Class Research Resources and Assignments

Week 11

Land Management and Public Health
Full Lecture - Week 11
Assigned Readings

[NOTA BENE:"Great Expectations" for Class Presentations]

Water | Chemicals | Food Supply | Animal and Wildlife Health
Climate Change and Health | New and Resurgent Disease | Antibiotic Resistance
Biotechnology-Bioterrorism

"State of the Planet:" A Special Series
Science Magazine
(November - December 2003)

     Science's "State of the Planet series continues this week with articles on energy and freshwater resources, following up on earlier coverage of soil and fisheries in the 21 November issue and population and biodiversity on 14 November. Look for the final articles in the series -- on air pollution and global climate change -- on 5 December. And be sure to come back for our 12 December special issue, which will commemorate the 35th anniversary of the publication of the late Garrett Hardin's classic essay, "The Tragedy of the Commons."

 
Smith, H. Jesse
  "The Shape We're In," Science, 302 (5648), (14 November 2003) 1171.
Cohen, Joel E.
  "Human Population: The Next Half Century," Science, 302 (5648), (14 November 2003) 1172-1175.
Jenkins, Martin
  "Prospects for Biodiversity," Science, 302 (5648), (14 November 2003) 1175-1177.
Stocking, M. A.
  "Tropical Soils and Food Security: The Next 50 Years," Science, 302 (5649), (21 November 2003) 1356-1359.
Pauly, Daniel, et al.
  "The Future for Fisheries," Science, 302 (5649), (21 November 2003) 1359-1361.
Gleick, Peter H.
  "Global Freshwater Resources: Soft-Path Solutions for the 21st Century," Science, 302 (5650), (28 November 2003) 1524-1528.
Chow, Jeffrey, Raymond J. Kopp, and Paul R. Portney
  "Energy Resources and Global Development," Science, 302 (5650), (28 November 2003) 1528-1531.

Look forward to the 25th Anniversary discussion of:

Hardin, Garrett
  "The Tragedy of the Commons," Science, 162 (3859), (13 December 1968) 1243-1248.

    Scientists who are aware of the way in which healthy ecosystems function have been emphasizing that changes in land management practices can have profound public health implications.  In the long run it is widely acknowledged that the health of human populations rests upon the health of the underlying ecosystems upon which they depend.   Abrupt or even gradual changes in land management practice over time can lead to the rapid growth of vector species or the rapid disappearance of keystone species, causing massive public health crises for humans or their domestic animals.

 

Water Supply

CLINTON DRINKING WATER ANNOUNCEMENT
All Things Considered

Thursday, December 03, 1998

NPR's John Nielsen reports on announcement by President Clinton of new safe drinking water rules. The new program will focus on keeping cryptosporidium out of drinking water. A 1993 outbreak of the parasite in Milwaukee killed 50 people and sickened hundreds of thousands more. The program will also provide funding for local water departments to improve the quality of drinking water. (3:30)

PFISTERIA AND HUMANS
All Things Considered

Friday, August 14, 1998

A new study shows links between pfiesteria exposure and cognitive and memory problems. Noah talks with Dr. Lynn Grattan, an associate professor of Neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who published the study in the journal Lancet. (4:30)

E. coli strain linked to four deaths in southern Ontario
Tue May 29 15:35:12 2001

     WHITBY, ONT. - Health officials in the Toronto area are battling to contain an outbreak of drug-resistant E. coli bacteria. But they say the public has no cause for alarm.

     They are tracking more than 150 cases of the infection detected since last summer. They believe it may have contributed to the deaths of four elderly people.

Ont. hospitals alerted to new cases of E. coli
   Sat Nov 24 18:37:37 2001

     TORONTO - Ontario's chief medical officer of health has advised hospitals and doctors that 12 people in the province have been infected with a potentially deadly strain of E. coli bacteria.

     Dr. Colin D'Cunha says it's the 0157:H7 strain, the same kind that killed seven people in Walkerton, Ont., last year.

