faulker092

Tuesday evening’s event featured an engaging lecture co-presented by Dr. Suzanne Kennedy-Stoskopf and Dr. Chris DePerno. Their talk, entitled Changing Landscapes, Changing Populations, Changing Values, Changing Disease Risks: What Is Happening to Wildlife? covered the natural history of several North Carolina wild animals and their potential to spread infectious disease. Dr. Kennedy-Stoskopf, a research professor at NC State University, began the presentation by discussing humanity’s intrinsic connection to animals; she remembered, as many of use do, being interested in animals from a young age. She reminded the audience that in spite of this connection, animals do pose a risk to human well being; 60.3% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonosis, and 71.8% originate in wildlife. A lively discussion ensued around what these numbers meant to audience members—some of the more interesting points raised included wondering what humans had done to provoke these statistics and how it rea...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/business/23fda.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=fda%20japan%20imports&st=cse WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it would halt imports of dairy products and produce from the area of Japan where a nuclear reactor is leaking radiation. The F.D.A. said those foods will be detained at entry and would not be sold to the public. The agency previously said it would step up screening of those foods. Other foods imported from Japan, including seafood, will continue to be sold to the public but screened first for radiation. Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex has been leaking radiation after it was damaged in a devastating earthquake and tsunami earlier this month. The sea near the nuclear plant has also shown elevated levels of radioactive iodine and cesium, prompting the Japanese government to test seafood. Japanese foods make up less than 4 percent of all American imports, and t...

http://www.fda.gov/downloads/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/UCM238166.pdf

Tuesday’s session on ensuring national and international food safety was addressed by a panel of experts in different fields. The list of speakers comprised of Dr. Noel Greis who is director of the Kenan Institute’s Center for Logistics and Digital Strategy and professor of Operations, Technology and Innovation Management at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Dr. Leslie Wolfe is the Laboratory director of the NC State laboratory of public health, Ms. Sharron Stewart, a graduate of N.C. State University with certificates in both Public Management as well as Community Preparedness and Disaster Response from UNC-School of Public Health, is the Director of Emergency Programs Division, North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and Mr. Brett Weed, Food Defense Coordinator of the Food and Drug Protection Division of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Dr. Noel Greis presented on an an...

Dr. Sid Thakur and Dr. Steve Wing shared their expertise on intensive swine production with the One Health Intellectual Exchange this past Wednesday, March 15 th . Dr. Thakur, Assistant Professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at NC State University, started the evening with a talk on antimicrobial resistance as it relates to the swine industry. Afterwards, Dr. Wing, Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the UNC School of Public Health, presented a different perspective, and spoke about the health impacts of air pollution associated with intensive pig farming. These topics are of particular interest in North Carolina. This state houses more pigs than humans, and is responsible for 14.4% of the total hogs produced in the United States. In true One Health spirit, Dr. Thakur touched upon the three dimensions of antimicrobial resistance (human, animal, and environmental), but focused primarily on the role of the environment, which has been ignored in many discussions on thi...

On Tuesday, March 1, 2011, the One Health Collaborative Intellectual Exchange Group discussed “Water and Food Security and the Impacts of Climate Change” from the One Health perspective. Presentations on the topic were made by Dr. Jay Levine, Professor of epidemiology and public health at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Adjunct Professor of epidemiology at UNC Chapel Hill, and Ms. Mamie Harris, Africa Programs Director for the UNC Institute of Global Health and Infectious Diseases and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the UNC Public Health Leadership program. These were followed by small-group discussions focused on potential solutions to problems encountered in the field. Dr. Levine started us off by speaking to access to water, the quantity and quality of that water, and what all of this means to public health. The problem is rooted in the fact that an estimated 13% of the world’s population does not have access to potable water. What’s more, over 41%...