Archives: Morning Breakouts

"Countries around the world marked the world's population reaching seven billion Monday with lavish ceremonies for newborn infants symbolizing the milestone and warnings that there may be too many humans for the planet's resources," the Associated Press/MSNBC.com reports (10/31). "With the world's population more than doubling over the last half century, basics like food and water are under more strain than ever, say experts, and providing for an additional two to three billion people in the next 50 years is a serious worry," AlertNet/Reuters writes, adding that the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says food production will have to increase by 70 percent to keep pace. "But climate change may be the greatest impediment to meeting this target, say experts," the news agency notes (Kumar/Bhalla, 10/31).

"Genetically modified mosquitoes could prove effective in tackling dengue fever and other insect-borne diseases," according to the results of a study by a U.K.-based scientific team published in the journal Nature Biotechnology on Sunday, BBC News reports (Black, 10/30). "In the 2010 trial, conducted on Grand Cayman island, researchers released 3.3 million male mosquitoes that had been genetically altered in such a way that they were born sterile, meaning they can't have viable offspring," which "triggered a population collapse," the Wall Street Journal writes. "'We saw an 80 percent reduction in the target area' compared with the mosquito population in a similar zone where genetically tweaked males hadn't been released, Luke Alphey, co-founder and chief scientist at Oxitec Ltd., the U.K. start-up behind the experiment, said in an interview," according to the newspaper (Naik, 10/31).

In this CNN opinion piece, Julian Zelizer, an author and professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, reports on how, "[a]s the super-committee deliberates over how to reduce the deficit and other congressional committees struggle to cut spending, the fate of important programs," such as PEPFAR, "hangs in the balance."

"Food security concerns as the world's population surpasses seven billion have prompted global companies to become more actively involved in ensuring future supplies, participants at an agricultural conference said on Monday," Reuters reports. "The increased role has come at a time government involvement is hampered by the global financial crisis and led to fears a private sector-led expansion may focus on products with profit potential and neglect more effective alternatives," according to the news agency. "'We need to produce more food. The figures are debatable but we clearly need at least 50 percent more food in the next two or three decades,' said Ian Crute, chief scientist at Britain's Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board," at the CropWorld 2011 conference (Hunt, 10/31).

Though demographers do not know exactly when the world's population will hit seven billion, the U.N. symbolically marked the day on Monday with celebrations and warnings about safety, health and sustainability. The following is a summary of several opinion pieces published in recognition of the day.

WBUR provides a video of a Republican-Democratic debate exploring whether Massachusetts' health reforms laid the ground work for the federal health reform law.