What are ESBL-producing bacteria?
CBC News Online, May 2001 
     ESBL stands for extended spectrum beta-lactamase, which are enzymes that have developed a resistance to antibiotics like penicillin.

     Enzymes are proteins produced by living organisms. The proteins speed up biochemical reactions.

     ESBL enzymes are most commonly produced by two bacteria – Escherichia coli (otherwise known as E. coli) and Klebsiella pneumoniae. But ESBL enzymes can also be found in bacteria such as Salmonella, Proteus, Morganella, Enterobacter, Citrobacter, Serratia, and Pseudomonas.

  Pervasive Chemicals in the Environment:
 
    Pesticides, Environmental Estrogens and Hormone Disrupters

    Pesticide linked to breast cancer
    Friday, December 4, 1998 Published at 02:45 GMT

        A pesticide has been linked to increased risk of breast cancer.

    Danish researchers have found that exposure to organochlorines increases a woman's chances of developing the deadly disease.

        They believe the pesticide mimics the female sex hormone oestrogen.

        Women who never have children or who experience a late menopause are known to be at a higher risk of developing breast cancer.

        This is thought to be because their production of oestrogen remains uninterupted for a long period of their adult lives.

    Pesticides 'reduce male fertility'
    BBC News' James Westhead reports on the findings

    Friday, August 6, 1999 Published at 09:31 GMT 10:31 UK

        Men who are exposed to pesticides as a result of their jobs may find it harder to father children, according to researchers.

        A study published in The Lancet medical journal found that couples were less likely to achieve success during fertilisation treatment if the male partner had been in regular contact with pesticides.

        There has been growing concern about the effect pesticides may have on the human reproductive system, and particularly on the quality of men's sperm.

    Move to control pesticides
    Sunday, 3 December, 2000, 07:25 GMT

        By Julian Siddle of BBC Science

        More than 120 countries have been negotiating a treaty to ban or severely limit the use of a series of chemicals classed as Persistent Organic Pollutants (Pops).

        These chemicals have been linked to cancer, sterility and birth defects and are now banned by many governments.


 
    PCBs

    Norway's androgynous polar bears
    Tuesday, July 21, 1998 Published at 10:22 GMT 11:22 UK

    The BBC's Richard Wilson investigates in the Norwegian Arctic

        Scientists in the Arctic region of Norway have warned that polar bears are at risk because of high levels of chemical pollution from the rest of Europe and East Asia.

        The bears have been found with both male and female sexual organs.

        Scientists say chemicals used in heavy industry are causing the abnormalities, which could eventually lead to the bear's extinction.

        Polar bear birth-rates are already falling, and the Norwegian Polar Institute has detected high levels of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in the bears' blood.

    Brussels 'backing down' on gender benders
    Sunday, December 6, 1998 Published at 02:25 GMT

        By BBC News Online's Environment Correspondent Alex Kirby

        A European Union draft working paper on endocrine disrupters - chemicals which damage the hormone system in wildlife and humans - has been seriously watered down before publication.

        The chemicals, known as EDCs, or "gender benders", are dispersed through air, water and soil. They are known to be causing damage in species as far apart as polar bears in the Arctic, alligators in Florida and fish in British rivers.

    More Arctic pollution found
    Friday, December 18, 1998 Published at 04:37 GMT

    By Environment Correspondent Alex Kirby

        Five years of research by a team of international scientists has found evidence of new chemical contamination throughout the Arctic.

        The scientists work for the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), set up in 1991 by eight Arctic countries.

        Their report, based on research from 1991 to 1996, expresses concern that there are still too many gaps in our understanding of the pollution threats to the Arctic ecosystem.

        But the London-based journal Pesticides News says the team identified persistent organic pollutants (POPs) as the main concern.

        Pervading the environment

        POPs are chemical substances which persist in the environment, accumulate in the food chain, and threaten adverse effects on human health and the environment.

