Look forward to the 25th Anniversary discussion of:

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.

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.