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Strengthening the BTWC: The role of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention in combating natural and deliberate disease outbreaks

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by the fungus kingdom. These fungi (molds) under aerobic and optimum conditions of humidity and temperature consume nutrients for proliferation and the secretion of mycotoxins. There are seven major groups of mycotoxins produced by different species of toxigenic fungal genus. Mycotoxin production and secretion by these fungi depends on the surrounding intrinsic and extrinsic environments. These seven mycotoxin groups—Aflatoxins, Trichothecene, Ochratoxins, Ergot alkaloid (Ergolin), Fumonisins, Patulin, and Zearalenone—contaminate grains, foods, and feeds. These mycotoxin families have the ability to affect mammalian cells, leading to a multitude of issues with normal cell function and a wide range of clinical symptoms of diseases, which can result in health risks and mortality for both humans and animals. The toxicity of these mycotoxins varies depending on the sensitivity of the affected host. The contamination of food and feed materials by these mycotoxins is the main concern of the food and feed industries. To ensure the safety and health of both humans and animals, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are in charge of regulating the allowed levels of these mycotoxins in grains, food, and feeds. Understanding these toxigenic fungal ecology and environmental factors that accelerate these fungal proliferation and mycotoxin secretion in agriculture crops as ingredients for both food and feed manufacturing is essential. In addition, understanding the chemistry and property of these mycotoxins, including methods of detection, illness symptoms, are important factors to comply with regulatory guidance established by World Health Organization (WHO) / Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to prevent or minimize food and feed contamination by these mycotoxins for human and animal health, and to reduce economical loss.

We agree with much of the Letter “Tyranny of trees in grassy biomes” (30 January, p. [484][1]), in which J. W. Veldman et al. caution against indiscriminate afforestation in general and especially in grassland areas, as well as acknowledge grasslands' substantial contribution to carbon sequestration ([ 1 ][2], [ 2 ][3]). We consider it misleading, however, to claim that because grasslands are not “formally” recognized, they are not actively studied and considered in ongoing activities of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The FAO has been working on grasslands activities for more than 30 years ([ 3 ][4]) and recognizes that even within grasslands, there are many categories. The FAO's 2005 publication Grasslands of the World explicitly includes grassland biomes ([ 4 ][5]). We estimate that 26% of the world land area and 70% of the world agricultural area are covered by grasslands, which contribute to the livelihoods of over 800 million people ([ 5 ][6]). We have also developed a grassland database with descriptions of more than 300 grassland species from different grassland ecosystems. The FAO has many grassland-related projects and case studies ([ 6 ][7]), including rehabilitation of degraded areas through protected areas and promoting native grassland species. Two relevant projects are the completed “Range rehabilitation and establishment of a wildlife reserve in the Syrian steppe” and the ongoing, globally focused, “Participatory assessment of land degradation and sustainable land management in grassland and pastoral systems” ([ 7 ][8]). We do acknowledge that the definitions of grasslands need to be harmonized and that more research is needed into understanding these areas. 1. [↵][9] FAO, Grasslands Carbon Working Group ([www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/thematic-sitemap/theme/spi/gcwg/en][10]). 2. [↵][11] FAO, Knowledge Base ([www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/thematic-sitemap/theme/spi/gcwg/gcwg-docs/en][12]). 3. [↵][13] FAO, Publications ([www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/pasture/publ_year.htm][14]). 4. [↵][15] 1. J. M. Suttie, 2. S. G. Reynolds, 3. C. Batello FAO, Grasslands of the World, J. M. Suttie, S. G. Reynolds, C. Batello, Eds. (FAO, Rome, 2005); . 5. [↵][16] FAO, Are grasslands under threat? ([www.fao.org/ag/agp/agpc/doc/grass_stats/grass-stats.htm][17]). 6. [↵][18] FAO, Case studies on grassland and rangeland management ([www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/thematic-sitemap/theme/spi/scpi-home/managing-ecosystems/management-of-grasslands-and-rangelands/grasslands-cases/en][19]). 7. [↵][20] FAO, Participatory assessment of land degradation and sustainable land management in grassland and pastoral systems ([www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/intranet/projects-database/detail/en/c/234274][21]). [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/347/6221/484.3 [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #ref-2 [4]: #ref-3 [5]: #ref-4 [6]: #ref-5 [7]: #ref-6 [8]: #ref-7 [9]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [10]: http://www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/thematic-sitemap/theme/spi/gcwg/en [11]: #xref-ref-2-1 View reference 2 in text [12]: http://www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/thematic-sitemap/theme/spi/gcwg/gcwg-docs/en [13]: #xref-ref-3-1 View reference 3 in text [14]: http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/pasture/publ_year.htm [15]: #xref-ref-4-1 View reference 4 in text [16]: #xref-ref-5-1 View reference 5 in text [17]: http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/agpc/doc/grass_stats/grass-stats.htm [18]: #xref-ref-6-1 View reference 6 in text [19]: http://www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/thematic-sitemap/theme/spi/scpi-home/managing-ecosystems/management-of-grasslands-and-rangelands/grasslands-cases/en [20]: #xref-ref-7-1 View reference 7 in text [21]: http://www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/intranet/projects-database/detail/en/c/234274