        All the POPs considered by the AMAP researchers have been found in air, snow, water and/or wildlife in the Arctic.

        Monday, June 28, 1999
        The new book, Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival?-A Scientific Detective Story, points out that chemicals shown to disrupt human hormone activity are not found just in pesticides but are also present in everyday products such as household cleaners and cosmetics. EarthNews (1:30)

    Birth defect link to landfill sites
    Thursday, 16 August, 2001, 14:54 GMT 15:54 UK

    The BBC's Richard Bilton

    "80 per cent of the population lives within a mile of a tip"

      Lord Whitty, Environment minister

    "This is part of a much bigger problem"

      Steve Lee, Environment Agency

    "The increased risk is only a statistical link"

        Babies born to mothers living near landfill sites are more likely to suffer minor birth defects, a study has shown.

        The government-backed research also showed that 80% of the population lived within 2km of a landfill site.

        The study, due to be published in the British Medical Journal on Friday, shows that pregnant women have a 1% higher risk of having a baby with a congenital defect, if they live near a landfill site.

        On average 153 babies per 10,000 are born with birth defects.

     

     
    POPs Treaty

    Bush to sign pollutants treaty
    Thursday, 19 April, 2001, 18:52 GMT 19:52 UK

      The BBC's Philippa Thomas in Washington
      "The President has been dubbed by some as the 'Toxic Texan'"
      National Environmental Trust's Philip Clapp
      "America will only co-operate with the world on environmental issues when there is no cost to American companies"
      The BBC's Paul Reynolds
      "President Bush made an important occasion out of this announcement"
        US President George W Bush says his administration is ready to sign an international treaty aimed at curbing toxic chemicals called persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
        Mr Bush - who has been dogged by criticism for his environmental policies in his first months in office - said the risk posed by organic pollutants was great and action needed to be taken.
        "We must work to eliminate or at least to severely restrict the release of these toxins without delay," Mr Bush said.

 

Food Supply

     
    Japan - Mad Cow
    All Things Considered
    Friday, November 23, 2001
        A second case of mad cow disease was confirmed in Japan earlier this week and the country's agriculture ministry has announced plans to slaughter cattle in an attempt to stem the spread of the disease. Linda Wertheimer talks with Charles Scanlon of the BBC who is stationed in Tokyo. (3:30)

    Mad Cow Disease
    All Things Considered

    Tuesday, December 12, 2000

        NPR's Joe Palca reports on what scientists expect to see over the next few months in Europe's Mad Cow Disease outbreak. Scientists in the U.S. say the rash of infections may just be the tail of the outbreak, and they're confident it won't happen here. (6:00)

    Sheep Raid
    All Things Considered

    Wednesday, March 21, 2001

        NPR's Jon Hamilton reports on today's seizure of a flock of Vermont sheep that some suspect may have been in contact with mad cow disease. The owners of the flock maintain that the sheep do not have the disease and have not been exposed to it. Nevertheless, federal officials arrived at the farm today and removed the sheep. The flock was quarantined in 1998 after being imported from Belgium. Federal offiicials maintain that the sheep ate contaminated feed while there. Since then, the Agriculture Department says tests show four sheep have a form of disease related to mad cow. (3:30)

    Red Cross - Mad Cow
    All Things Considered

    Wednesday, January 17, 2001

        Linda talks with Dr. Bernadine Healy, President and C.E.O. of the American Red Cross, about a ban on blood donations because of a fear of Mad Cow Disease. Healy says a ban of blood donations from people who lived in Western Europe anytime after 1980 could apply to six percent of Red Cross donors.

