MRSA Bacteria in Your Grocery Store’s Meat Products

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (MRSA), which can cause serious, life-threatening infections of the bloodstream, skin, lungs, and other organs, and is resistant to a number of antibiotics, has been found to be more prevalent in grocery store raw pork products than previously thought.

When the University of Iowa College of Public Health and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy tested 395 samples from 36 stores in Iowa, Minnesota, and New Jersey, they found 7 percent carried MRSA.

“This study shows that the meat we buy in our grocery stores has a higher prevalence of staph than we originally thought,” says lead study author Tara Smith, Ph.D., interim director of the UI Center for Emerging and Infectious Diseases and assistant professor of epidemiology. “With this knowledge, we can start to recommend safer ways to handle raw meat products to make it safer for the consumer.”

The study also noted that pork raised with antibiotics or antibiotic growth promotants were not significantly different in MRSA contamination from antibiotic-free pork products.

“We were surprised to see no significant difference in antibiotic-free and conventionally produced pork,” Smith says. “Though it’s possible that this finding has more to do with the handling of the raw meat at the plant than the way the animals were raised, it’s certainly worth exploring further.”

Gulf of Mexico dead zone predicted to be the largest ever recorded due to Mississippi River flooding

The dead zone area in the Gulf of Mexico is forecasted to grow to the size of New Hampshire, approximately 8,500 to 9,421 square miles, due to major flooding on the Mississippi river this spring. If this happens, it will be the largest recorded dead (hypoxic) zone in the Gulf of Mexico since it was first measured in 1985, according to NOAA scientists.

Hypoxic areas in seas and oceans is caused by excessive nutrient pollution, usually from agriculture run-off. This results in too little oxygen to support most marine life in bottom and near-bottom water. These dead zone areas, such as the Gulf one growing just off the coast of Louisiana and Texas,  are a threat to commercial and recreational Gulf fisheries.

“This ecological forecast is a good example of NOAA applied science,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “While there is some uncertainty regarding the size, position and timing of this year’s hypoxic zone in the Gulf, the forecast models are in overall agreement that hypoxia will be larger than we have typically seen in recent years.”

Researchers should know more about its size following a NOAA-supported monitoring survey led by the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium between July 25 and August 6.

NOAA has been funding investigations and forecast development for the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico since 1990 and currently oversees the two national hypoxia programs authorized by the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act.

New discovery of green tea’s health benefits

One of green tea’s beneficial compounds has been found to increase the number of “regulatory T cells” that play a key role in immune function and suppression of autoimmune disease.

Green tea is known to have anti-inflammatory properties, boost immunity, and prevent cancer. Researchers who are currently studying its healing powers now believe this newly discovered mechanism — caused by the compound in green tea, a polyphenol called EGCG — is responsible for much of the tea leaves’ health benefits. While pharmaceutical drugs may provide some of the same benefits, the use of a natural substance such as green tea avoids toxicity issues associated with synthetic chemicals.

“This appears to be a natural, plant-derived compound that can affect the number of regulatory T cells, and in the process improve immune function,” said Emily Ho, a Linus Pauling Institute principal investigator and associate professor in the Oregon State University Department of Nutrition and Exercise Sciences.

“When fully understood, this could provide an easy and safe way to help control autoimmune problems and address various diseases,” Ho said.

Canned foods have been found to have high levels of BPA

The U.S. FDA recently found 71 out of 78 canned foods tested were contaminated with bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA. One can of green beans contained as much as 730 parts per billion of the synthetic hormone, which is usually found as a component in epoxy can linings. That level of concentration has been associated in laboratory studies with permanent toxicity. In the FDA testing, green beans, peas, chili and refried beans were the food products that contained the highest contamination levels.

The “safe” exposure level established by EPA, at 50 micrograms of BPA per kilogram of body weight per day (50 ug/kg/d), is considered up to 25 times higher than harmful levels. Establishing safe public levels continues to be concern, as BPA is known to cause harmful effects, specifically disrupting the body’s hormone system, since it mimics estrogen – even at low doses.

“Federal health agencies warn parents to limit their children’s BPA exposures,” Environmental Working Group’s senior analyst Sonya Lunder, M.P.H., said. “But with the chemical found in canned food, store receipts and even umbilical cord blood, we think that ‘buyer beware’ isn’t good health policy. Systematic protections for children are the only solution.” EWG has forcefully advocated for health protective safety standards to limit BPA exposures for infants and children.

Hundreds of animal and human studies have linked BPA to abnormal reproductive system development, diminished intellectual capacity, behavioral problems, reproductive system cancer, obesity, diabetes, early puberty, resistance to chemotherapy, asthma, cardiovascular system problems and other chronic disorders. Worker studies have shown lower sperm counts and other ailments of the male reproductive system.

U.S. meat and poultry is widely contaminated with drug-resistant bacteria

A nationwide study conducted by the Translational Genomics Research Institute showed that nearly half of meat and poultry samples taken from grocery stores were contaminated with strains of Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria linked to a wide range of human diseases. More than half of the bacteria were drug resistant to at least three classes of antiobiotics. S. aureus can cause many types of illnesses, from minor skin infections to life-threatening diseases, such as pneumonia, endocarditis, and sepsis.

The study included 136 samples covering 80 different brands of beef, chicken, turkey, and pork from 26 retail grocery stores in five U.S. cities: Los Angeles, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Flagstaff, and Washington, D.C.

