“Water, air quality fears conflict with pig farms” – CNBC, 16 February 2015

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Administrator

Though livestock farms have perfected mass production of meat, some of their practices are impacting the environment in devastating ways. The nitrates and bacteria from farm fertilizer and piles of manure are effecting waterways and polluting the air.

While farmers maintain that they’re doing everything they can to prevent pollution — by planting grass strips, easing off on ploughing their fields, and employing new methods that hinder runoff — environmental groups, animal rights groups, and citizens are still bringing the issue to court.

Des Moines’ water utility, for instance, must purify their water through an expensive system because of the nitrates farmers use. If consumed by children under six-years-old, those nitrates can diminish the oxygen in the children’s blood.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, almost 68 percent of the US’s waterways, including lakes, reservoirs, ponds, and rivers, are “impaired,” which means they don’t comply with water-quality standards and contain too many toxic elements to use. Farms are the main offender, mostly because the farms are mismanaged and located in areas more harmful to waterways.

Over the years, pig farms have grown immensely. In the 1990s, almost 200,000 of the nation’s pig farms were family-run; in 2012, that number dropped to 21,600. A big motivator for this shift towards industry pig farms is Murphy-Brown LLC, which was bought by China-based WH Group. One of WH Group’s primary goals is to export pigs from the US to China because it’s less costly. Inevitably, this goal has spurred more production.

Pigs produce enormous amounts of waste, which are stored in large ponds, altered with chemicals, liquified, and then used as fertilizer. For nearby residents, the manure not only smells, but the runoff can cause health problems, such as respiratory problems, sore throat, nausea, irritability in the eyes, and high blood pressure.

While many large-scale operations manufacture meat that is affordable to the consumer, it seems it comes as a trade-off for the health and well-being of the environment and many of the consumers.

February 23, 2015

www.fluidmanagementsystem.com subodh@fluidmanagementsystem.com

“Obama Proposes Single Overseer for Food Safety” – New York Times, 20 February 2015

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Administrator

Currently, as many as 15 governmental agencies have their hand in food safety — primarily the Food and Drug Administration and the Agriculture Department, but also others like the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. While the FDA and Agriculture Department are the main overseers, they too have different protocols and inspection methods.

The Obama administration has proposed a streamlined approach to food safety that would bring all the agencies under one roof in the Department of Health and Human Services. Centralizing food safety might run into some problems, as food safety experts, food safety inspectors, and consumer groups are already resistant to the idea.

The FDA and Agriculture Department often find themselves in opposition with each other: not only do they have different protocols — their guidelines are entirely different, from mandates to inspections programs to training and education — they are also territorial.

While the FDA oversees a majority of the food we eat, such as seafood, vegetables, fruit, dairy products, and shelled eggs, the Agriculture Department inspects our meat, poultry, and processed eggs. However, both departments’ inspections methods vary widely.

Everyday, the Agriculture Department, for instance, will assign inspectors to livestock processing plants so that every piece of meat and poultry is thoroughly examined. Every meat and poultry plant in the US is lawfully obligated to have an inspector there daily. Because the FDA is in charge of inspecting more food products, inspectors aren’t present at every plant.

Foods imported into the US also seem to have to pass few inspections. In order for meat to comply with US standards, the export countries must have inspection protocols that are the same as the Agriculture Departments. At the most, the FDA inspects two percent of our plant imports.

Some of the Agriculture Department’s food safety inspectors think that the FDA’s standards would weaken their own. Other doubters assert that there is no research that advocates that a streamlined system would be better than the US’s current system.

But it seems like US food safety might already need change. Every year, around 87 million Americans fall sick from food, 371,000 go to the hospital for that sickness, and 5,700 die.

February 23, 2015

www.fluidmanagementsystem.com subodh@fluidmanagementsystem.com

“Global Pork Market Starts to Shift” – Wall Street Journal, 20 June 2014

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Administrator

The swine-disease that has been ravaging the US pork industry for over a year, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv), is beginning to impact US pork exports and the global trade. PEDv, which only effects piglets and has no impact on human health, has killed millions across 30 states.

US pork prices in the market have also caused US consumer pork prices to increase. In May, average retail was at an all-time high of $4.10/pound, a 15% increase from the same time in 2013. Increased pricing is persuading big buyers to import pork from other markets. Such a move will likely hit the US pork industry hard, since the US exports almost a quarter of its yearly pork production.