    BSE-CJD In Depth Reports - BBC
        British Crisis Chronology

    BSE report blames government ministers
    Sunday, 29 October, 2000, 11:26 GMT

        (AV Resources)

    Creutzfeldt-Jacob & Mad Cow Diseasese
    Talk of the Nation

    Friday, May 12, 2000

            Guests: Joseph Berger, M.D. Chairman and Professor, Department of Neurology University of Kentucky Medical Center Lexington, Kentucky Mary Jo Schmerr Lead Scientist, Prion Diseases Research Unit National Animal Disease Center United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service Ames, Iowa Linda Detwiler Senior Staff Veterinarian Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service United States Department of Agriculture Robinsville, New Jersey A study released last week in the U.K. failed to find evidence that tainted beef from the 1996 Mad Cow disease epidemic has caused widespread illness in people. In this hour, we'll talk about what's being done to control Mad Cow disease here and abroad. Plus, efforts to detect and treat the human form of the disease.

    NPR Special Report: How Safe is the Food Supply?
    Kicking the Habit of Antibiotics on the Farm

    Aug. 15, 200

      Listen to part one of the report on antibiotic use on American farms

      Listen to part two of the report, about Denmark's response to antibiotic abuse

            America has a drug problem. It's not street drugs or prescription painkillers -- it's antibiotics.

            A small but significant number of people are getting sick and finding the usual antibiotics don't work, because the strain of bacteria that's making them sick has become resistant to the drug. And some studies suggest one important factor in creating this resistance is American farming, where the nation's pigs, chickens and cattle consume antibiotics far more often than most humans.

      Creating a Super-Bug
              Certain antibiotics, once considered miracle cures, may no longer be effective because strains of bacteria have become resistant.
              That's because within every strain of bacteria, a small portion of the population have small but crucial genetic resistance to an antibiotic. And if, for example, a sick person takes antibiotics but fails to finish the whole course of the drug, some of that resistant bacteria can survive.
              The surviving bacteria stays in the environment, carrying on the genetic resistance, and the process can eventually lead to a strain of the original bacteria that is totally immune to the antibiotic's assault.

 

Animal and Wildlife Diseases

H5N1
All Things Considered

Tuesday, December 16, 1997

    So far, there are only 7 confirmed cases of a new strain of flu in Hong Kong, but two people have died from contracting it. An international team is now studying it to see if it could turn into a much larger problem. That will depend, in part, on how the virus spreads--at the moment specialists believe it comes from chickens, but the bigger question is whether it can also be spread from human to human. NPR's Mary Kay Magistad reports. (3:00)

MURDER MOST FOWL
All Things Considered

Monday, December 29, 1997

    Belinda Caminada reports from Hong Kong on today's slaughter of more than 1.3 million chickens, ducks, geese and pigeons in an effort to eradicate a mysterious flu linked to poultry that's killed four people. The H5N1 virus has long been known to infect birds, but jumped to humans for the first time this year. Thirteen cases in humans have been confirmed, including the four people who died. Officials say no poultry will be sold in Hong Kong unless certified as safe. So far, no one's saying when that will be. (3:00)

        MedRounds: Hong Kong Chicken Flu

 

Climate Change and Health - Malaria, Dengue, West Nile Virus

 
Climate change 'could kill thousands'
Friday, 9 February, 2001, 13:29 GMT
Report co-author Professor Tony McMichael
"Most of the anticipated effects would be bad ones"
    Climate changes could cause thousands of deaths every year - but reduce the number of cold-weather deaths, say experts.
    As floods once again hit parts of the UK, experts warn the incidence of gales and floods could increase over the next 50 years, when they predict temperatures will rise by up to two degrees centigrade.
    Experts even warn that malaria could return to large parts of the UK.

El Nino encourages mosquitoes in South America
Monday, February 2, 1998 Published at 11:03 GMT

    The Pacific weather phenomenon known as El Nino has devastated large areas of South America with floods, storms, and extremes of hot and cold weather.

    This summer has been hotter than most in the southern hemisphere. Temperatures in Columbia, Peru and Chile have broken all records.

    The heat wave and dramatic swings in the normal climate have brought more insects, especially mosquitoes which carry malaria and the potentially more dangerous disease, dengue fever.

    The lack of basic hygiene education in some villages makes them ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Venezuela faces dengue emergency
Friday, 24 August, 2001, 12:01 GMT 13:01 UK

    President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has called for emergency measures to combat an epidemic of dengue fever.