Abstract. Terrestrial enhanced silicate weathering is a CO2 removal technology involving the application of ground silicate materials to agricultural soils. Next to its CO2 removal potential, it can improve soil fertility and crop growth, but silicate materials can also contain toxic trace elements. In a mesocosm experiment, we investigated the effect of basalt, concrete fines, and steel slag on biomass, nutrients, and the toxic trace element concentration of Zea mays, using a dose–response approach. Plant biomass increased with basalt but not with concrete fines or steel slag. Generally, plant Ca, Mg, and corn Si concentrations increased with an increasing silicate application amount as a result of increased availability to plants. In contrast, plant N, P, and K concentrations were hardly affected by silicate application. Besides increased leaf Pb concentrations with steel slag application, which did not exceed the maximum limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (0.05 mg Pb kg−1 ww, where “ww” denotes wet weight), the toxic trace element concentrations in aerial plant tissues mostly decreased with increasing silicate application amount, presumably because of an increased soil pH and accumulation in plant roots. Thus, our study indicates mixed effects of silicate application on maize while also suggesting that the risk of toxic trace element contamination after a one-time application of the tested silicates is limited.

Marking the twentieth anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) the annual report on the state of food and agriculture reviewed the progress achieved during the second postwar decade, 1954/1955–1964/1965. In his foreword Director-General B. R. Sen noted three distinct phases of FAO's history. In the first, covering the postwar decade, FAO played a role in the task of reconstruction. The second phase, coinciding with the second postwar decade, had been marked by a number of significant developments in science and communications, in demography, and in national aspirations which influenced the outlook and work of FAO. Calling attention to the unprecedented rate of population growth and lagging food supply, FAO had warned that this trend implied a grave peril for the future peace and security of the world. The Freedom from Hunger Campaign launched by FAO in 1960 had represented a response to this new awareness of the dimensions of hunger and malnutrition in the world and of the responsibility of the world community to face the problem. The third phase of FAO's work, opening with the third postwar decade, would be a critical period. Mr. Sen referred to FAO studies, contained in the report, which indicated that the total food supplies of the developing countries would have to be increased fourfold in the next 35 years to give their rapidly expanding populations an adequate diet. The task of FAO, which would depend on the willingness of the leaders of the nations to devote a large share of the world's resources to meet the crisis, would be to assist in laying the foundation for this increase.

