A Review of the Effectiveness of Current US Policies on Antimicrobial Use in Meat and Poultry Production.

Purpose: Industrial food animal production accounts for most animal-source protein consumed in the USA. These operations rely on an array of external inputs, which can include antimicrobials of medical importance. The use of these drugs in this context has been the subject of public health debate for decades because their widespread use contributes to the selection for and proliferation of drug-resistant bacteria and their genetic determinants.

Correction to: Mercury exposure, nutritional deficiencies and metabolic disruptions may affect learning in children.

The original version of this article [1] unfortunately contained an error which has since been acknowledged in this Correction article. The URL link in the Reference 19 was broken and it needs to be replaced with the active link given below.

A Food Systems Approach To Healthy Food And Agriculture Policy.

Food has become a prominent focus of US public health policy. The emphasis has been almost exclusively on what Americans eat, not what is grown or how it is grown. A field of research, policy, and practice activities addresses the food-health-agriculture nexus, yet the work is still often considered "alternative" to the mainstream.

Evaluation of the association between maternal smoking, childhood obesity, and metabolic disorders: a national toxicology program workshop review.

Background: An emerging literature suggests that environmental chemicals may play a role in the development of childhood obesity and metabolic disorders, especially when exposure occurs early in life.

Objective: Here we assess the association between these health outcomes and exposure to maternal smoking during pregnancy as part of a broader effort to develop a research agenda to better understand the role of environmental chemicals as potential risk factors for obesity and metabolic disorders.

Methods: PubMed was searched up to 8 March 2012 for epidemiological and experimental animal studies related to maternal smoking or nicotine exposure during pregnancy and childhood obesity or metabolic disorders at any age.

Exporting obesity: US farm and trade policy and the transformation of the Mexican consumer food environment.

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions, in the United States as well as among its trade partners such as Mexico. It has been established that an "obesogenic" (obesity-causing) food environment is one influence on obesity prevalence. To isolate the particular role of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, in changing Mexico's food environment, we plotted the flow of several key products between the United States and Mexico over the 14-year NAFTA period (1994-2008) and situated them in a broader historical context.

A macroepigenetic approach to identify factors responsible for the autism epidemic in the United States.

The number of children ages 6 to 21 in the United States receiving special education services under the autism disability category increased 91% between 2005 to 2010 while the number of children receiving special education services overall declined by 5%. The demand for special education services continues to rise in disability categories associated with pervasive developmental disorders. Neurodevelopment can be adversely impacted when gene expression is altered by dietary transcription factors, such as zinc insufficiency or deficiency, or by exposure to toxic substances found in our environment, such as mercury or organophosphate pesticides.

MRSA in conventional and alternative retail pork products.

In order to examine the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus on retail pork, three hundred ninety-five pork samples were collected from a total of 36 stores in Iowa, Minnesota, and New Jersey. S. aureus was isolated from 256 samples (64.

Reproductive health and the industrialized food system: a point of intervention for health policy.

What food is produced, and how, can have a critical impact on human nutrition and the environment, which in turn are key drivers of healthy human reproduction and development. The US food production system yields a large volume of food that is relatively low in cost for consumers but is often high in calories and low in nutritional value. In this article we examine the evidence that intensive use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, hormones, antibiotics, and fossil fuel in food production, as well as chemicals in food packaging, are potentially harmful to human reproductive and developmental health.

Agricultural policy and childhood obesity: a food systems and public health commentary.

For thirty-five years, U.S. agriculture has operated under a "cheap food" policy that spurred production of a few commodity crops, not fruit or vegetables, and thus of the calories from them.

Mercury exposure, nutritional deficiencies and metabolic disruptions may affect learning in children.

Among dietary factors, learning and behavior are influenced not only by nutrients, but also by exposure to toxic food contaminants such as mercury that can disrupt metabolic processes and alter neuronal plasticity. Neurons lacking in plasticity are a factor in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and mental retardation. Essential nutrients help maintain normal neuronal plasticity.

Today's Food System: How Healthy Is It?

With its focus on the quantity of production, often to the exclusion of other goals, today's food system is on an unsustainable course. The problem begins with and is driven by industrialized production of both crops and animals. Industrialization is a product of technological change, public policy, and, most recently, globalized trade.

Research and Action Priorities for Linking Public Health, Food Systems, and Sustainable Agriculture: Recommendations from the Airlie Conference.

One hundred leading researchers, practitioners, and advocates in public health, health care, nutrition, obesity, economics, sustainable agriculture, and food systems met at the Airlie Conference Center in April 2009 to discuss creating linkages among food systems, public health, and sustainable agriculture in order to achieve healthier diets, healthier communities, and a healthier planet. Participants convened in small groups to explore and discuss research that is needed to create a health-based and sustainable food system. The discussion and key recommendations from the small breakout sessions are presented.

Food Systems and Public Health: Linkages to Achieve Healthier Diets and Healthier Communities.

The Airlie Conference on "Food Systems and Public Health: Linkages to Achieve Healthier Diets and Healthier Communities" was convened to discuss how we as a nation can shift toward promoting healthy, sustainably produced foods that are aligned with national dietary and health priorities; the most strategic changes in policy, governance and practices that can help this shift occur; and identify knowledge gaps and policy-relevant research needs. This special theme issue presents papers emanating from the conference, and policy-relevant research and action recommendations from the small group breakout sessions.

Mercury from chlor-alkali plants: measured concentrations in food product sugar.

Mercury cell chlor-alkali products are used to produce thousands of other products including food ingredients such as citric acid, sodium benzoate, and high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup is used in food products to enhance shelf life. A pilot study was conducted to determine if high fructose corn syrup contains mercury, a toxic metal historically used as an anti-microbial.

The role of the environment in pediatric practice in Minnesota: attitudes, beliefs, and practices.

Pediatricians can help limit children's exposures to environmental hazards, but few studies have assessed their comfort with discussing and dealing with environmental health issues. We surveyed the membership of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics to assess pediatricians' attitudes and beliefs about the effect the environment can have on children's health, and to assess their practices in regard to screening for, diagnosing, and treating illnesses related to environmental exposures. Results showed that Minnesota pediatricians agree that children are suffering from preventable illnesses of environmental origin but feel ill-equipped to educate parents about many common exposures and their consequences.

The potential role of concentrated animal feeding operations in infectious disease epidemics and antibiotic resistance.

The industrialization of livestock production and the widespread use of nontherapeutic antimicrobial growth promotants has intensified the risk for the emergence of new, more virulent, or more resistant microorganisms. These have reduced the effectiveness of several classes of antibiotics for treating infections in humans and livestock. Recent outbreaks of virulent strains of influenza have arisen from swine and poultry raised in close proximity.

Public health advocate.

With antimicrobial resistance mounting, an important public health goal is to preserve therapeutic effectiveness of remaining antimicrobials. To that end, fewer antimicrobials should be used in human medicine and in agriculture. Public health initiatives to reduce antimicrobial overuse could benefit from concurrent collection of agricultural usage data; they could aid scientific understanding of the resistance problem and confirm the efficacy of interventions.