    The fever has affected more than 24,000 people and killed at least four.

    In a nationwide TV and radio address, Mr Chavez called on all Venezuelans to help get rid of stagnant water, where the disease-carrying mosquitoes breed.

West Nile I
All Things Considered

Monday, March 05, 2001

        The West Nile virus was identified for the first time in Uganda in the 1930s. It was infecting people in the West Nile region of Africa. The virus spreads when mosquitoes bite infected animals, and then bite humans. It showed up for the first time in the United States two summers ago. In 1999, thousands of crows around New York City, infected with the virus, began dropping dead out of the sky and dozens of people ended up in hospitals. Now a federal study, which has not been published, suggests that since it arrived in the U.S., the West Nile virus has made roughly 1,400 people sick. It has spread from New York and now is known to infect animals along the East Coast, up to the Canadian border and down to North Carolina. It is expected to eventually spread across the entire United States. NPR's Daniel Zwerdling reports the case of West Nile symbolizes a dilemma: as the global economy knits countries closer together, it's also making the United States more vulnerable to exotic diseases. The story of West Nile is a production of NPR and American Radio Works. It was produced by Marisa Penaloza. (12:30)

West Nile II
All Things Considered

Monday, March 05, 2001

        The West Nile virus was identified for the first time in Uganda in the 1930s. It was infecting people in the West Nile region of Africa. The virus spreads when mosquitoes bite infected animals, and then bite humans. It showed up for the first time in the United States two summers ago. In 1999, thousands of crows around New York City, infected with the virus, began dropping dead out of the sky and dozens of people ended up in hospitals. Now a federal study, which has not been published, suggests that since it arrived in the U.S., the West Nile virus has made roughly 1,400 people sick. It has spread from New York and now is known to infect animals along the East Coast, up to the Canadian border and down to North Carolina. It is expected to eventually spread across the entire United States. NPR's Daniel Zwerdling reports the case of West Nile symbolizes a dilemma: as the global economy knits countries closer together, it's also making the United States more vulnerable to exotic diseases. The story of West Nile is a production of NPR and American Radio Works. It was produced by Marisa Penaloza. (8:00)

Africans will suffer from Global Warming

Climate Shifts and Disease
Morning Edition

Tuesday, April 03, 2001

        NPR's David Kestenbaum reports that a new study shows how shifts in the world's climates will affect outbreaks of infectious diseases such as malaria. But even the study's own researchers say that despite advanced technology, it's still very difficult to make detailed, accurate predictions in this field. (4:17)

 

New and Resurgent Diseases

    Resurgent Cholera, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Ebola and HIV

 
Threat from drug-resistant cholera
Thursday, 17 August, 2000, 12:36 GMT 13:36 UK
    Strains of cholera resistant to some of the key antibiotics used to treat it have been found by Indian researchers.
    They suggest that overuse of certain drugs be curbed to avoid giving the bacterium even more staying power.
    A recent outbreak of severe, dehydrating, diarrhoea in West Bengal has already been linked with the emergence of strains resistant to furazolidone, antibiotics commonly used to treat cholera in children.

Deadly malaria strain in India
Wednesday, 13 June, 2001, 10:11 GMT 11:11 UK

By Subir Bhaumik in Calcutta

    Officials in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam say at least 70 people have died of malaria in the past month.

    The strain is a particularly serious one which affects the brain.

    Health officials in Assam say more than 1,000 people in 15 of the state's 23 districts have been affected.

    But, according to unofficial sources, the figure is much higher - with some estimates putting the toll at about 200.

TUBERCULOSIS
Talk of the Nation

Friday, March 19, 1999

        One in three people worldwide is infected with tuberculosis. Many may never develop symptoms. But more and more, people ARE getting sick. The threat of epidemic looms, boosted by the rise of AIDS and drug resistance and the fall of economies. This week, the World Bank offered India, one of the hardest-hit nations, a $144 (m) million dollar loan to help combat the disease. We'll talk about scientific research into tuberculosis tests, drugs, and vaccines, and talk to peole who have had success working to control the epidemic both here and abroad. Guests: Ann Ginsberg Program Officer for Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases National Institutes of Health Bethesda, Maryland Margaret Hamburg Former Health Commissioner, New York City Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation Department of Health and Human Services Washington, D.C. Paul Farmer Associate Professor of Medical Anthropology, Harvard Medical School Associate Physician, Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease, Brigham and Women's Hospital Director, Institute for Health and Social Justice at Partners in Health Boston, Massachusetts

DRUG-RESISTANT STRAINS OF TB
Morning Edition

Monday, September 21, 1998

        NPR's Anne Garrels visits a Russian prison camp in the Vladimir Region, three hours north of Moscow, where doctors are battling an epidemic of tuberculosis among the inmates. The strains of TB with which the prisoners are infected have become highly resistant to drugs, and the disease poses a serious health threat not only to the Russian population but internationally as well. (7:20)

Ebola Outbreak
All Things Considered

Wednesday, October 18, 2000

        An outbreak of the Ebola virus in Uganda has killed 39 people, an infected dozens more. Noah talks to Dr. Matthew Lukwiya, Medical Superintendent for Saint Mary Locar Hospital in the town of Gulu, where a team from the World Health Organization arrived today. Lukwiya says that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization will be helpful in setting up laboratories to help with early detection of the Ebola virus. (4:30)

  Ebola Comment
All Things Considered

Wednesday, October 18, 2000

        Commentator Laurie Garrett, a Pulitzer prize winning author who has written two books about disease in Africa, says though much about Ebola is a mystery, there is also a lot experts do know. She says the spread of the Ebola virus has been aided by the squalor of third-world hospitals, corruption and war. And she makes an argument for the first world to get involved in the fight against Ebola. (3:30)

PLAGUES AND YOU
Talk of the Nation

Tuesday, March 17, 1998
     GUESTS:\r Laurie Garrett \n Author, The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance , [Penguin, 1995] \r Anthony Fauci \n Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases \r E-Coli ... Mad Cow Disease ... a resurgence of TB and STDs ... Bioterrorism ... a new Hong Kong Flu ... are you at risk? The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta just hosted an international conference on emerging infectious diseases focusing on the new challenges of modern plagues. Join Ray Suarez and guests for a look at plagues of the modern world.

Public Health
All Things Considered

Friday, August 25, 2000

        Noah Adams speaks to Laurie Garrett, author of Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health, about her book, which details a decline of health care worldwide due to globalization. (8:00)

Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health, by Laurie Garrett, is published by Hyperion, August 2000.

Threats to Global Public Health
Talk of the Nation

Friday, September 08, 2000

    Guest: Laurie Garrett 
    Author, Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health (Hyperion, 2000)

Winner, 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism, Ebola

Science and Medical Writer, Newsday

    New York, New York Last month, the World Health Organization released a report on airport malaria, the result of infected mosquitos hitching rides on international flights. In this hour, we'll talk about the globalization of disease with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Laurie Garrett, who travelled around the world to answer the question ...is our collective health in danger?

40m living with HIV
Wednesday, 28 November, 2001, 13:58 GMT 
The BBC's Greg Barrow

"There are few bright spots in this new report"

    Globally, there are now 40 million adults and children with either HIV or Aids, according to the latest figures.

    The epidemic shows no signs of abating - with the world on course for five million new cases in 2001.

    The epicentre of the catastrophe remains sub-Saharan Africa, where more than 28 million people are thought to be living with the disease, and 2.3 million will die there in 2001.

Asia's burgeoning Aids epidemic
Thursday, 30 November, 2000, 23:07 GMT

The BBC's Roger Hearing

"For many of the victims there is little but spiritual help"

    The numbers are nowhere as numbing as Africa's, but the Aids epidemic in Asia is growing ever greater, and creeping into the most remote corners of the continent.

    And in some areas, that disaster is already apparent.

    Of particular concern is Burma, where experts have painted a very grim picture from the limited data available.

    A staggering 48,000 Burmese died of Aids last year, says the United Nations Aids programme (UNAIDS), and most of them would have had little care or treatment

 

 

Drug Resistances

 
Antibiotic Resistance
Weekend All Things Considered
Saturday, November 03, 2001
Lisa talks to Dr. Stuart Levy of Tufts University about the dangers to public health of the overuse of antibiotics. (3:45)

HIV bites back at key drug
The BBC's Richard Black

"This is the first evidence that the HIV virus is changing"

Tuesday, 6 November, 2001, 00:17 GMT

     A newly-discovered class of HIV appears to be far more able to mutate into forms which drugs are less likely to beat.

     The finding - detailed in a leading US medical journal on Tuesday - makes worrying reading for doctors who use drug therapy to keep the virus under control.

     Modern antiretrovirals can be remarkably successful against HIV, keeping patients alive and well for many years, despite not actually curing the infection.

     However, HIV is constantly changing its genetic makeup and finding forms which the drugs are not as effective against.

 

Biotechnology and Biological Warfare

     
    Dismay over US germ warfare stance
    Wednesday, 25 July, 2001, 18:08 GMT 19:08 UK
      The BBC's Stephen Sackur in Washington
    "The US is under fire for failing to cooperate"
    Former US negotiator Elisa Harris
    "The US does not want to be encumbered with treaty obligations"
    Prof Michael Clarke, Centre for Defence Studies
    "It looks as if the US is trying to get out of interdependence agreements"
    Biological weapons expert Dr Barbara Rosenberg
    "The US is becoming more politically isolated"
        There has been dismay at a UN disarmament conference in Geneva as the US turned its back on another international accord, this time one designed to enforce a ban on the use of biological weapons.
        Washington's representative said the US was unable to support the draft accord - the result of years of debate - because it would not achieve its goals and would hurt American interests.
        Donald Mahley said: "In our assessment, the draft protocol would put national security and confidential business information at risk."
        Members of non-governmental organisations sitting in the public gallery shook their heads and called the announcement a "disaster".
        Some official delegations also said they regretted the US decision and called for negotiations to continue without Washington.
        The germ warfare agreement aims to introduce measures to enforce the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, which the US says it still supports.

    Germ warfare talks suspended
    Friday, 3 August, 2001, 22:48 GMT 23:48 UK

        International negotiations to enforce a global ban on germ warfare have been suspended following a recent decision by the United States to pull out of the talks.

        The chairman of the 56-nation talks, Tibor Toth of Hungary, said the group could not go on working on a protocol on enforcement of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention without the participation of the United States.

        The germ warfare convention, while outlawing the manufacture, storage or use of toxic weapons, has no mechanism to ensure that states adhere to it.

        Washington withdrew from the talks towardsat the end of July, saying it objected to too many clauses on the proposed agreement.

        US fears espionage

        The US says the draft will be ineffective in stopping countries from developing germ warfare, but will endanger US security and expose the commercial secrets of its biotech industry to industrial espionage.

    US accused over bio-weapons deal
    Sunday, 18 November, 2001, 21:49 GMT

        The United States is putting at risk a key United Nations conference on deadly biological weapons which gets under way in Geneva on Monday.

        The conference, which is aimed at strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention, will be attended by up to 500 delegates representing up to 144 countries.

        A number of British politicians and experts have accused the Americans of dragging their feet following the Bush administration's rejection of a new protocol in July this year.

        They say the US could jeopardise moves to bring in a tough new inspection and enforcement regime.

        "The danger at Geneva is that there will be an endless flow of recriminations against the United States for what it did in July and August, which will make them even more resistant to coming back on board," warned Nicholas Sims of the London School of Economics in an interview on the BBC's War Report.


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