Economic burden from health losses due to foodborne illness in the United States

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently revised their estimates for the annual number of foodborne illnesses; 48 million Americans suffer from domestically acquired foodborne illness associated with 31 identified pathogens and a broad category of unspecified agents. Consequently, economic studies based on the previous estimates are now obsolete. This study was conducted to provide improved and updated estimates of the cost of foodborne illness by adding a replication of the 2011 CDC model to existing cost-of-illness models. The basic cost-of-illness model includes economic estimates for medical costs, productivity losses, and illness-related mortality (based on hedonic value-of-statistical-life studies). The enhanced cost-of-illness model replaces the productivity loss estimates with a more inclusive pain, suffering, and functional disability measure based on monetized quality-adjusted life year estimates. Costs are estimated for each pathogen and a broader class of unknown pathogens. The addition of updated cost data and improvements to methodology enhanced the performance of each existing economic model. Uncertainty in these models was characterized using Monte Carlo simulations in @Risk version 5.5. With this model, the average cost per case of foodborne illness was $1,626 (90% credible interval [CI], $607 to $3,073) for the enhanced cost-of-illness model and $1,068 (90% CI, $683 to $1,646) for the basic model. The resulting aggregated annual cost of illness was $77.7 billion (90% CI, $28.6 to $144.6 billion) and $51.0 billion (90% CI, $31.2 to $76.1 billion) for the enhanced and basic models, respectively.     

Antimicrobial susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from bovine mastitis in Europe and the United States

Minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined for 811 strains of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from cases of bovine mastitis in 11 countries. The countries and number of isolates included Denmark (105), England (92), Finland (95), Germany (103), Iceland (22), Ireland (42), Norway (101), Sweden (123), Switzerland (69), United States (53), and Zimbabwe (6). The antimicrobial agents tested were penicillin, ampicillin, oxacillin, cephalothin, ceftiofur, amoxicillin + clavulanate, penicillin + novobiocin, enrofloxacin, premafloxacin, erythromycin, clindamycin, lincomycin, pirlimycin, neomycin, lincomycin + neomycin, and sulfamethazine. The MIC90 for these antimicrobial agents for all strains were 0.5, 1.0, 1.0, 0.5, 1.0, < or =0.06, 0.125, 0.125, < or =0.0078, 0.5, 1.0, 16.0, 1.0, 2.0, 0.5, and 4.0 microg/ml, respectively. Overall, only small variations between countries were seen in the MIC90 for the majority of compounds tested. Of the strains tested, 35.6% were positive for beta-lactamase production on initial testing, with an additional 21.3% positive after induction by penicillin. In conclusion, the overall level of resistance was generally low for all antimicrobial agents tested regardless of country. Given the differences in antimicrobial use in various countries, the widespread adoption of mastitis control programs to prevent infections limits the exposure of S. aureus infected animals to antimicrobial drugs.     

Production losses from mastitis: carry-over from the previous lactation

The study examined whether elevation in SCC in the second lactation was associated with reduced milk production in the third lactation. Lactation records from 10,705 Holstein cows from 770 herds were taken from the Dairy Records Processing Center at Raleigh. Cows in the data set were selected so that no SCC test in the first lactation was elevated above a linear score of 4.5 (no mastitis in the first lactation). Using actual and mature equivalent milk production in the first lactation as a baseline, effects of elevated SCC on production in the second and third lactations were examined using linear regression. The effect of high SCC during a cow's current lactation was found to be essentially the same as previously reported by other investigators. An increase in the lactation average linear score of 1.0 was associated with a decrease of approximately 200 kg of milk per lactation. Limited carry-over effect of elevated SCC during the second lactation was found in the third lactation. For third lactation milk production, the effect of increased SCC during the preceding (second) lactation was only about 20 to 30% as much as the effect of SCC increases in the third lactation.     

美国花生生产概况与研究动态

本文从花生种植简要历史、生产区域和花生类型、种植面积和产量、种植技术（包括播种、收获和病虫害防治）、花生消费和产品质量控制等方面介绍了美国花生生产的概况。通过对2010至2012年美国花生研究和教育协会举办的花生年会上文章的统计,简要分析了美国在花生种质资源与育种研究、花生遗传与生物技术、花生生产技术以及病虫害抗性等方面的研究动态,旨为我国花生的科研与生产提供参考。     

Declining mortality from smoking in the United States.