Food choices and eating behaviours have a large impact on both human and planetary health. Recently, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Health Organisation have developed a list of 16 guiding principles to achieve sustainable healthy diets (SHDs). They proposed that development of food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) should be a core element in the implementation of these SHDs in each country. The objective of this review is to explore the degree of alignment of current FBDGs to these guiding principles. A total of 43 FBDGs, written or translated into English, were collected from the online repository developed by the FAO and were analysed for their adherence to each of the guiding principles. Results were stratified for period of publication and geographical macro-area. Overall, there were high levels of inclusion of the factors related to health outcomes, especially in the most recent FBDGs. Conversely, environmental impact and socio-cultural aspects of diet were considered less frequently, especially in the older FBDGs. These results highlight the importance of revising FBDGs, especially to include emerging topics which represent the areas with the highest scope for improvement in the future versions of FBDGs. Replication of the present study in the coming years will be worthwhile to monitor improvements in the adherence of global FBDGs to the guiding principles of SHDs. The attainment of such a goal could promote a more rapid transition towards SHDs, as well as highlighting pivotal research trajectories to increase adoption and evaluate the impact on the food system.

Techniques to more accurately quantify crop evapotranspiration (ETc) are needed fordetermining crop water needs and appropriate irrigation scheduling. In this study, remotely sensedobservations of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were used to estimate cottonbasal crop coefficients (Kcb), which were then applied within the dual crop coefficient procedures ofthe Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Paper 56 (FAO-56) to calculate daily ETc. An experiment in central Arizona during 2003 compared irrigation scheduling using a remotely sensedKcb technique (NDVI treatment) with the FAO-56 Kcb curve (FAO treatment). The FAO curve waslocally developed for optimum crop conditions and standard cotton density. Final lint yield meanswere not significantly different between the two irrigation methods, which included sub-treatments oftwo levels of nitrogen and three plant densities. However, NDVI attained higher yields under low Ninput, whereas FAO generally had higher yields under high N. The ETc estimated using the NDVI-Kcbmethod was in closer agreement with measured cumulative ETc than the FAO Kcb. For high Ntreatments, the mean absolute differences between measured and estimated cumulative ETc duringthe growing season for typical, dense, and sparse populations (10, 20, and 5 plants m-2, respectively)were 4, 17, and 4 mm, respectively, for NDVI, whereas they were10, 32, and 13 mm, respectively,for FAO. Although additional research is needed for improving our remote sensing technique, itpotentially offers an improvement over the FAO Kcb curve for quantifying actual ETc.

The terms ‘Nordic countries’ or ‘The Nordics’ include the five countries Denmark, Finland, Island, Norway, and Sweden. This review includes evaluation of the Nordic countries against Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)/World Health Organizations’ (WHO) guiding principles for healthy, sustainable diets with respect to environmental impact (principles #9 – #13) and sociocultural aspects (principles #14 – #16). A food systems perspective is taken to summarize and discuss the most important challenges and opportunities for achieving sustainable diets. Food system, food security, self-sufficiency, and resilience perspectives are applied. The information can underpin decisions when developing and implementing Food Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG) in the Nordics.None of the Nordic countries are on track to reach the 2030 UN climate and biodiversity goals. We describe how food production, processing, and consumption contribute to these and other environmental challenges, and what kinds of dietary changes/transitions consistent with these goals are required.A major challenge is the high production and consumption of meat and too low consumption of fish, vegetables, and fruits. Meat production is a major source of emissions and, together with farmed fish, heavily dependent on imported feed ingredients, leaving a large land-use and water footprint in exporting countries while domestic land resources are not used optimally. Dietary patterns have changed drastically over the past 50 years, and in large parts of the population, meat consumption has doubled since the 1970s, rendering historic food culture less useful as a basis for present-day recommendations. The Nordics have Europe’s lowest use of antibiotics in animal and fish production and have made some progress in reducing food waste along the food chain. A major opportunity is better alignment of food production and consumption based on local or regional production potentials, in conjunction with better and more constructive integration with the global food system while integrating novel technologies to reduce emissions and resource use.