PEDv is certainly a threat to the US pork industry, as the industry is known for low prices and large output. Skyrocketing costs in the US is reshaping global trade: other markets are stepping in and creating their own exporting opportunities.

Wall Street Journal

The USDA projects that US pork exports will plummet by 190,000 tons to 2.2 million tons in 2014. This April, exports to China dropped 13 percent from April 2013, and 37 percent from March 2013. China is the biggest global consumer of pork, and was the US pork industry’s third-largest importer from April 2013 to April 2014.

The USDA reports that Brazil’s exports are expected to grow by 55,000 tons to a total of 675,000 tons. Canada’s exports increased by 16 percent from January to April, compared to export rates from a year earlier. The USDA also projects that Canada’s exports will grow by 20,000 tons to 1.3 million tons in 2014. A majority of these exports will be to the US and China.

Europe’s pork industry has also become victim to disease, the African swine fever, which is disrupting its trade with Russia. Russia banned pork imports from the EU this past January. Similarly, China has placed a ban on pork imports from Poland. Japan’s pork industry has also been hit with PEDv, which has wiped out over 200,000 piglets since Fall 2013.

June 24, 2014

www.fluidmanagementsystem.com subodh@fluidmanagementsystem.com

“CDC: Antibiotic Overuse Can Be Lethal” – Wall Street Journal, 4 March 2014

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Administrator

According to a report by the CDC, the overuse of antibiotics used to treat patients is spurring the formation of superbugs. While treatments vary between hospitals, some doctors prescribe their patients three times the amount of antibiotics that doctors in other hospitals prescribe, for comparable diseases.

The constant misuse has rendered many antibiotics ineffective and caused the rapid development of superbugs. Misuse can also make patients susceptible to other infections, like Clostridium difficile, or C. difficile, a bacterial infection.

The CDC’s report gathered information from hospitals and patients from 2010 and 2011. The report projected that reducing antibiotic use by 30% would lower C. difficile infections by 26%. Almost 250,000 patients contract C. difficile in the hospital, which can bring on sepsis and death.

A very powerful antibiotic that is often overused is vancomycin, which is prescribed for MRSA, a strain of Staph infection. In a study, over 20% of patients who were treated with intravenous vancomycin for MRSA never had MRSA.

The government is pushing to half the amount of C. difficile infections in five years. Doing so would prevent 20,000 deaths, 150,000 hospitalizations and cut $2 billion dollars from health-care expenses.

Obama also addressed this situation in his budget proposal for 2015, which contains $30 million to study and pinpoint strains of resistant bacteria, and promote communication between communities about outbreaks and remedies.

April 12, 2014

www.fluidmanagementsystem.com subodh@fluidmanagementsystem.com

“Antibiotics of the Future” – Wall Street Journal, 16 December 2013

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Administrator

Misuse of antibiotics in people and livestock is rampant, and has caused the formation of antibiotic-resistant germs to speed up. As a result, scientists are trying to create new antibiotics that will fight the germs that existing antibiotics can’t fight.

Scientists are using varying methods to develop new antibiotics, such as adding silver, which can increase the antibiotics’ ability to combat germs. Researchers are also employing the bacteria’s own genetic sequencing to accelerate the creation of more powerful drugs.

In the US, almost two million people are infected yearly by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, resulting in thousands of deaths. It’s natural for antibiotics to become less efficient over time: bacteria develops a resistance, which means new antibiotics need to be created regularly. Both misuse of antibiotics and a decline in antibiotic development since 1990 have added fuel to the fire.

Researchers now have the capability to develop new antibiotics by studying germs’ genomes and looking for certain gene patterns. Most antibiotics are cultivated from the bacteria’s toxins—analyzing a germs’ genes has proven to be a great, albeit slow, method to creating new antibiotics.

Researchers are also looking for ways to render germs powerless. A person becomes infected when the bacteria’s population grows to a certain amount; scientists are trying to figure out if there’s a way to break communication between the individual microbes. In addition, scientists are trying to subdue toxins and other signaling molecules that are fundamental for an infection to advance.