The proportion of Americans who smoke cigarettes has declined 50% since 1965. The effect on mortality of this considerable reduction has received little attention and is described in this study. U.S. national data were used to enumerate current, former, and never-smokers aged 35 years or older in 1987 and 2002. Mortality rate ratios were used to estimate smoking-attributable deaths among these groups, and corresponding age-adjusted smoking-attributable mortality rates (SAMRs) were calculated. There were 402,000 deaths attributable to smoking in 1987 and 322,000 in 2002. The SAMR for men aged 35 years or more was 556 deaths per 100,000 person-years in 1987, accounting for 24% of all male deaths. By 2002 the SAMR declined 41% to 329 and accounted for only 17% of deaths. The SAMR for women in 1987 was 175, accounting for 12% of deaths. By 2002 the SAMR among women had declined 30% to 122, representing 9% of deaths. The U.S. mortality rate attributable to smoking declined about 35% between 1987 and 2002. The impact of smoking on American society will diminish even further in the foreseeable future as smoking prevalence continues its decline among men and women.     

Genetic correlations among protein yield, productive life, and type traits from the United States and diseases other than mastitis from Denmark and Sweden.

Sire genetic evaluations for protein yield, productive life, and selected type traits from the US were correlated with sire evaluations for disease from Denmark and Sweden and were then adjusted to approximate genetic correlations. Disease categories from Denmark included reproductive diseases, foot and leg diseases, metabolic and digestive diseases, and all diseases other than mastitis. Genetic evaluations for Denmark were from separate analyses for each disease category using a multiple-trait sire model with first, second, and third lactations handled as multiple traits. Evaluations from Sweden for all diseases other than mastitis were from a single-trait sire model using only first lactations. In addition, Danish and Swedish genetic evaluations were regressed on US type evaluations to test for quadratic relationships. Relationships were based on 104 bulls with US and Danish evaluations (88 with US type) and 84 bulls with US and Swedish evaluations (83 with US type). Genetic correlations between US protein yield and diseases were unfavorable, but correlations were favorable between productive life and disease. Genetic correlations among US type and diseases were around zero, except for correlations with US dairy form (range -0.34 to -0.73). Genetic correlations calculated from residual correlations (adjusted for predicted transmitting abilities for milk) between productive life and diseases were favorable (range 0.29 to 0.51). Genetic correlations calculated from residual correlations (adjusted for predicted transmitting abilities for milk) between dairy form and diseases ranged from -0.10 to -0.53. Selection for increased productive life may reduce disease occurrences, but selection for higher dairy form scores will increase disease occurrences.     

The effect of a national mastitis control program on the attitudes, knowledge, and behavior of farmers in the Netherlands

Over the years, much effort has been put into implementing mastitis control programs in herds. To further improve utilization of such programs, there needs to be an understanding of the attitudes, knowledge, and behavior of farmers regarding udder health, and the way this can be influenced by mastitis control programs. This study aimed to explore the effect of a national mastitis control program on Dutch farmers' attitudes, knowledge, and behavior regarding mastitis. A total of 378 dairy farmers completed a survey on attitudes, knowledge, and behavior regarding mastitis before the start of a national mastitis control program in 2004, and 204 completed a similar survey in the final year of the program (2009). Although the average annual bulk milk somatic cell count (BMSCC) remained the same, the farmers' self-reported attitudes, knowledge, and behavior changed significantly. The problem level of BMSCC decreased from 285,000 cells/mL in 2004 to 271,000 cells/mL in 2009. More farmers perceived that they had sufficient knowledge about the prevention of mastitis (34% in 2004 vs. 53% in 2009) and they more often perceived that they knew the cause of a mastitis problem (25% in 2004 vs. 37% in 2009). The use of gloves for milking increased from 15 to 46%, the use of a standardized mastitis treatment protocol increased from 7 to 34%, and freestalls were cleaned more often (2.28 vs. 2.51 times/d) in 2009 compared with 2004. Most changes in attitudes, knowledge, and behavior did not differ between groups of dairy farmers whose herds had an initially low (≤ 162,000 cells/mL), medium (163,000 to 205,000 cells/mL), or high (>206,000 cells/mL) BMSCC. The high BMSCC group significantly decreased their annual BMSCC level by 15,000 cells/mL. Regression analysis showed that the decrease in BMSCC was associated with a change in farmers' perceptions (e.g., increased perceived knowledge about the effect of the milking machine on mastitis) and with a change in certain management practices (e.g., disinfecting all teats after milking). The results showed that a national mastitis control program affected the attitudes, knowledge, and behavior of farmers regarding mastitis and could contribute to udder health improvement in the long term.     