Assessment and bioaccumulation of heavy metal contaminants in Golden Mahseer (Tor putitora Hamilton, 1822)

Heavy metal bioaccumulation and risk assessment in fishery resources from the Gulf of Thailand

BACKGROUNDThe diagnosis of malnutrition in patients with independent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) varies from 20% to 50%, is related to important complications and has a direct impact on the prognosis. Determination of the resting energy expenditure (REE) has become an important parameter in this population, as it allows therapeutic adjustments to recover their nutritional status. The REE in cirrhosis, with and without HCC, is not clearly defined, and requires the identification and definition of the best nutritional approach. AIMTo evaluate the REE of patients with cirrhosis, with and without HCC.METHODSThis is a prospective observational study evaluating the REE of 118 patients, 33 with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma and a control group of 85 patients with cirrhosis without HCC, using indirect calorimetry (IC), bioimpedance, and predictive formulas.RESULTSThe REE determined by IC in cirrhotic patients with HCC was 1643 ± 364 and in those without HCC was 1526 ± 277 (P = 0.064). The REE value as assessed by bioimpedance was 1529 ± 501 for those with HCC and 1660 ± 385 for those without HCC (P = 0.136). When comparing the values of REE determined by IC and predictive formulas in cirrhotics with HCC, it was observed that only the formulas of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) (1985) and Cunningham (1980) presented values similar to those determined by IC. When comparing the REE values determined by IC and predictive formulas in cirrhotics without HCC, it was observed that the formulas of Schofield (1985), FAO/WHO (1985), WHO (2000), Institute of Medicine (IOM) (2005) and Katch and McArdie (1996) presented values similar to those determined by IC.CONCLUSIONThe FAO/WHO formula (1985) could be used for cirrhotic patients with or without HCC; as it is the one with the values closest to those obtained by IC in these cirrhotic patients.

Applied nutrition programs are defined as comprehensive type of educational action aimed at improvement of local food production and consumption, in which the guiding principles are co-ordination among different agencies and institutions and the active participation of the people to help themselves (World Health Organization 1966). They are essentially government programs, usually with technical assistance from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and substantial assistance from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). They involve: (a) surveys to determine the baseline conditions of nutritional status, food consumption, food production, and other nutritional activities; and progress surveys to evaluate accomplishments; (b) training in food and nutrition of different categories and levels of personnel, such as schoolteachers, agronomists, doctors, nurses, home economists, and extensionists; (c) development of food production activities with major emphasis on foods deficient in the local diet; (d) development of nutrition education activities aiming to increase consumption of foods initially deficient in the diet; and (e) establishment of supplementary feeding programs associated with education in nutrition. Such programs are in operation in more than 60 developing countries around the world and in four areas of the Western Pacific Region of WHO. Public health nutrition programs are coordinated activities aimed at maintaining health and preventing disease. In the present context they are usually carried out in a framework of maternal and child health services. They also comprise principally nutrition surveys, nutrition education, and supplementary feeding of vulnerable groups.

The importance of tick-borne diseases is increasing all over the world, including Turkey. Global warming, environmental and ecological changes and the existence of suitable habitats increase the impact of ticks and result in frequent emergence or re-emergence of tick-borne diseases (TBDs) with zoonotic characteristics. In Turkey, almost 19 TBDs have been reported in animals and men, involving four protozoa (babesiosis, theileriosis, cytauxzoonosis, hepatozoonosis), one filarial nematode (acanthocheilonemasis), ten bacterial agents (anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, aegyptianellosis, tick-borne typhus, Candidatus Rickettsia vini, Lyme borreliosis, tick-borne relapsing fever [TBRF], tularaemia, bartonellosis, and hemoplasmosis), and four viral infections (tick-borne encephalitis [TBE], Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever [CCHF], louping-ill [LI], and lumpy skin disease [LSD]). The growing number of TBD cases, in particular the fatal viral epidemics in humans, have led to increased public awareness and concern against TBDs in recent years. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a new political concept, called the “One Health” initiative, which is especially relevant for developing strategies against tick infestations and TBD control in humans and animals. It would be beneficial for Turkey to adopt this new strategy and establish specific research and control programs in coordination with international organizations like WHO, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to combat TBDs based on the “One Health Initiative” concept. In this article, we review the occurrence of primary TBDs in man and animals in Turkey in light of the “One Health” perspective.

