Predictions 2/2
North American Psychic & Paranormal Network
North American Psychic & Paranormal Network
Listeria outbreak could herald tighter food safety - Peter Ben Embarek
SOUTH AFRICA
A leading health official has revealed the deadly listeria outbreak in South Africa could alter the country’s approach to food-borne disease and prompt improvements in food safety standards.
The World Health Organization’s global food safety specialist, Peter Ben Embarek likened the South African outbreak’s potential impact to the “mad cow disease” crisis in Europe that began in the 1980s and a vast E-coli outbreak traced to “Jack in the Box” burgers in the United States in 1993.
According to him “the listeria outbreak could be the crisis that will finally make at least South Africa – and possibly the whole of Africa – realise the importance of food safety and food-borne diseases and the need to invest in improving things.”
the listeria outbreak could be the crisis that will finally make at least South Africa - and possibly the whole of Africa - realise the importance of food safety and food-borne diseases and the need to invest in improving things.
At least 180 people have been killed in South Africa since January 2017 and almost 1,000 infected in the world’s worst recorded listeria outbreak.
Health authorities say the disease – which in severe cases can cause fatal bloodstream infections and meningitis – is likely to claim more victims before it is brought under control.
North American Psychic & Paranormal Network
CDC: Travelers to South Africa should avoid all ready-to-eat processed meat products to reduce their risk of listeriosis
CDC: Travelers to South Africa should avoid all ready-to-eat processed meat products to reduce their risk of listeriosis
In a follow-up to a February Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) travel notice concerning Listeriosis in South Africa, in light of the new information of the outbreak being linked to ready-to-eat processed meat products, including “polony”, federal health officials updated their advice.
Public health officials in South Africa have reported an ongoing outbreak of listeriosis that began in January 2017. Around 1,000 people have become ill since then. Most illnesses have been reported in Gauteng, Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, but illnesses have occurred throughout the country. Over 180 ill people with known outcomes have died.
CDC says travelers to South Africa should avoid all ready-to-eat processed meat products to reduce their risk of listeriosis.
Anyone can be at risk for listeriosis. Pregnant women and their newborns, people 65 years or older, and people with weakened immune systems are at greatest risk of becoming seriously ill with listeriosis. One in five people with listeriosis die. Pregnant women typically experience only fever and other flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue and muscle aches. However, infections during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or life-threatening infection of the newborn.
Listeriosis is a serious infection caused by the germ Listeria monocytogenes. People usually become ill starting 1–4 weeks after eating contaminated foods. Foods more likely to be contaminated include soft cheeses made with unpasteurized milk, certain ready-to-eat meats (such as hot dogs, sausages, pâtés, lunch meats, cold cuts), refrigerated smoked seafood, melons, raw or lightly cooked sprouts, and raw (unpasteurized) milk and other raw dairy products.
North American Psychic & Paranormal Network
Customers recommend, spend more with companies that protect their data – so why are so few businesses GDPR ready?
https://www.cso.com.au/article/641289/customers-recommend-spend-more-companies-protect-their-data-why-few-businesses-gdpr-ready/
Even though consumers feel strongly about companies’ need to secure data, most companies still aren’t ready to do so – just a week out from game-changing GDPR legislation
David Braue(CSO Online)on 17 May, 2018 15:24
Increasingly data-hungry businesses risk commercial consequences as sceptical consumers threaten retaliatory action against companies that can’t protect sensitive personally identifiable information (PII), new research has found even as surveys suggest just 29 percent of companies will comply with globally-significant GDPR privacy legislation when it comes into effect next week.
Fully 37 percent of Australian respondents to the 3GEM/Veritas Technologies Global Data Privacy Consumer Study 2018 – released during this week’s global Privacy Awareness Week(PAW) – said they have low confidence that companies are taking the appropriate steps to protect their personal data, and just 22.1 percent said they have high confidence that their data is being protected.
Respondents were most resistant to sharing financial information – cited by 58.2 percent of respondents – with information such as their online habits, where they shop and interact with judged by 41.1 percent to be as sensitive as respondents’ location (40.4 percent) and details about their health (39.9 percent)
“In light of recent events and changes in the law, consumers need much more reassurance when it comes to what personal data companies hold on them, and how it is shared and used,” said Veritas senior director and global privacy lead Tamzin Evershed in a statement.
“This could have significant implications for businesses that rely on collecting consumer data to provide intelligent and targeted services, such as location-based apps. The most successful companies will be those that are able to demonstrate that they are managing and protecting personal data in a compliant way across the board.”
A range of rewards and punishment behaviours were mooted for companies that fail or succeed in guarding sensitive data appropriately.
By far the most likely consequence: 39.2 percent of respondents said they would stop buying goods or services from companies that failed to protect their personal data; an additional 21.8 percent said they would be more likely to consider competitors in such a situation, while an additional 24.0 percent would do both.
