the resulting humanitarian crisis have come as a surprise for some governments. The managing director of the International Monetary Fund calls for immediate global planning. “Unless we act...

The Fury of the Poor

Spiegel Staff April 18, 2008
People living in the world’s poorest countries often spend the bulk of their incomes on food. But with the prices of some staples doubling or more, food has become unaffordable. Despair and shame can quickly transform into violence, note a team of writers with Spiegel Online. An unchecked growing world population, climate change and loss of agriculture land, large refugee populations that cannot...