Really, FDA? Really?

This article was a follow-up to an earlier article I posted about the initial Listeria-in-produce article that I wrote about a few weeks earlier. So far, the infection seems to be quarantined; however, around 135 people have already been infected and 25 people have died, making this the worst outbreak in nearly three decades.

The article describes how the source of Listeria wasn’t the cantaloupes itself (well, technically, it was) but rather, it was the highly unsanitary conditions in which the cantaloupes were processed. Allegedly, Jenson Farms (the farm that produced the infected melons) had purchased dirty equipment that was never really thoroughly cleaned (and was previously used to wash potatoes which normally grow in compost) and used it to pack the cantaloupes. Inspections have also shown that the processing plant itself was hard to clean, wasn’t cleaned, and had puddles all around the area. Basically it was a perfect place for Listeria cultures because it was damp, dirty, and cool.

This entire incident shows how loose the regulation on food processing is. The FDA is only allowed to hold inspections of food companies and processing plants once every FIVE to TEN years. These are plants that are distributing food to the US, possibly the entire world; things that go directly into people’s bodies and inspections are restricted to only once in five years?! The FDA even claims to have never been to Jenson Farms. Loose regulation is the underlying cause of why the outbreak occurred. Jenson Farms probably bought the dirty equipment because it was cheaper and didn’t clean their facility properly because it would have taken too much money for labor and cleaning supplies. If there was regulation for a REQUIRED check every year, or even half a year, those floors would be spotless and the machinery as well, meaning, no Listeria, and no deaths or sickness.

http://healthland.time.com/2011/10/20/listeria-outbreak-linked-to-cantaloupe-packing-equipment/

got killed by a one-a-day.

New developments in research have shown that Vitamin E supplements actually do more harm than good; at least in the case of prostate cancer rates. This is fairly ironic as a lot of people take Vitamin E supplements to deter cancer. It’s very alarming as most people in developed countries take multivitamins on a daily basis for “greater health purposes” and really, they could be slowly killing themselves. Prostate cancer is a large killer in the male population, and it might be this high because of the multivitamin supplements.

A potential reason why this is happening is that most people in developed countries don’t really need to take multi-vitamins. Most of the vitamins that we do need, if not all, we can easily get from food; and we usually do. That combined with the fact that many multivitamins pack more than 200% of a person’s daily recommended intake of vitamins and minerals could be causing an overflow of nutrients into the blood. Most people don’t realize that multivitamins don’t need to be taken every day; and most of the time the extra influx could be potentially dangerous; especially now that it has been shown that we don’t know the full extent of what taking the extra supplements will do for us in the long run.

Not to say that taking vitamins is all bad. There are still correlations with taking Vitamin E and reduced symptoms of Alzheimers. Basically, it’s a choice of the lesser evil. Which is worse, prostate cancer or Alzheimers?

http://healthland.time.com/2011/10/12/vitamin-e-may-increase-risk-of-prostate-cancer/

Stem Cells, still on the rise

http://healthland.time.com/2011/10/05/a-stem-cell-first-using-the-dolly-method-on-human-cells/

Once again, I will be talking about stem cells.

According to this article in Time Magazine, scientists from the New York Stem Cell foundation have found a way to use the same method of cloning that was used on Dolly the cloned sheep, to make viable stem cells from adult cells. This is a huge step in the process of getting stem cells to proliferate more in medical cures. Now that we can clone stem cells from adult cells, there is no reason to harvest them from the ovaries/eggs of a woman. This breakthrough means that more specialized stem cells can be made; this is important because the genome of every person is different than the next, which means there is a chance that a person could reject stem cells. With this breakthrough, a person could make his or her own stem cells, which would reduce (if not completely eliminate) gene based complications during transfer. This should lead to an end for the theocratic and ethical responses against stem cells because they’re taken from the eggs of a woman. Of course, there are still other concerns such as cloning, as this research also puts us one step closer to being able to replicate a human being.

Though, to note, this technology is not actually COMPLETELY here yet. Yes, the cells are viable, and yes, the process itself has been discovered; however, there are still many kinks to this process and complications that occur because of it such as extra chromosomes in the cells, which is not a good thing.

Listeria in Cantaloupes

http://healthland.time.com/2011/09/29/illness-deaths-from-listeria-tainted-cantaloupes-expected-to-rise/

Recently, one of the biggest food contaminations has occurred the US (possibly the world); depending on how far Jenson Farm Cantaloupes have been shipped. According to Time magazine and the CDC, so far, 76 illnesses and 16 deaths have been recorded due to listeria found in cantaloupes.

Listeria, or more specifically listeria monocytogenes, is a major human pathogen that, when infected with, can cause “Recently, one of the biggest food contaminations has occurred the US (possibly the world); depending on how far Jenson Farm Cantaloupes have been shipped. According to Time magazine and the CDC, so far, 76 illnesses and 16 deaths have been recorded due to listeria found in cantaloupes.

Listeria, or more specifically listeria monocytogenes, is a major human pathogen that, when infected with, can cause Recently, one of the biggest food contaminations has occurred the US (possibly the world); depending on how far Jenson Farm Cantaloupes have been shipped. According to Time magazine and the CDC, so far, 76 illnesses and 16 deaths have been recorded due to listeria found in cantaloupes.

Listeria, or more specifically listeria monocytogenes, is a major human pathogen that, when infected with, can cause “fever and muscle aches, sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. Other symptoms may include headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions.” It mainly affects those that have a compromised immune system, a.k.a. the elderly, pregnant women, children, those infected with HIV/AIDS, those on chemotherapeutic drugs, etc.

The real problem this causes is that due to globalization and frequency of trade, farms in the US ship their goods out to the entire world (depending on the crop); and because of this listeria scare, many other farms and farmers are deciding to recall their crops as well. For example, a California based lettuce company has recently recalled. Thankfully, none of the 4.5 million cantaloupes that were shipped out have been exported to other countries; however, many other farms that have begun recalling their crops may have.

As this development is still fairly recent, and still ongoing, many other farms are likely to start recalling their crops. This will take a lot of resources, not only to ship the crops back to the source, but also to have the CDC and FDA test each harvest for traces of listeria. Also, as a lot of crops are being recalled, they are obviously not going to be redistributed, meaning that the agriculture sector is going to take a huge hit.