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Join host Dr. Liza Dunn and GLP contributor Cameron English on episode 225 of Science Facts and Fallacies as they break down these latest news stories:
So-called “factory farming” harms animals? New technologies only benefit large companies? These and a handful of other myths about modern agriculture continue to circulate online, deceiving millions of people about the safety and ethics of food production. One farmer has had enough of the nonsense. Let’s discuss her rebuttals to some of the most popular falsehoods about farming.
Before 2015, the world had made significant progress in preventing the spread of malaria by controlling the mosquitoes that vector the disease. In recent years, and especially following the COVID pandemic, malaria has made somewhat of a resurgence. This unfortunate development had one silver lining, though: it spurred the production of a new malaria vaccine. Ghana is poised to begin giving the shot to thousands of people, hopefully encouraging surrounding countries to follow its lead. Combined with an earlier malaria vaccine and insect-control tools such as pesticides, experts are hopeful we can regain the ground we’ve lost to malaria over the last eight years.
Existing polio vaccines have nearly eradicated the disease; today the virus is endemic in just two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, one of the lingering problems is that the oral polio vaccine can, on rare occasions, mutate and allow vaccinated individuals to spread polio to their unvaccinated neighbors. Scientists may have devised a permanent solution to this alarming side effect by engineering a polio vaccine that cannot mutate. The enhanced immunization is undergoing clinical trials to ensure its safety and efficacy. If it survives these rigorous tests, the new vaccine could help us finally eliminate polio.
Dr. Liza Dunn is a medical toxicologist and the medical affairs lead at Bayer Crop Science. Follow her on Twitter @DrLizaMD
Cameron J. English is the director of bio-sciences at the American Council on Science and Health. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter @camjenglish