February 28, 2014

www.fluidmanagementsystem.com subodh@fluidmanagementsystem.com

Bridging the Gap between Animal Health and Human Health — NIAA Antibiotic Symposium White Paper Released

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Administrator

The National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA) recently published a white paper for the 2013 symposium, Bridging the Gap between Animal Health and Human Health, a continuation and extension of two previous symposiums, Antibiotic Use in Food Animals: A Dialogue for a Common Purpose in 2011 and A One Health Approach to Antimicrobial Use & Resistance: A Dialogue for a Common Purpose in 2012.

The goals of the 2013 and the past symposiums have been the same, supportive of the NIAA’s mission to continue forging a new path for a strong relationship between farmers, veterinarians, experts, drug companies and others, in order to resolve antibiotic resistance.

Twenty presentations were given by a range of experts on antibiotic use and resistance, which addressed many items, including the following:

Due to wide mistreatment of antibiotics and a wide array of viewpoints, our knowledge of antibiotic resistance requires further study and clarification. There are many facets to antimicrobial resistance; if you believe you have a 100% understanding, then you haven’t received an accurate explanation.
The relationship between animal, human and environmental health is compelled by the following: 1) the fact that antimicrobial resistance is bound to happen—its existence is natural and present, regardless of the use of antimicrobials; 2) when an antibiotic gains access to the ecosystem, there is a possibility that it will advance antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotic resistance can be transferred between animals and humans, and vice versa.
Antibiotic resistance is present in livestock, humans and companion animals, or pets.
Antibiotic resistance is a global issue, not just an issue in the US.
Meat manufacturing needs to follow current regulations, including correcting our mistreatment of animal antibiotics.
Working towards decreasing the prevalence of antibiotic resistance requires collaboration. We must ask ourselves, “How does human health, environmental health and animal health work together to address antibiotic use and resistance?”.
And much more.

(source)

Though the symposium brought key experts in human and veterinary medicine together to debate on the best approach to solving antibiotic resistance, there is still much to be done. We must closely observe and gain a better understanding of antibiotic resistance, as well as improve the motivation for advancing new antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance doesn’t originate from one source; the best way to focus on the issue is to streamline the system and eradicate any confusion.

Read all our blog posts on Human-Animal Health

Read the Bridging the Gap between Animal Health and Human Health White Paper

January 28, 2014

www.fluidmanagementsystem.com subodh@fluidmanagementsystem.com

“Meat Industry Won’t Fight Antibiotics Rule” – Wall Street Journal, 12 December 2013

Posted on December 30, 2013 by Administrator

Last week, the FDA introduced new policy that aims to curtail growth promotion antibiotics used on livestock. The use of these antibiotics on animals has been linked to the generation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans.

While farmers and the meat industry support the FDA, neither think the new regulations will have an impact on the livestock industry. The FDA’s regulations deem it illegal to use antibiotics for growth promotion purposes, only allowing for antibiotic use when medically necessary. While the FDA now requires veterinarians to supervise antibiotic use on livestock, farmers will still be able to use antibiotics for preventative measures, especially in feed and water.

According to the FDA, almost 30 million pounds of antibiotics were used on livestock in 2011, a 2% increase from 2010. In 2011, around 7.3 million pounds of antibiotics were used to medicate people.

The FDA’s new policy is not mandatory for drug companies, yet animal drug companies like Zoetis and Elanco have complied. The guidelines request that drug companies remove any wording from their labels that implies that a drug promotes growth.

These are the steps in the right direction to protect animal and human health while enhancing public image for livestock and drug companies.

December 27, 2013

www.fluidmanagementsystem.com subodh@fluidmanagementsystem.com

Nalini S. Mahadevan Joins Fluid Management Systems as General Counsel

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Administrator

Nalini S. Mahadevan has been appointed as General Counsel for Fluid Management Systems, Inc. Ms. Mahadevan earned her JD from the St. Louis University School of Law and MBA from Washington University, St. Louis, MO. She was a partner at Lowenbaum Partnership and a founding partner at Mahadevan Law Office, LLC, both in St. Louis. She has over 10 years of experience in federal law. She is also an Adjunct Professor at St. Louis University School of Law.

Ms. Mahadevan will provide contract, licensing and legal services for Fluid Management Systems.

