Making popcorn for the coming tardigrade wars [Pharyngula]

This could get interesting. I’ve seen a lot of stories about this recent paper on the tardigrade genome:

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), or the transfer of genes between species, has been recognized recently as more pervasive than previously suspected. Here, we report evidence for an unprecedented degree of HGT into an animal genome, based on a draft genome of a tardigrade, Hypsibius dujardini. Tardigrades are microscopic eight-legged animals that are famous for their ability to survive extreme conditions. Genome sequencing, direct confirmation of physical linkage, and phylogenetic analysis revealed that a large fraction of the H. dujardini genome is derived from diverse bacteria as well as plants, fungi, and Archaea. We estimate that approximately one-sixth of tardigrade genes entered by HGT, nearly double the fraction found in the most extreme cases of HGT into animals known to date. Foreign genes have supplemented, expanded, and even replaced some metazoan gene families within the tardigrade genome. Our results demonstrate that an unexpectedly large fraction of an animal genome can be derived from foreign sources. We speculate that animals that can survive extremes may be particularly prone to acquiring foreign genes.

And here are a few of the follow-up stories in the popular press:

The Tardigrade, World’s Cutest Microscopic Animal, is Filled with Alien DNA

What the World’s Toughest Animal Is Really Made Of

Indestructible ‘Water Bears’ Have Really Weird Genomes

The authors are saying that about 18% of the tardigrade genome is a product of horizontal gene transfer…that they’re full of genes gathered up from bacteria, and that this was adaptive, playing a role in their ability to survive dessication.

I have to say…I had my doubts. That seemed really unlikely, not only that they’d have a history of that much HGT, but that it could be assigned to functional roles. But OK, they published it, let’s see how it shakes out.

Here’s where it gets interesting: another paper has just come online that says it’s all an artifact. Tardigrades are tiny, on the order of a thousand cells, so it’s difficult to sample them for sequencing without also picking up lots of bacterial contamination. Here’s the abstract:

Tardigrades are meiofaunal ecdysozoans and are key to understanding the origins of Arthropoda. We present the genome of the tardigrade Hypsibius dujardini, assembled from Illumina paired and mate-pair data. While the raw data indicated extensive contamination with bacteria, presumably from the gut or surface of the animals, careful cleaning generated a clean tardigrade dataset for assembly. We also generated an expressed sequence tag dataset, a Sanger genome survey dataset and used these and Illumina RNA-Seq data for assembly validation and gene prediction. The genome assembly is ~130 Mb in span, has an N50 length of over 50 kb, and an N90 length of 6 kb. We predict 23,031 protein-coding genes in the genome, which is available in a dedicated genome browser at http://ift.tt/zZyJTM. We compare our assembly to a recently published one for the same species and do not find support for massive horizontal gene transfer. Additional analyses of the genome are ongoing.

And their conclusion:

Our assembly, and inferences from it, conflict with a recently published draft genome (UNC) for what is essentially the same strain of H. dujardini. Our assembly, despite having superior assembly statistics, is ~120 Mb shorter than the UNC assembly. Our genome size estimate from sequence assembly is congruent with the values we obtained by direct measurement. We find 15,000 fewer protein-coding genes, and a hugely reduced impact of predicted HGT on gene content in H. dujardini. These HGT candidates await detailed validation. While resolution of the conflict between these assemblies awaits detailed examination based on close scrutiny of the raw UNC data, our analyses suggest that the UNC assembly is compromised by sequences that derive from bacterial contaminants, and that the expanded genome span, additional genes, and HGT candidates are likely to be artefactual.

This could get interesting.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1TjHc8J

This could get interesting. I’ve seen a lot of stories about this recent paper on the tardigrade genome:

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), or the transfer of genes between species, has been recognized recently as more pervasive than previously suspected. Here, we report evidence for an unprecedented degree of HGT into an animal genome, based on a draft genome of a tardigrade, Hypsibius dujardini. Tardigrades are microscopic eight-legged animals that are famous for their ability to survive extreme conditions. Genome sequencing, direct confirmation of physical linkage, and phylogenetic analysis revealed that a large fraction of the H. dujardini genome is derived from diverse bacteria as well as plants, fungi, and Archaea. We estimate that approximately one-sixth of tardigrade genes entered by HGT, nearly double the fraction found in the most extreme cases of HGT into animals known to date. Foreign genes have supplemented, expanded, and even replaced some metazoan gene families within the tardigrade genome. Our results demonstrate that an unexpectedly large fraction of an animal genome can be derived from foreign sources. We speculate that animals that can survive extremes may be particularly prone to acquiring foreign genes.

