In its (falsely) reassuringly subtitled booklet “The Food Defect Action Levels: Levels of Natural or Unavoidable Defects in Foods That Present No Health Hazards for Humans,” the F.D.A.’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition establishes acceptable levels of such “defects” for a range of foods products, from allspice to peanut butter.Among the booklet’s list of allowable defects are “insect filth,” “rodent filth” (both hair and excreta pellets), “mold,” “insects,” “mammalian excreta,” “rot,” “insects and larvae” (which is to say, maggots), “insects and mites,” “insects and insect eggs,” “drosophila fly,” “sand and grit,” “parasites,” “mildew” and “foreign matter” (which includes “objectionable” items like “sticks, stones, burlap bagging, cigarette butts, etc.”).
Tomato juice, for example, may average “10 or more fly eggs per 100 grams [the equivalent of a small juice glass] or five or more fly eggs and one or more maggots.” Tomato paste and other pizza sauces are allowed a denser infestation — 30 or more fly eggs per 100 grams or 15 or more fly eggs and one or more maggots per 100 grams.
Here's that happy-fun FDA publication: "The Food Defect Action Levels - Levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods that present no health hazards for humans."
New Scientist reports on the research of Princeton University's Alexander Todorov, who finds that "snap judgments are based on an 'overgeneralization' of an evolved need to read facial expressions for signs of danger.
The National Union of Journalists, in association with British Journal of Photography, has called for photographers to make their voices heard at a rally on 16 February as a new law is introduced that allows for the arrest - and potential imprisonment - of anyone who takes pictures of police officers 'likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism'...The NUJ has teamed up with Mark Thomas, a writer, broadcaster, comic and political activisit, along with Chris Atkins, who is behind the documentary Taking Liberties, and BJP for a 'photo opportunity' outside New Scotland Yard on Monday 16 February. 'The plan is simple, turn up with your camera and exercise your democratic right to take a photograph in a public place,' says Marc Vallee, an NUJ member who will be there on the day, and who himself clashed with police over the right to photograph public events
The difference between you and the reporter at your local newspaper is that in many cases, you may not have the benefit of training or resources to help you determine whether what you're doing is legal. And on top of that, sometimes knowing the law doesn't help - in many cases it was written for traditional journalists, and the courts haven't yet decided how it applies to bloggers.But here's the important part: None of this should stop you from blogging. Freedom of speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Internet bullies shouldn't use the law to stifle legitimate free expression. That's why EFF created this guide, compiling a number of FAQs designed to help you understand your rights and, if necessary, defend your freedom.
"We have the pieces all in place. They can't go in any other way. Now we have to understand what the pictures are telling us," said Dr. Stephen B. Liggett, professor of medicine and physiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and director of its Cardiopulmonary Genomics Program.
The research was published in the online edition of the journal Science on Thursday afternoon.
Technically known as the human rhinovirus infection, the common cold is responsible for half of all asthma attacks and is a factor in bronchitis, sinusitis, middle-ear infections and pneumonia. The coughs, sneezes and sniffles of colds impose a major health care burden in the United States -- including visits to health care providers, cost of over-the-counter drugs for symptom relief, often-inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions and missed work days -- with direct and indirect costs of about $60 billion annually.
"We generally think of colds as a nuisance, but they can be debilitating in the very young and in older individuals and can trigger asthma attacks at any age," Liggett said. "Also, recent studies indicate that early...infection in children can program their immune system to develop asthma by adolescence."
Finding a cure for the common cold has been elusive. That's because the rhinovirus is so complex. Made up of at least 99 different strains, it can infect different people with different symptoms.
By mapping the genome of the common cold and assembling the results into a "family tree," scientists can see how the virus strains are related, as well as their differences. Liggett, who is also the study's senior author, says this is a breakthrough in solving the common cold puzzle because. "At least now we have an understanding of which virus one might have."
Now that the pieces are together, drug companies can work on developing new treatments that would either halt or prevent the cold virus before it begins to spread.
Researchers found that human rhinoviruses are organized into about 15 small groups. So the idea of one drug fits all probably won't work, Liggett says. "Our mindset right now is to consider more along the antiviral treatment, rather than vaccines, but always keep an open mind to the new technology of vaccine development."
Investigators are so optimistic with their findings that they predict the development of new drugs within the next two to five years, depending on Food and Drug Administration approval, which could mean one day soon, runny noses caused by colds may be a thing of the past.
