This week's In the News looks at France's hesitancy to lift the European Union's ban on import of British beef. The ban was first set in place in March 1996 after an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalophy (BSE), or Mad Cow Disease, in Britain. Although the EU lifted the ban in August, France refuses to allow imported beef from the UK, siting continuing fears of an outbreak of BSE. Throughout...

This two-page, Center for Disease Control brochure provides excellent summary information on what E. coli 0157:H7 is, why it is a problem, how it is spread, and includes information on symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. Available in HTML or ASCII text, this is a good introduction to the subject. Escherichia coli refers to a diverse family of hundreds of bacteria, many of which are permanent...