And here are a few of the follow-up stories in the popular press:

The Tardigrade, World’s Cutest Microscopic Animal, is Filled with Alien DNA

What the World’s Toughest Animal Is Really Made Of

Indestructible ‘Water Bears’ Have Really Weird Genomes

The authors are saying that about 18% of the tardigrade genome is a product of horizontal gene transfer…that they’re full of genes gathered up from bacteria, and that this was adaptive, playing a role in their ability to survive dessication.

I have to say…I had my doubts. That seemed really unlikely, not only that they’d have a history of that much HGT, but that it could be assigned to functional roles. But OK, they published it, let’s see how it shakes out.

Here’s where it gets interesting: another paper has just come online that says it’s all an artifact. Tardigrades are tiny, on the order of a thousand cells, so it’s difficult to sample them for sequencing without also picking up lots of bacterial contamination. Here’s the abstract:

Tardigrades are meiofaunal ecdysozoans and are key to understanding the origins of Arthropoda. We present the genome of the tardigrade Hypsibius dujardini, assembled from Illumina paired and mate-pair data. While the raw data indicated extensive contamination with bacteria, presumably from the gut or surface of the animals, careful cleaning generated a clean tardigrade dataset for assembly. We also generated an expressed sequence tag dataset, a Sanger genome survey dataset and used these and Illumina RNA-Seq data for assembly validation and gene prediction. The genome assembly is ~130 Mb in span, has an N50 length of over 50 kb, and an N90 length of 6 kb. We predict 23,031 protein-coding genes in the genome, which is available in a dedicated genome browser at http://ift.tt/zZyJTM. We compare our assembly to a recently published one for the same species and do not find support for massive horizontal gene transfer. Additional analyses of the genome are ongoing.

And their conclusion:

Our assembly, and inferences from it, conflict with a recently published draft genome (UNC) for what is essentially the same strain of H. dujardini. Our assembly, despite having superior assembly statistics, is ~120 Mb shorter than the UNC assembly. Our genome size estimate from sequence assembly is congruent with the values we obtained by direct measurement. We find 15,000 fewer protein-coding genes, and a hugely reduced impact of predicted HGT on gene content in H. dujardini. These HGT candidates await detailed validation. While resolution of the conflict between these assemblies awaits detailed examination based on close scrutiny of the raw UNC data, our analyses suggest that the UNC assembly is compromised by sequences that derive from bacterial contaminants, and that the expanded genome span, additional genes, and HGT candidates are likely to be artefactual.

This could get interesting.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1TjHc8J

Well that explains why cats are so picky… [Life Lines]

Photo of cat eating meat from Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Tom Corser www.tomcorser.com. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 England & Wales (UK) Licence: http://ift.tt/1XFeNuZ

A new study published in PLOS ONE that examined bitter taste receptors in cats may provide evidence as to why felines are such finicky eaters.

Unlike my cat that seems to take after Garfield in his dietary choices, most cats are purely carnivorous. Cats are reportedly unable to taste sweets thus plant-based starches are not typically desirable. This is because part of the gene that encodes for sweet tastes is not functional.

Since bitter tastes are also often derived from toxic plants, the new study examined bitter taste receptor expression in domestic cats. They hypothesized that similar to sweet taste receptors, carnivorous animals would have fewer bitter taste receptors than herbivores. Contrary to their hypothesis, they found that cats have seven bitter taste receptors, which is actually similar to other carnivores including dogs, polar bears and ferrets. The researchers mentioned one reason carnivores may have kept these bitter receptors is to detect bitter tastes the animals may be exposed to through the ingestion of plant-eating prey. They also suggested that bitter receptors within the respiratory tract may help detect infections.

This research may also explain why it is so difficult to give my cat medicine…

Cartoon from End of the Leash Blog (http://ift.tt/1XFeLmO)

Source:

Lei W, Ravoninjohary A, Li X, Margolskee RF, Reed DR, Beauchamp GK, Jiang P. Functional Analyses of Bitter Taste Receptors in Domestic Cats (Felis catus). PLOS ONE. October 2015. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139670

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1YFUjVt

Photo of cat eating meat from Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Tom Corser www.tomcorser.com. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 England & Wales (UK) Licence: http://ift.tt/1XFeNuZ

A new study published in PLOS ONE that examined bitter taste receptors in cats may provide evidence as to why felines are such finicky eaters.

Unlike my cat that seems to take after Garfield in his dietary choices, most cats are purely carnivorous. Cats are reportedly unable to taste sweets thus plant-based starches are not typically desirable. This is because part of the gene that encodes for sweet tastes is not functional.

Since bitter tastes are also often derived from toxic plants, the new study examined bitter taste receptor expression in domestic cats. They hypothesized that similar to sweet taste receptors, carnivorous animals would have fewer bitter taste receptors than herbivores. Contrary to their hypothesis, they found that cats have seven bitter taste receptors, which is actually similar to other carnivores including dogs, polar bears and ferrets. The researchers mentioned one reason carnivores may have kept these bitter receptors is to detect bitter tastes the animals may be exposed to through the ingestion of plant-eating prey. They also suggested that bitter receptors within the respiratory tract may help detect infections.

This research may also explain why it is so difficult to give my cat medicine…

Cartoon from End of the Leash Blog (http://ift.tt/1XFeLmO)

Source:

Lei W, Ravoninjohary A, Li X, Margolskee RF, Reed DR, Beauchamp GK, Jiang P. Functional Analyses of Bitter Taste Receptors in Domestic Cats (Felis catus). PLOS ONE. October 2015. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139670

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1YFUjVt

CDC: Between 2000–2014, measles vaccine prevented more than 17 million deaths [The Pump Handle]

I usually shy away from getting too personal in my work. But in the spirit of Thanksgiving and as a new mom, I was thinking about things for which I’m particularly grateful. One of the first things that came to mind as a public health reporter? Vaccines. So, in that vein, let’s celebrate some new and promising numbers on the worldwide effort to eliminate measles.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new data on progress toward measles elimination since 2000. That’s the year the United Nations adopted the Millennium Development Goals, which included a goal to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by 2015. Among the indicators of progress toward that goal was measles vaccination coverage. Then in 2012, the World Health Assembly endorsed a global plan to eliminate measles in four World Health Organization (WHO) regions by 2015.

According to the new CDC data, which was published in the Nov. 13 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, between 2000 and 2014, the measles vaccine prevented an estimated 17.1 million deaths. Also in that time period, annual reported measles incidence declined 73 percent worldwide, from 146 to 40 cases per million population, and annual estimated measles deaths declined 79 percent, from 546,800 to 114,900.

Between 2013 and 2014, incidence of measles declined in four of six WHO regions. In the African Region, cases decreased 57 percent, from 171,178 cases to about 74,000 cases, while in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, European Region and South-East Asian Region, reported measles cases also went down in 2014. However, increased case numbers were reported in the Region of the Americas in 2014, largely due to measles outbreaks in Brazil and the United States. Still, between 2000 and 2014, measles incidence in the Americas remained at less than five cases per million population.

When it comes to immunization coverage, the CDC data reports that from 2000 to 2010, coverage with the first dose of measles vaccine grew worldwide from 72 percent to 85 percent. It remained at 85 percent throughout 2014. The number of countries with first-dose coverage of 90 percent or more grew from 84 nations in 2000 to 131 in 2012, but declined to 122 in 2014. Among the more than 20 million babies who did not receive their first dose of measles immunization through routine vaccination services in 2014, more than half lived in just six countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan. Also between 2000–2014, the number of countries providing a second dose of measles-containing vaccine through routine immunization services increased from 97 to 154. That means global coverage for the second measles vaccine dose went from 15 percent in 2000 to 56 percent in 2014.

The new data offer a lot to celebrate, but the study also noted that it’s no time to slow down measles elimination efforts: “Although measles vaccination has saved millions of lives since 2000, progress has slowed since 2010. Reaching measles control and elimination goals will require addressing policy and practice gaps that prevent reaching larger numbers of children with measles vaccination, increasing visibility of measles elimination efforts, and ensuring adequate resources for strengthening health systems.”

According to CDC, the U.S. experienced a record number of measles cases in 2014. In fact, that year marked the highest number of cases since 2000, when measles was announced as eliminated in the U.S. To read the new measles data in full, visit CDC.

Kim Krisberg is a freelance public health writer living in Austin, Texas, and has been writing about public health for more than a decade.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/21tgoZH

I usually shy away from getting too personal in my work. But in the spirit of Thanksgiving and as a new mom, I was thinking about things for which I’m particularly grateful. One of the first things that came to mind as a public health reporter? Vaccines. So, in that vein, let’s celebrate some new and promising numbers on the worldwide effort to eliminate measles.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new data on progress toward measles elimination since 2000. That’s the year the United Nations adopted the Millennium Development Goals, which included a goal to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by 2015. Among the indicators of progress toward that goal was measles vaccination coverage. Then in 2012, the World Health Assembly endorsed a global plan to eliminate measles in four World Health Organization (WHO) regions by 2015.

According to the new CDC data, which was published in the Nov. 13 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, between 2000 and 2014, the measles vaccine prevented an estimated 17.1 million deaths. Also in that time period, annual reported measles incidence declined 73 percent worldwide, from 146 to 40 cases per million population, and annual estimated measles deaths declined 79 percent, from 546,800 to 114,900.

Between 2013 and 2014, incidence of measles declined in four of six WHO regions. In the African Region, cases decreased 57 percent, from 171,178 cases to about 74,000 cases, while in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, European Region and South-East Asian Region, reported measles cases also went down in 2014. However, increased case numbers were reported in the Region of the Americas in 2014, largely due to measles outbreaks in Brazil and the United States. Still, between 2000 and 2014, measles incidence in the Americas remained at less than five cases per million population.