Some 82.1 percent of respondents indicated they would discourage their friends from spending money with a company that failed to adequately protect their personal data, while fully 75.8 percent said they would report such a failure to regulators and 63.7 percent would post negative reviews about the company online.
The commercial value of compliance
By contrast, companies that do protect data well can anticipate supportive behaviours from customers – including 29.8 percent that said they would encourage friends to frequent the company, 24.4 percent that said they would favour the company over cheaper competitors, and 12 percent who said they would promote the company on social media.
Privacy protection could even be good for business, with some 22.3 percent of respondents said they would spend up to 25 percent more annually with companies known to be serious about data privacy and protection. Some 14.7 percent said they would spend 25 to 50 percent more with such a company, while 6 percent of customers said they were likely to spend twice as much with a company with effective privacy protections.
Yet 32.7 percent of customers said they would do none of the above, with most agreeing that data protection should be a “mandatory duty for all companies.”
A rising tide of privacy regulations agrees with this last statement, but other new research suggests that most companies will not be compliant with the European Union general data protection regulation (GDPR) – the clearest and strictest code around protection of private data – when it comes into effect next week.
ISACA’s latest GDPR Readiness Survey, conducted in April amongst more than 6000 professionals worldwide, found that just 29 percent of respondents said their organisation would be fully GDPR-compliant by the May 25 deadline.
One in ten respondents still doesn’t know whether their organisation is required to be GDPR-compliant – an issue that is particularly relevant for Australian companies, many of which may not realise they have GDPR obligations– while just 39 percent said their staff had been educated as to what actions they need to take to maintain GDPR compliance.
The biggest challenge for companies continues to bethe discovery and mapping of their corporate data holdings – cited by 59 percent – but many (47 percent) had struggled to keep GDPR high on the list of business priorities, or to organise education and change programs (45 percent).
Those figures paint a bleak portrait of real-world privacy protections going forward, with most companies facing potential reputational and commercial damage from disillusioned customers that are becoming increasingly less tolerant to privacy breaches. Yet with Gartner predictingjust half of companies will be GDPR compliant by the end of 2018 – and ISACA confirming this, with a figure of 51 percent amongst APAC companies – the coming year or more is likely to see many companies on the back foot as inadequate preparations leads customers towards punitive action due to a continuing onslaught of data breaches.
“One of the most practical and cost-effective ways organisations can support GDPR and other compliance requirements is to help employees understand the business value of the information they deal with on a regular basis,” said Tim Upton, CEO of ISACA report sponsor TITUS in a statement.
“That way, employees become more aware of their responsibilities when it comes to handling and protecting data within the flow of work, providing added value to the ways organisations earn and maintain the trust of customers and employees.”
On Friday, February 2, 2018 at 11:59:06 AM UTC-5, North American Psychic & Paranormal Network wrote:
North American Psychic & Paranormal Network
UK government 'closely monitoring' e-cigarette refills that resemble children's treats
Smoking cessation
UK government 'closely monitoring' e-cigarette refills that resemble children's treats
Exclusive The Department of Health and Social Care is “closely monitoring” firms selling e-cigarette liquids in England that look like children’s juice, sweets and biscuits after a major crackdown by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Images courtesy of the US Food and Drug Administration
The US Food and Drug Administration sent 13 warning letters to manufacturers, distributors and retailers selling e-liquids that resemble “kid-friendly products”
On 1 May 2018, as part of its new Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan, the FDA issued 13 warning letters to manufacturers, distributors, and retailers for selling e-cigarette liquids that resemble "kid-friendly food products”, some of which include “cartoon-like imagery”.
Some of the products named in the warning letters include ‘Candy King’, ‘Pink Sticks’, ‘V’Nilla cookies & milk’, and ‘Twirly Pop’. After searching on a number of popular vaping sites, The Pharmaceutical Journal confirmed that a number of the products involved are also available to buy in the UK.
After being told that these products were being sold in the UK, by The Pharmaceutical Journal, a spokesperson for the DHSC said that while current evidence suggests that uptake of e-cigarettes among young people is very low, it will “continue to monitor this area very closely”.
She added: “It is against the law to sell e-cigarettes to under 18s in this country and we take advertising or promotion of these products extremely seriously – if there is any evidence of this, local trading standards have enforcement powers to take action.”
A recent Public Health England evidence review, carried out in February 2018, found that “despite some experimentation among never smokers”, e-cigarettes “do not appear” to be undermining the long-term decline in cigarette smoking in the UK among young people. However, a study by the campaigning group Action on Smoking and Health, and cited by PHE, found that 2.4% of young people aged between 11 and 18 years used electronic cigarettes.
The DHSC said its Tobacco Control Plan for England, published in July 2017, committed PHE to update its evidence report on e-cigarettes and other novel nicotine delivery systems annually until the end of the current parliament in 2022.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency declined to comment as it has no remit in this area because it relates to retail compliance.
On Friday, February 2, 2018 at 11:59:06 AM UTC-5, North American Psychic & Paranormal Network wrote: