Dining out a few times per week might not seem like a big deal … until you do the math. On average, Americans spend about $20 per week getting lunch in restaurants, or $1,043 a year, according to a survey out last week of 2,033 people by Visa taken i…
Senators, Health Experts Demand Action to Address Biolab Accidents
Key members of Congress, public health leaders and biosecurity experts demand better oversight and accountability for laboratories in the wake of a USA TODAY Network investigation that revealed widespread safety lapses and pervasive secrecy that obscures failings by researchers and regulators… The “lack of transparency and significant variability in how safety lapses are reported and reprimanded across all levels of government is very concerning,” said U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs… Richard Ebright, a biosafety expert at Rutgers University in New Jersey who has testified before Congress, said lab oversight by the CDC and USDA is clearly ineffective. Ebright said both agencies have conflicts of interests as regulators because they conduct research in their own labs and their departments fund studies at facilities receiving inspections.
Buzz Off! Rough Winter Delayed Insect Onslaught
Just as the fierce winter in the eastern and central USA delayed the allergy season, it’s also stalled the start of the bug season. But it won’t be long before warmer temperatures spur on the usual parade of mosquitoes, termites, ants, ticks and stink bugs… Though weather affects when bugs emerge, it doesn’t necessarily affect the severity of the season. “Most people think that the cold winter we had last year and again this year would have a big impact on insect populations,” said entomologist George Hamilton of Rutgers University. Though it may have killed some of the bugs, “overall, it probably isn’t going to have much of an effect,” he said… Warmth and dryness in the West may impact insects that need water to survive, such as mosquitoes, Hamilton said. “Without water, mosquito larvae can’t survive, and that could reduce populations in some areas, at least this spring,” he said.