CABI News
issue 2 / Sept 2007
CABI wins award for helping to phase out dangerous pesticide |
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CABI is to receive a prestigious ‘Partners Award’ for its work in helping phase out the hazardous pesticide methyl bromide in the EU. Thanks to CABI’s work, only two EU member states still request critical use of methyl bromide for 2008, highlighting that the majority of consumption has been eliminated. Methyl bromide is a highly toxic fumigant pesticide which is injected into soil to sterilise it before planting crops. More >>> |
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floods and mould – a forgotten menace |
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After this summer’s floods in northern Europe, most people know that dirty floodwaters contain sewage and a host of disease-causing micro-organisms. But, many don’t realize that just cleaning up all that dirty water isn’t enough to protect your health. Care needs to be taken when drying out properties to ensure that potentially damaging moulds don’t start growing later, undoing all your hard work. Find out more >>> |
weeding out invasive species in Africa |
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CABI and partners are working to improve farming conditions and safeguard livelihoods through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded project Removing Barriers to Invasive Plant Management in Africa. Increased foreign trade and tourism are boosting economies and improving people’s lives worldwide. But, it’s not all good news. As more people and goods move from country to country, more invasive weeds are being transferred as well. More >>> |
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the pet food recall story: does the older literature hold the answer? |
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Earlier this year, many pet food manufacturers in North America recalled their products because of reports that pets were suffering kidney failure after eating them. The saga rumbles on with some murky new twists. The culprit seems to be melamine, an industrial chemical that boosts the nitrogen content of food making it appear to contain more protein. But recent literature on melamine indicates that it is a relatively harmless chemical, although high doses can cause liver cancer in some animals. What is going on? CAB Abstracts Archive may hold a clue. Find out more about the melamine saga >>> |
community-based forecasting helps farmers counter armyworm attacks |
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Farmers across sub-Saharan Africa suffer devastating losses because of armyworm – a pest that ravages crops and threatens livelihoods. These voracious black caterpillars attack pasture and plants like maize, sorghum, millet, and rice. And, because they appear suddenly and in large numbers, they catch farmers unprepared. A new CABI project aims to help villagers to predict when armyworm outbreaks will occur. Armed with this information they will be able to protect their crops from these hungry pests. More >>> |
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biosecurity: the good, the bad and the useful |
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The UK’s recent foot-and-mouth disease outbreak has raised a whole host of questions in the mind of the British public – including concerns about the safety of storing micro-organisms in laboratories. But even though the words ‘germ’ and ‘microbe’ make most people run for the antibacterial handwash, we mustn’t forget that micro-organisms provide people with a huge range of benefits and can be stored and handled safely with the right expertise. More >>> |