 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
 |
|
|
|
|||||||||||
|
Archive - September
2000 - 108/9 |
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Research |  back to contents |
|
|
||
|
|
Tina Garrity, CIEH research officer, rounds up the latest research Toxoplasmosis - contact with cats may not be so significant
The main risk for infection with toxoplasma in a study of pregnant
women in six large European cities was inadequately cooked or cured
meat. Contact with cats was not a risk factor. Researchers from
medical institutes across Europe collaborated on the project organised
by the European Research Network on Congenital Toxoplasmosis. They
interviewed 252 pregnant women diagnosed with acute toxoplasma infection.
Some 858 non-infected women were included as a control, of whom
150 subsequently did not participate. Women were asked how often
they had eaten raw or undercooked meat in the period before they
were categorised as a case or control. They were then asked how
often they cleaned up cat faeces and how often had worked in the
field or garden with their hands in the soil. They were also asked
about their knowledge of toxoplasmosis and how to avoid it. Contact
with cats was cited as a risk factor but few mentioned soil contact.
The study revealed a two-fold increased infection risk from soil
but none from cats. The other risk factors most closely linked to
acute infection were eating raw or undercooked lamb, beef or "other"
meat and travel outside Europe and North America. Other risk factors
revealed were working with animals, tasting raw meat while preparing
meals, eating salami and drinking raw milk. Review of knowledge and research on sustainable landfill
There are currently at least 11 projects underway looking at the
issue of sustainable landfill. In addition, several landfill operators
have begun in-house research projects. In order to obtain a clearer
picture of all the work in this field the Environmental Services
Association Research Trust and the Norlands Foundation jointly funded
consultants Knox Associates to produce a review. The review examines
definitions of the term sustainable landfill and gives details of
a host of projects, examining everything from leachate characteristics
to pollutant flushing techniques. It examines the concept of "final
storage quality" (FSQ) and concludes that sustainable landfill
can be achieved if waste is pre-treated to FSQ before landfilling
or if the wastes degraded and flushed within the landfill are at
a much higher rate than at present. Public attitudes to food safety The public are generally confident that the food they eat is safe
and that the food industry is well regulated in terms of hygiene.
They trust supermarkets more than small retailers, though minorities
appreciate the perceived greater expertise of smaller businesses.
When shopping, people are more concerned about price, value and
convenience than food hygiene. These are the main conclusions of
researchers Craig Ross Dawson who were commissioned to provide the
new Food Standards Agency with a picture of current public attitudes
to food safety. They organised 26 discussion groups involving a
cross-section of the public. Some people felt there were not enough
EHOs and that the whole structure of regulation was probably underfunded.
Few people would consider contacting an EHO, except perhaps about
a restaurant or a takeaway. Predictably, people said they were worried
about animal welfare, additives and pesticides, genetic modification
and nutrition. They welcome the Agency in principle inasmuch as
it is supposed to be independent and science-based, but they are
cynical about its ability to change anything. Exposure to radiowaves near mobile phone base stations Measurements taken at 118 locations around 17 sites where people
were concerned about their exposure to radiowaves from mobile phone
base stations revealed that exposures were well within current guidelines.
The sites included schools and blocks of flats and measurements
were taken both inside and outside. The maximum exposure at any
location was 230 millionths (0.023 per cent) of the NRPB investigation
level. The authors discovered that the exposures encountered were
extremely variable and concluded that it would be difficult to discriminate
between exposed and unexposed groups in any population based epidemiological
study. Pathogen transfer from manure into the food chain The single most important factor which determines pathogen survival
in manure and in the wider environment is temperature, according
to a report produced for MAFF. Researchers from ADAS and the Centre
for Applied Microbiology and Research at Porton Down have reviewed
all the literature available and have come up with some key recommendations
for farmers and growers on how to reduce pathogen transfer. Pathogen
prevalence and levels are affected by several factors including
the age of the animal, its diet, movement of the animal between
housing and grazing and stress. The report looks at the different
ways manure is managed and at current guidance. The researchers
also examined the literature on organic farming and found that there
is insufficient information to determine whether it causes a higher
risk of pathogen transfer than conventional farming. |
|