Health & Science

• Tuesday, July 16th 2019 - 09:39 UTC

  Colombia declares banana production farm in quarantine due to fear of fungus

  

  A Colombian banana production farm near the Venezuelan border has been declared under quarantine after the possible outbreak of a lethal fungus has been detected, local authorities acknowledged Monday.

• Saturday, July 13th 2019 - 16:11 UTC

  Temporary restrictions on Brazilian pork exports to Russia imposed

  

  Russia's Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Control Service (Rosseljoznadzor) has imposed temporary restrictions from 11 July on the importation of pork products and other animals vulnerable to classical swine fever virus from the State of Piauí, located in the northeast region of Brazil, it was announced.

• Friday, July 12th 2019 - 13:13 UTC

  Humans came to the Americas earlier than thought, study shows

  

  A study by a Texas university released Thursday sheds new light on the population of the Americas as it places humans in the continent 2,000 years before than science has been maintaining.

• Tuesday, July 9th 2019 - 09:10 UTC

  Latin America suffering triple burden of malnutrition: obesity, unbalanced diets and declining activity

  

  Latin America and the Caribbean is facing an obesity epidemic while paradoxically the number of people facing food insecurity in the region continues to rise, the OECD and FAO warned in a report on Monday. 

• Friday, July 5th 2019 - 17:59 UTC

  African swine disease confirmed in Europe: two outbreaks in Bulgaria

  

  Bulgaria has confirmed two cases of African swine fever among backyard pigs in the village of Zhernov near the town of Pleven in the northern part of the country, the national food safety agency said.

• Thursday, July 4th 2019 - 09:43 UTC

  UK returned 1.400 tons of Brazilian poultry contaminated with salmonella

  

  The Brazilian government confirmed on Wednesday that Britain had sent back to Brazil 16 containers of poultry due to the presence of salmonella in the shipments. According to Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias, the shipments totaled 1,400 tons of poultry, which were returned over a 15-month period.

• Thursday, July 4th 2019 - 08:11 UTC

  Facebook says service has been fully restored: “problem during routine maintenance operation”

  

  Facebook said on Wednesday an issue with uploading or sending media files on its apps and platforms has been resolved.

• Wednesday, July 3rd 2019 - 09:05 UTC

  Glyphosate case: US Judge lowers damage award against Bayer

  

  A U.S. judge on Tuesday said he would reduce a US$80 million damage award against Bayer AG to US$50 million or less in the case of a man who blamed his cancer on glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco said the jury's US$75 million punitive damages award to plaintiff Edwin Hardeman in March could not stand.

• Wednesday, July 3rd 2019 - 09:00 UTC

  Obesity could be the cause of many types of cancer, more than smoking

  

  
Obesity is more likely the cause in some types of cancer than smoking, according to the findings of a study released by a cancer research organization on Wednesday. According to Cancer Research UK, four common cancers – bowel, kidney, ovarian and liver – are more likely to have been caused by being overweight than by smoking tobacco.

• Wednesday, July 3rd 2019 - 09:00 UTC

  Boris Johnson favors reviewing taxes on products high in salt, fat and sugar

  

  Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to become Britain's next prime minister, will launch a review into the so-called sin taxes on products high in salt, fat, and sugar if he wins the contest for leader, he will say on Wednesday.