Environmental Health

"Does an organic strawberry contain more vitamin C than a conventional one?"

"The numbers released quietly by the federal government this year were alarming. A ferocious germ resistant to many types of antibiotics had increased tenfold on chicken breasts, the most commonly eaten meat on the nation’s dinner tables. But instead of a learning from a broad national inquiry into a troubling trend, scientists said they were stymied by a lack of the most basic element of research: solid data."

"As drug-resistant infections become an increasingly serious threat worldwide, new research show the problem may be spreading right under our feet. A new study in the journal Science shows that disease-causing germs and harmless bacteria in the soil are exchanging genes that make them resistant to antibiotics -- a finding that may have implications for the widespread use of antibiotics in livestock."

"California public health scientists have twice recommended in the past five years that Yosemite National Park authorities educate visitors about hantavirus, a rare disease that is linked to the deaths of two park visitors, one illness and a possible fourth this summer. Yet park officials did not warn visitors until after the disease showed up in recent weeks."

"For decades, cowboys known as 'tick riders' have patrolled the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent cattle carrying 'fever ticks' from entering."

"West Nile virus cases nationally were up 40% from last week, now totaling 1,590, including 66 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday."

"Two U.S. health and environment organizations sued the federal government on Wednesday for what the groups say is a failure to implement and enforce a new food safety law that could help prevent thousands of deaths caused by food-borne illnesses each year."

"As extremely hot temperatures continue to hit much of the country, high school football teams are busy getting ready for the fall season. Last year, five high school football players died of heat stroke. Across the country, experts are trying to prevent those kinds of tragedies."

"FRESNO, Calif. -- The rustic tent cabins of Yosemite National Park — a favorite among families looking to rough it in one of the nation's most majestic settings — have become the scene of a public health crisis after two visitors died from a rodent-borne disease following overnight stays."