“The fact that drug-resistant S. aureus was so prevalent, and likely came from the food animals themselves, is troubling, and demands attention to how antibiotics are used in food-animal production today,” said Lance B. Price, Ph.D., senior author of the study.

Densely-stocked industrial farms, where food animals are steadily fed low doses of antibiotics, are ideal breeding grounds for drug-resistant bacteria that move from animals to humans, the report says.

“This study shows that much of our meat and poultry is contaminated with multidrug-resistant Staph. Now we need to determine what this means in terms of risk to the consumer,” said Dr. Keim, a co-author of the paper.  Unfortunately for U.S. consumers, the federal government does not screen meat and poultry products for S. aureus.

Call for better testing of the hazards of new chemicals

Some 12,000 new chemicals are registered with the American Chemical Society daily. Though few make it into the environment, many scientists are calling for “swifter and sounder” testing when evaluating the risks of these new substances, since U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency lack information about their environmental hazards when they are mass produced.

Writing in a letter in the journal Science, eight societies representing 40,000 scientists from the fields of genetics, reproductive medicine, endocrinology, developmental biology and others, expressed concerns about improved testing requirements due to chemicals like the plasticizer bisphenol A, or BPA, subject of more than 300 studies finding adverse health effects in animals.

“Hormones control everything—our basic metabolism, our reproduction,” said Patricia Hunt, a professor in the Washington State University School of Molecular Biosciences and corresponding author of the letter. “We call them endocrine disruptors. They’re like endocrine bombs to a certain extent because they can disrupt all these normal functions.”

Vitamin A in sunscreens linked to skin tumors

Federal researchers at the National Institute of Health (NIH) have concluded that sunscreens with retinyl palmitate, a form of vitamin A, when exposed to ultraviolet light, stimulates the growth of skin tumors. An independent science advisory panel recently backed up the findings by the NIH’s National Toxicology Program, who assessed the associated health risks by observing the hastening and proliferation of skin lesions and cancerous tumors on test animals treated with vitamin A.

Approximately 40 percent of all sunscreens contain retinyl palmitate, most likely to serve as an anti-wrinkle agent. “A compound that causes skin damage and tumors on sun-exposed skin has no place in sunscreens or other daytime skin products,” said Jane Houlihan, Environmental Working Group senior vice president for research.

As news spreads of these latest findings, it’s likely to have a big impact on the sunscreen industry, with consumers finding more vitamin A-free products on the shelves for the upcoming summer season.

The dangers of “third-hand” smoke

There’s a new category of cigarette smoke that scientists are issuing health warnings about – it’s called third-hand smoke. It’s the smoke residue that lingers in carpets and on walls, clothing, and furniture. More dangerous than previously believed, third-hand smoke can add to the existing health hazards of first- and second-hand smoke and indoor pollution. Nicotine in third-hand smoke can react with the ozone in indoor air and surfaces like clothing and furniture, to form other pollutants, and it can pose hazards in situations such as babies crawling on carpets, people taking a nap on the sofa, or eating food tainted with the smoke particles.

The recent study was published in the American Chemical Society‘s journal, Environmental Science & Technology. The article noted the researchers found that nicotine interacts with ozone, in indoor air, to form potentially toxic pollutants on these surfaces. “Given the toxicity of some of the identified products and that small particles may contribute to adverse health effects, the present study indicates that exposure to [third-hand smoke] may pose additional health risks,” the article’s author notes.

Exposing the true sources of bottled water

Chances are you don’t know where the drinking water came from that’s in the bottle you purchased or even how pure it is. That’s because only 3 out of 173 bottled water companies have actually disclosed their true sources, purification process, and any possible remaining contaminants.

Nestlé’s Pure Life Purified Water, so far, is the only top 10 product to have information released about it’s bottling source and treatment methods, which is displayed on the bottles’ labels.

The Environmental Working Group recently released a report documenting their findings on the severe lack of information available to consumers regarding their bottled water purchases.

“The industry’s lack of information on source, purity and treatment of bottled water isn’t some coincidence,” said Jane Houlihan, EWG’s senior vice president for research. “Bottled water companies try hard to hide any information consumers may find troubling. They don’t tell where the water comes from and what pollutants they may have found. Their ads depict mountain streams and natural springs. Yet nearly half the time, according to the industry’s own statistics, they’re bottling tap water.”

According to a 2009 report by the Beverage Marketing Corporation, almost half of all bottled water (47.8 percent) comes from municipal tap water.

Italy enacts plastic bag ban

Starting January 1, Italy has a new law banning the use of plastic bags. The Italian government is requiring merchants to provide biodegradable bags and encouraging consumers to use cloth, paper, or the recycled bags, although some merchants and consumers are complaining about having to use the recycled material due to their ability to break easily when wet.

Of all the European countries, Italy has been one of the top consumers of plastic bags, averaging more than 300 annually per person.

Environmental groups welcome the ban, especially after a recent announcement by Francois Galgani of the French Institute for Exploration of the Sea that some 250 billion microscopic pieces of plastic are floating in the Mediterranean Sea, creating a biological hazard that negatively affects the food chain and larger forms of marine life, including seals and tortoises. Micro-sized plastic is an enduring hazard because it becomes mixed with plankton, which is then eaten by small fish that are then eaten by larger predators, says Expedition MED (Mediterranean in Danger), part of the team which has assisted in the sample collection from the Mediterranean.