Management practices from questionnaire surveys in herds with very low somatic cell score through a national mastitis program in France

French dairy herds (n = 534) were enrolled in the National 'Zero Mastitis Objective' Program to highlight management practices characterizing very low somatic cell score (SCS) herds. The herds studied were stratified into 2 groups. The first group (LOW) included herds within the first 5 percentiles and the second group (MED) herds within the 50 to 55 percentiles of herds on the basis of mean SCS for the 36 mo preceding the program. Potential explanatory variables, collected through questionnaire surveys, were analyzed using multistep logistic regression models. Twenty-six variables were significant factors in the final models, in which 18 were considered as primary factors for very low SCS. The probability for a herd belonging to the LOW group was associated with: (1) regular use of teat spraying; (2) herdsman precise in his techniques; (3) less than 1 person-year used at activities other than dairy herd; (4) teat dipping after mammary infusion at dry off; (5) heifers kept in a calving pen around parturition; (6) cows locked in feed-line lockups after milking; (7) dry cows with prepartum Ca restriction; (8) heifers on a nondamp pasture; (9) cows culled when at least one damaged teat; (10) heifers at pasture not drinking water from a river; and (11) disinfecting teat ends with alcohol before intramammary infusion at dry off. The probability for a herd belonging to the MED group was associated with: (1) milking cows housed in a straw yard; (2) checking heifers for mastitis only beginning at 2-wk prepartum; (3) no mastitis treatment when at least one clot was observed in milk at successive milkings; (4) distance of herdsman's house to cowshed >300 m; (5) only dirty teats washed before milking; (6) free access of cows from pasture to cowshed during bad weather; and (7) more than 18% of spring calvings. The variables associated with very low SCS should be applied as part of a thorough mastitis-control program adapted to each herd.     

Emissions from ships in the northwestern United States

Recent inventory efforts have focused on developing nonroad inventories for emissions modeling and policy insights. Characterizing these inventories geographically and explicitly treating the uncertaintiesthat result from limited emissions testing, incomplete activity and usage data, and other important input parameters currently pose the largest methodological challenges. This paper presents a commercial marine vessel (CMV) emissions inventory for Washington and Oregon using detailed statistics regarding fuel consumption, vessel movements, and cargo volumes for the Columbia and Snake River systems. The inventory estimates emissions for oxides of nitrogen (NOx), particulate matter (PM), and oxides of sulfur (SOx). This analysis estimates that annual NOx emissions from marine transportation in the Columbia and Snake River systems in Washington and Oregon equal 6900 t of NOx (as NO2) per year, 2.6 times greater than previous NO, inventories for this region. Statewide CMV NO, emissions are estimated to be 9,800 t of NOx per year. By relying on a "bottom-up" fuel consumption model that includes vessel characteristics and transit information, the river system inventory may be more accurate than previous estimates. This inventory provides modelers with bounded parametric inputs for sensitivity analysis in pollution modeling. The ability to parametrically model the uncertainty in commercial marine vessel inventories also will help policy-makers determine whether better policy decisions can be enabled through further vessel testing and improved inventory resolution.     

Antimicrobial treatment of clinical mastitis in the eastern United States: The influence of dairy farmers' mastitis management and treatment behavior and attitudes

