Food Waste in the Supply Chain
A one-day conference held at the Dutch Embassy in London last week focussed on a topic which is emerging in response to the need to increase food production by at least 50% to feed a population of 9 billion in 2050. The topic is food waste reduction and encompasses food waste across the whole of…
European Antibiotic Awareness Day Highlights Threat of Antibiotic Resistance
By Miroslav Djuric European Antibiotic Awareness Day is an annual initiative that aims to raise awareness of the threat of antibiotic resistance to public health and animal health as well as the importance of prudent use of antibiotics. On the occasion of the 5th European Antibiotic Awareness Day, which was marked on 18 November 2012, the…
Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) Targeted for Eradication
The FAO and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) have developed a detailed strategy for Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) control under the umbrella of their Global Framework for the Progressive Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases (GF-TADs). However, it is clear that only a massive commitment of national and international resources would make FMD eradication possible as surveillance and monitoring over a long period is required. FMD is a highly infectious disease caused by a picornavirus, which affects cloven-hoofed animals, in particular cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and deer. Other animals including camelids and elephants can also be affected. The disease is notifiable, which means that the local veterinary services must be notified immediately if FMD is suspected.Although FMD does not pose a direct threat to human health, and is rarely fatal in animals, it can cause reduced milk yield, weight loss and lower fertility. The global annual cost of FMD in…
Will climate change win Obama the US election?
Image from Google Images As an editor for the CABI internet resource Environmental Impact, I often read articles, books and reports that suggest the USA is by far the largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG), second only to China in total tons of GHG emitted, and that the US has one of the worst…
EU signals policy shift on biofuels
Climate change, high oil prices, and worries over dependence on imported fossil fuels, are just some of the reasons why governments have introduced policies to promote use of biofuels and other renewable energy sources in recent years. In the USA, the Renewable Fuel Standard requires a proportion of the corn harvest to be used for…
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Will the Sweet Potato be giving Usain Bolt a run for his money at the next Olympics?
First blog from our guest blogger, Hollie Gibson, who is studying Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, UK. As the London Olympics came to an end on the 12th of August 2012, plans for the next Olympics which will be held in Rio, 2016 are already in full swing. This time however it…
Is the world better or worse than it was 20 years ago?
Focussing on the UN Sustainable Development Conference – Rio+20, which starts tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I came across an interesting interactive way to quickly assess if the world is doing better or worse than it did 20 years ago.
Mystery disease in Ethiopia solved: linked to weed toxin
Imagine this… A mysterious disease terrorising your community, not infectious but spreading nonetheless, and killing your relatives and neighbours. All you want to do is pack your bags and flee. Worse, when your plight comes to the attention of the health authorities, they are stumped and its not going to be easy or quick to…
Why are we still in a drought during floods?
It has been the wettest April on record for England and Wales, yet in the past few weeks, I have often heard people asking the question: how can we be told we’re in a drought in the UK, when at the same time we’re being told many areas of the country are experiencing floods? Since…