food security

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Experts Propose Global Targets for Cutting Antibiotic Use

Chris Dall | CIDRAP News | August 19, 2016

Arguing that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens to erase decades of progress in medicine, public health, and food security, a group of global health experts is urging the United Nations (UN) to set global targets for reduced antibiotic consumption. In a commentary published yesterday in Science, the authors argue that countries should aim to consume no more than the current median global level of antibiotics (8.54 defined daily doses per capita per year), an amount they say would reduce global antibiotic use by more than 17.5%...

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Healthy Soil Is the Real Key to Feeding the World

One of the biggest modern myths about agriculture is that organic farming is inherently sustainable. It can be, but it isn’t necessarily. After all, soil erosion from chemical-free tilled fields undermined the Roman Empire and other ancient societies around the world. Other agricultural myths hinder recognizing the potential to restore degraded soils to feed the world using fewer agrochemicals. When I embarked on a six-month trip to visit farms around the world to research my forthcoming book, “Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life,” the innovative farmers I met showed me that regenerative farming practices can restore the world’s agricultural soils.

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How "Open Source" Seed Producers from the U.S. to India Are Changing Global Food Production

Rachel Cernansky | Ensia | December 12, 2016

Frank Morton has been breeding lettuce since the 1980s. His company offers 114 varieties, among them Outredgeous, which last year became the first plant that NASA astronauts grew and ate in space. For nearly 20 years, Morton’s work was limited only by his imagination and by how many different kinds of lettuce he could get his hands on. But in the early 2000s, he started noticing more and more lettuces were patented, meaning he would not be able to use them for breeding...

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Online-only Pharmacies That Don't Require Prescriptions Could Fuel Antibiotic Resistance

Press Release | Imperial College London | February 16, 2017

The researchers from Imperial College London analysed 20 pharmacies that were available for UK citizens to access online. This is one of the few studies to have examined the online availability of antibiotics and to have explored the potential effects on public health. The research is published in Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. Antibiotics are classed as prescription only medicines in the UK, meaning they cannot legally be sold to consumers without a valid prescription...

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Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Urges the USDA to Make GMO-Labeling Transparent, Accessible

Press Release | Rep. Tulsi Gabbard | August 4, 2017

As the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) develops final rules on GMO-labeling requirements over the next year, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) and fellow lawmakers called on Secretary Perdue to ensure labeling standards are consumer-friendly, fair, and transparent. In July 2016, Congress passed weak GMO labeling standards into law that create a confusing web of disclosure options, allowing companies to choose between on-package text, a USDA-regulated symbol, or an electronic or digital link (e.g., QR code)...

What Would It Take to Mainstream "Alternative" Agriculture?

Maywa Montenegro | Ensia | July 25, 2016

The industrialized food system, studies have shown, is linked to greenhouse gas emissions, algal blooms, pesticide pollution, soil erosion and biodiversity loss, to name a few ecological troubles. Add to this a long list of social ills, from escalating rates of obesity to the demise of the family farmer and deadening of rural landscapes and rural economies across much of the U.S...

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