To assess both the behaviors and social variables related to antimicrobial therapy for clinical mastitis, we sent a survey to 1,700 dairy farms in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Florida in January and February 2013. The survey included questions related to 7 major areas: sociodemographic and farm characteristics, milking proficiency, milking systems, cow environment, infected cow monitoring and treatment, farm labor, and attitudes toward mastitis and related antimicrobial use. The overall response rate was 41% (21% in Florida, 39% in Michigan, and 45% in Pennsylvania). Herd size ranged from 9 to 5,800 cows. Only a small proportion of herds frequently or always cultured milk samples for bacteriology from cows with a high somatic cell count (17%), cows with clinical mastitis (18%), or bulk tank milk (13%). Likewise, only 56% of herds frequently or always maintained records of all treated cows and 49% reviewed records before administering mastitis treatments. Multivariate analysis determined that use of treatment records was associated with increased likelihood of frequent use for both intramammary (IMA) and systemic (SYA) administration of antimicrobial drugs for therapy of clinical mastitis. As would be expected, use of natural (organic) therapies was associated with decreased use of IMA, as was the respondent being a member of an Amish community. Lower levels of education and the use of bacterins to control Staphylococcus aureus mastitis were also associated with decreased IMA, whereas increased use of IMA at dry off and the belief that “bad luck” plays a role in mastitis problems were associated with increased IMA. Use of an internal teat sealant, the respondent being the sole proprietor, being from Michigan, use of conductivity to measure subclinical mastitis, the respondent placing increasing importance on decreasing antibiotic residues in cull cows, and having financial incentives for employees linked to somatic cell count were associated with increased use of SYA for the treatment of clinical mastitis. Use of sand or mattresses for bedding were associated with decreased SYA. These findings highlight the need to improve the acceptance of practices that are consistent with prudent antimicrobial use for the treatment of clinical mastitis on dairy farms. Additionally, the willingness of dairy farmers to administer antimicrobial drugs for the treatment of clinical mastitis is associated with other mastitis-related practices and attitudes.     

Workplace smoking policies in the United States: results from a national survey of more than 100,000 workers

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of smoking policies in indoor work environments as reported by a nationally representative sample of workers in the United States. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey of households within the United States. SETTING: All 50 state and the District of Columbia, 1992-93. PARTICIPANTS: Currently employed indoor workers 15 years of age and older who responded to the National Cancer Institute's Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey (n = 100,561). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The prevalence and restrictiveness of workplace smoking policies as reported by workers currently employed in indoor workplaces in the United States. RESULTS: Most of the indoor workers surveyed (81.6%) reported that their place of work had an official policy that addressed smoking in the workplace; 46.0% reported that their workplace policy did not permit smoking in either the public/common areas--for example, restrooms and cafeterias--or the work areas of the workplace. The reporting of these "smoke-free" policies varied significantly by gender, age, race/ethnicity, smoking status, and occupation of the worker. CONCLUSIONS: Although nearly half of all indoor workers in this survey reported that they had a smoke-free policy in their workplace, significant numbers of workers, especially those in blue-collar and service occupations, reported smoke-free rates well below the national average. If implemented, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration's proposed regulation to require worksites to be smoke-free has the potential to increase significantly the percentage of American workers covered by these policies and to eliminate most of the disparity currently found across occupational groups.


     

Economic input-output life-cycle assessment of trade between Canada and the United States

With increasing trade liberalization, attempts at accounting for environmental impacts and energy use across the manufacturing supply chain are complicated by the predominance of internationally supplied resources and products. This is particularly true for Canada and the United States, the world's largest trading partners. We use an economic input-output life-cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) technique to estimate the economy-wide energy intensity and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity for 45 manufacturing and resource sectors in Canada and the United States. Overall, we find that U.S. manufacturing and resource industries are about 1.15 times as energy-intensive and 1.3 times as GHG-intensive as Canadian industries, with significant sector-specific discrepancies in energy and GHG intensity. This trend is mainly due to a greater direct reliance on fossil fuels for many U.S. industries, in addition to a highly fossil-fuel based electricity mix in the U.S. To account for these differences, we develop a 76 sector binational EIO-LCA model that implicitly considers trade in goods between Canada and the U.S. Our findings show that accounting for trade can significantly alter the results of life-cycle assessment studies, particularly for many Canadian manufacturing sectors, and the production/consumption of goods in one country often exerts significant energy- and GHG-influences on the other.     

美国明智选择计划标签的特点、失败原因与警示

包装正面(Front of Package, FOP)标签是帮助消费者快速选择健康食品的新型营养标签。虽然美国的FOP标签起步早,种类多,对世界影响力大,但并非都是成功案例。在我国FOP标签启动阶段,分析美国明智选择计划标签失败原因具有警示意义。通过梳理相关文献发现,美国明智选择计划标签清晰直观且认证标准公开透明,因对非健康食品认证而被美国食品和药物管理局(Food and Drug Administration, FDA)停止使用。该标签失败的原因主要是认证标准偏低、政府监管存在漏洞、行业自律缺失和营养事实标签宣教不足等。因此,在我国开放FOP标签认证的前提是政府制定高标准的认证要求,健全市场监管机制,确立认证退出机制,发挥行业协会协调监督作用,创新营养成分表科普方式以提高居民使用意识。     

