September 2010 Archives

An FDA special committee met this week to determine whether a GE fish -- AquAdvantage salmon, genetically engineered by AquaBounty Technologies to reach mature size more quickly, thanks to genes from the Chinook salmon and from the eel-like ocean pout -- is safe for human consumption. The approval process for the GE salmon will set a precedent for all future GE animals; if the FDA does not set the bar high for solid science, it will mean a lack of scrutiny for other, perhaps less safe, GE animals in the future.

The FDA is regulating the GE salmon as a "New Animal Drug," in agency terminology, and it is thus being evaluated by a special Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee (VMAC).  The FDA added four "temporary voting members" for the GE salmon meeting.  Serving on the committee are genetic engineering expert Kevin G. Wells, biotechnology expert Alison L. Eenennaam, fish expert Gary Thorgaard, and consumer advocate Gregory Jaffe.

Read more: grist.org.

Pacific Gas & Electric is responsible for the gas line which exploded in a San Bruno subdivision, leading to the destruction of over two dozen homes and the deaths of at least seven people.  Reports are coming in, and Advocacy groups say that PG&E didn't do a thorough enough inspection of the line that exploded.

At the urging of hundreds of Valley Stream,NY, residents, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will do a ground study of the community to determine whether its new flood maps are accurate.  The meeting was organized by Hempstead Town Councilman Jim Darcy, who, after receiving numerous complaints at his office about the new flood maps, asked FEMA representatives to come to Valley Stream and answer the community’s questions.

About two dozen people came to the microphone to ask about the changes and, in many cases, to lambaste FEMA officials for sticking them with insurance premiums of $2,000 a year or more. “You have decided that we are the northern version of New Orleans,” said Gibson resident Joe Margolin, who asked if the new flood maps were implemented simply to help pay off the damage from Hurricane Katrina.

Richard Einhorn, an insurance expert with FEMA, acknowledged that the agency was about $19 billion in debt, but insisted that the flood map changes were not made for that reason. Other FEMA officials said that Congress commissioned the study in 2003 to update — using modern technology — flood risk maps that were decades out of date.

Read more: liherald.com.

Jurors in the medical malpractice trial of Dr. Mark Weinberger heard Wednesday that the ear, nose and throat specialist allegedly changed the results of an abnormal heart test showing his patient William Boyer of Gary, IN, had a rapid heart rate so that he could perform sinus surgery on him.  Expert witness Dr. James Stankiewicz, an internationally recognized ear, nose and throat specialist who is a professor and chairman of the otolaryngology department at the Loyola University Health System in Maywood, Ill., said he did not believe that Boyer had any permanent disease or injuries resulting from Weinberger's treatment.

But Stankiewicz also conceded that Weinberger is a disgrace to the medical profession and that the surgery he performed on Boyer was medically unnecessary, put him at risk and that he deserved compensation, though he minimized the pain, suffering and problems that Boyer claims.

Read more: post-trib.com.