Fluid Management Systems is a high tech entrepreneurial company based in Lexington, Kentucky, USA. FMS is marketing a trademarked and patented product, VETrakTM, a proprietary system for managing inventory through a non-invasive measurement process. The initial focus is on food-animal feeding operations (AFO), such as swine and bovine markets. The products are also being developed for human health, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and medical dispensing cabinet for hospitals, clinics and AFOs.

NIAA Animal Disease Traceability Forum White Paper Released

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Administrator

The National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA), an organization geared towards developing resolutions in different areas of the animal agriculture industry, recently released another White Paper, “Bringing Industry and Regulatory Leaders Together to Create Sensible Solutions”, a summary of the information offered at the Joint Strategy Forum on Animal Disease Traceability.

On December 20, 2012, the USDA introduced the Traceability for Livestock Moving Interstate rule, which was put into effect in March 11, 2013, and is a major element of the US’s Animal Disease Traceability (ADT) program, a system that identifies, tags and tracks livestock.

According to the USDA’s new rule, livestock transported between states, or interstate, must first be officially identified and carry an Interstate Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (ICVI) or other identification documentation, like owner-shipper statements or brand certificates. The law is pertinent to cattle, bison, poultry, sheep, goats, swine, captive cervids, and horses and other equine species that are transported interstate. Cattle less than 18 months old are not required to have documentation when crossing state lines, unless the animals are being used for shows, exhibits, rodeos or recreational events.

The USDA hopes to have all official ear tags with the official ear tag shield by March 11, 2014, and all official ear tags, that are on animals, to bear the shield.

The goal of the ADT program is to reduce the spread and impact of US animal and livestock diseases. If a disease outbreak occurs, then the program will assist the government in finding the source of the geographical location and diseased animal.

While it has been difficult ensuring that the ADT program is fully enacted, the USDA’s new ruling will enforce the tagging and tracking of animals and livestock.

Read our previous post on the NIAA’s Antimicrobial Use and Resistance White Paper.

September 9, 2013

www.fluidmanagementsystem.com subodh@fluidmanagementsystem.com

“New Antibiotics Guidelines for Livestock Producers Explained” – The Cattle Site, 7 August 2013

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Administrator

Use of antibiotics with livestock has been long talked about in the animal health community; and finally, the FDA is introducing antibiotic guidelines for farmers and livestock producers to follow, in order to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance to humans.

Farmers often use antibiotics as a way to help their livestock gain weight, while also preventing disease, but farmers aren’t required to report their use of antibiotics. The misuse or overuse of antibiotics can promote antibiotic resistance in humans, transferring resistant bacteria to humans. The goal of the FDA’s new regulations is to foster appropriate use of antibiotics in livestock.

The FDA has determined which specific antibiotics will have requisite veterinary oversight. They are going to work with drug companies to reprint drug labels that claim to boost feed efficiency and growth promotion, instead highlighting disease prevention, control and treatment. In addition, the FDA will concentrate on making it easier for livestock producers to acquire Veterinary Feed Directive drugs, which are used in animal feed; the use of Veterinary Feed Directive drugs are supervised by licensed vets.

Click here for the list of antibiotics included in the call for veterinary oversight.

Read all of our entries related to Human-Animal Health.

Conceived, Developed and Written by Dr. Subodh Das and Tara Mahadevan

August 28, 2013

www.fluidmanagementsystem.com subodh@fluidmanagementsystem.com

Fluid Management System Blog

Non-Invasive Measurement

Category Archives: humans

“Water, air quality fears conflict with pig farms” – CNBC, 16 February 2015

“Obama Proposes Single Overseer for Food Safety” – New York Times, 20 February 2015

“Global Pork Market Starts to Shift” – Wall Street Journal, 20 June 2014

“CDC: Antibiotic Overuse Can Be Lethal” – Wall Street Journal, 4 March 2014

“Antibiotics of the Future” – Wall Street Journal, 16 December 2013

Bridging the Gap between Animal Health and Human Health — NIAA Antibiotic Symposium White Paper Released

“Meat Industry Won’t Fight Antibiotics Rule” – Wall Street Journal, 12 December 2013

Nalini S. Mahadevan Joins Fluid Management Systems as General Counsel

NIAA Animal Disease Traceability Forum White Paper Released

“New Antibiotics Guidelines for Livestock Producers Explained” – The Cattle Site, 7 August 2013