Hexabromocyclododecanes in indoor dust from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States

alpha-, beta-, and gamma-hexabromocyclododecane diastereomers (HBCDs) were measured in house dust from Birmingham, U.K. (n=31, median concentration=730 ng sigmaHBCDs g(-1)); Amarillo/Austin, TX (n=13, 390 ng g(-1)); and Toronto, Canada (n=8, 640 ng g(-1)). Concentrations in dust (n=6, 650 ng g(-1)) from U.K. offices were within the range for UK homes. Concentrations from each country were statistically indistinguishable. In one UK house dust sample, 110,000 ng g(-1) was recorded-the highest recorded in indoor dust to date. While upper bound average U.K. dietary exposures for adults and toddlers, respectively, are 413 and 240 ng sigmaHBCDs day(-1), U.K. adults and toddlers daily ingesting, respectively, 50 and 200 mg of dust contaminated at the 95th percentile concentration are exposed, respectively, to 1100 and 4400 ng sigmaHBCDs day(-1). Normalized to body weight, this high-end exposure scenario estimate for toddlers is within the range reported elsewhere for occupationally exposed adults. While in commercial formulations gamma-HBCD predominates (>80%), alpha-HBCD in dust constitutes 14-67% of sigmaHBCDs (average 32%). Hence the predominance of the alpha-diastereomer in humans may arise partly from dust ingestion, and not solely to in vivo metabolism (when alpha-HBCD is formed from bioisomerization of other diastereomers), or dietary exposure (where alpha-HBCD predominates in most foodstuffs).     

Economic Issues and Implications of a United States Milk Quota Program

Interest in adoption of a national mandatory milk quota program has grown considerably in the last 2 yr primarily due to mounting dairy surpluses and burgeoning costs of the dairy price support program. If this type of program were to be adopted, all segments of the dairy industry would be affected. This article examines the potential economic issues and implications of such programs on current and future generations of dairy farmers, milk handlers, government, and consumers. In part, it is argued that a national mandatory milk quota program would most likely raise farm milk prices, reduce milk surpluses, provide windfall gains to current producers, reduce government budgetary costs, increase retail prices for consumers of dairy products, increase costs of production, encourage the use of substitutes for dairy products, and slow adoption of new technologies by farmers. Although the political climate in Congress and the Administration is not very receptive, support for these programs has grown during the past year among farmers and the dairy lobby. At the very least, there undoubtedly will be political pressure for a national mandatory milk quota program in the near future.     

Atmospheric deposition of current-use and historic-use pesticides in snow at national parks in the western United States

The United States (U.S.) National Park Service has initiated research on the atmospheric deposition and fate of semi-volatile organic compounds in its alpine, sub-Arctic, and Arctic ecosystems in the Western U.S. Results for the analysis of pesticides in seasonal snowpack samples collected in spring 2003 from seven national parks are presented herein. From a target analyte list of 47 pesticides and degradation products, the most frequently detected current-use pesticides were dacthal, chlorpyrifos, endosulfan, and gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane, whereas the mostfrequently detected historic-use pesticides were dieldrin, alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane, chlordane, and hexachlorobenzene. Correlation analysis with latitude, temperature, elevation, particulate matter, and two indicators of regional pesticide use reveal that regional current and historic agricultural practices are largely responsible for the distribution of pesticides in the national parks in this study. Pesticide deposition in the Alaskan parks is attributed to long-range transport because there are no significant regional pesticide sources. The percentage of total pesticide concentration due to regional transport (%RT) was calculated for the other parks. %RT was highest at parks with higher regional cropland intensity and for pesticides with lower vapor pressures and shorter half-lives in air.     

中美小麦检验标准的比较研究

目的比较中国和美国小麦检验标准差异。方法对我国与美国小麦检验标准、品质分级、污染物及农药残留等方面进行比较分析,对我国进口小麦存在的检验问题进行探讨。结果美国标准中品质、农药残留的检测项目多且限量严格,中国对小麦污染物的检测项目要多于美国,美国对于小麦的等级分类指标更全面、系统化,可以更好地评价小麦等级品质。结论结合我国小麦检验的实际情况及国外先进经验,提出我国小麦质量标准系统存在的主要问题和发展方向,对我国进出口小麦的检验检疫工作提供帮助。