Monitoring of heavy metal concentrations in groundwater potentially used for drinking and irrigation is very important. This study collected groundwater samples from 78 wells in July 2012 and analyzed them for 17 heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Cd, Co, Ni, Al, As, Mo, Se, B, Ti, V, Ba). Spatial distributions of these elements were identified using three different interpolation methods [inverse distance weighing (IDW), radial basis function (RBF), and ordinary kriging (OK)]. Root mean squared error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) for cross validation were used to select the best interpolation methods for each parameter. Multivariate statistical analysis [cluster analysis (CA) and factor analysis (FA)] were used to identify similarities among sampling sites and the contribution of variables to groundwater pollution. Fe and Mn levels exceeded World Health Organization (WHO) recommended limits for drinking water in almost all of the study area, and some locations had Fe and Mn levels that exceeded Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) guidelines for drip irrigation systems. Al, As, and Cd levels also exceeded WHO guidelines for drinking water. Cluster analysis classified groundwater in the study area into three groups, and factor analysis identified five factors that explained 73.39% of the total variation in groundwater, which are as follows: factor 1: Se, Ti, Cr, Mo; factor 2: Ni, Mn, Co, Ba; factor 3: Pb, Cd; factor 4: B, V, Fe, Cu; and factor 5: AS, Zn. As a result of this study, it could be said that interpolation methods and multivariate statistical techniques gave very useful results for the determination of the source.

In every region of the world, poor diet is a leading cause of both malnutrition and chronic diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and specific cancers. (1-3) In 2013, 38.3 million deaths occurred due to chronic diseases globally (70% of all deaths), with most of these deaths occurring in developing countries. (4) Anecdotal evidence and more formal evaluations in a limited number of countries suggest that changes in traditional eating patterns and a growing reliance on new types of foods are major drivers of these transitions. However, data on global patterns of dietary habits, as well as differences by population characteristics are not well established. An empirical assessment of dietary intakes is needed for evidence-based policy-making to address global health challenges. In most nations worldwide, assessment of dietary habits has been limited by the absence of robust data on individual dietary intakes that can be used in comparative studies. Up to now, most global analyses have evaluated only single dietary factors or have used data on crude household expenditure or national food supply estimates that do not adequately capture individuals' actual consumption levels. (5,6) Moreover, types of foods consumed and diet-related diseases are often unevenly distributed within populations and it is therefore essential to collect data on specific demographic groups to understand the impact of diets on diseases. Furthermore, even when individual dietary intakes are available, these are rarely standardized or comparable across countries or time, due to differences in the data collection instruments and their intended use, in the design and administration of surveys, and in data processing and analysis. As part of our efforts for the 2010 Global Burden of Diseases study, we systematically identified the available data from national and subnational surveys of individual-based dietary intakes of key foods and nutrients worldwide, by age, sex, country and time (1980-2010). Our preliminary methods have been reported (7) and further details are available from the corresponding author on request. Briefly, we searched multiple electronic databases and used extensive personal communications with researchers and government authorities worldwide to identify and obtain nationally representative dietary intake surveys or, if these were unavailable, large subnational surveys. For countries without identified national or subnational individual-level dietary surveys, we searched for individual-level surveys from large cohort studies as well as other data sources on diet such as the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Infobase, the WHO STEPS database and household expenditure surveys. For trans-unsaturated fatty acids (trans-fats) and dietary sodium, we also searched for biomarker surveys measuring circulating or adipose trans-fat concentrations or 24-hour urinary sodium excretion. Finally, we used the comprehensive United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) food balance sheets, (8) which provide country-level data on per capita food availability for major food groups in 187 countries and across the entire time period studied. For trans-fat, we also included industry estimates of nation-specific availability of partially hydrogenated oil, total oils/ fats and total packaged foods per capita from both retail and food-service establishments in 79 countries (Mark Stavro, Bunge LLC, personal communication, 23 May 2012). Due to the limited amount of relevant published data, most survey data were obtained by direct contacts with researchers and officials. By combining all these sources of information, including adjusted FAO data and industry estimates, our final estimates were derived from dietary information drawn from 187 countries. We included data from 325 dietary surveys and 145 urinary sample surveys. The total number of individuals sampled in each surveyed country ranged from several hundred to more than 10000. …