When it comes to immunization coverage, the CDC data reports that from 2000 to 2010, coverage with the first dose of measles vaccine grew worldwide from 72 percent to 85 percent. It remained at 85 percent throughout 2014. The number of countries with first-dose coverage of 90 percent or more grew from 84 nations in 2000 to 131 in 2012, but declined to 122 in 2014. Among the more than 20 million babies who did not receive their first dose of measles immunization through routine vaccination services in 2014, more than half lived in just six countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan. Also between 2000–2014, the number of countries providing a second dose of measles-containing vaccine through routine immunization services increased from 97 to 154. That means global coverage for the second measles vaccine dose went from 15 percent in 2000 to 56 percent in 2014.

The new data offer a lot to celebrate, but the study also noted that it’s no time to slow down measles elimination efforts: “Although measles vaccination has saved millions of lives since 2000, progress has slowed since 2010. Reaching measles control and elimination goals will require addressing policy and practice gaps that prevent reaching larger numbers of children with measles vaccination, increasing visibility of measles elimination efforts, and ensuring adequate resources for strengthening health systems.”

According to CDC, the U.S. experienced a record number of measles cases in 2014. In fact, that year marked the highest number of cases since 2000, when measles was announced as eliminated in the U.S. To read the new measles data in full, visit CDC.

Kim Krisberg is a freelance public health writer living in Austin, Texas, and has been writing about public health for more than a decade.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/21tgoZH

092/366: Rejected Currency [Uncertain Principles]

It’s cold and rainy today– you know, like it’s supposed to be in December in the Northeast– so a good day to stay inside with the camera and be randomly artsy. My desk is currently hosting a larger than usual pile of change because SteelyKid found a coin-collecting thing she got a few years ago and decided to hunt for state quarters. So I spent a little while taking pictures of different configurations of this giant pile of rejected quarters. The two best are GIMPed together in the “featured image” up top, but here they are separately:

Messy pile of quarters.

Neatly stacked quarters.

I’m not sure there’s any useful larger point to this, just some fiddling around with depth of field and focus points and so on. I kind of like both of these; if I had to go with just one, I’d probably pick the messy pile, but I don’t have to, so I’ll put both of them in here.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1ltxndj

It’s cold and rainy today– you know, like it’s supposed to be in December in the Northeast– so a good day to stay inside with the camera and be randomly artsy. My desk is currently hosting a larger than usual pile of change because SteelyKid found a coin-collecting thing she got a few years ago and decided to hunt for state quarters. So I spent a little while taking pictures of different configurations of this giant pile of rejected quarters. The two best are GIMPed together in the “featured image” up top, but here they are separately:

Messy pile of quarters.

Neatly stacked quarters.

I’m not sure there’s any useful larger point to this, just some fiddling around with depth of field and focus points and so on. I kind of like both of these; if I had to go with just one, I’d probably pick the messy pile, but I don’t have to, so I’ll put both of them in here.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1ltxndj

The invisible data of Isabella Karle [Discovering Biology in a Digital World]

When finding a female scientists’ data turns into an archeological treasure hunt.

A few months ago, I decided it would be interesting to celebrate various scientific contributions by making images of chemical / molecular structures in the Molecule World iPad app and posting them on Twitter  (@MoleculeWorld).  Whenever I can, I like to highlight scientific contributions from women on their birthdays.  Tomorrow’s post will feature Dr. Isabella Karle, an x-ray crystallographer who worked on the Manhattan project and solved structures of interesting molecules like valinomycin and a South American frog venom (1).

Valinomycin in Molecule World. The structure was obtained from ChemSpider (2) and converted to a PDB file for viewing. This antibiotic makes a channel in the plasma membrane causing potassium to leak out and triggering apoptosis (3)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading about Dr. Karle’s many accomplishments in Wikipedia made me think it should be easy to find and view some of the structures she solved. Indeed, I found 18 papers in PubMed, where she’s listed as an author. Most impressively, if this is the same IL Karle, one paper dates from 2012, making her almost 91 at the time of publication!

But in the quest for structures, the results were nil.  Searching the NCBI’s Molecular Modeling Database and the PDB structure databases only gave me a few structures –all from her husband. Searching with her maiden name was futile as well.

I went back to scanning her papers.

Titles like “Crystal structure of …” were so tantalizing. Being involved in genomics for so long, I couldn’t imagine how a journal like PNAS could publish a 2004 paper, with a title like “Crystal and molecular structure of a benzo[a]pyrene 7,8-diol 9,10-epoxide N2-deoxyguanosine adduct: absolute configuration and conformation”  without requiring the authors to deposit the structure data in a public database.

Luckily, they did.  But the data weren’t in the PDB or the NCBI.  Karle deposited her data in a database I’d never heard of, The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC).  It still wasn’t easy to find her structures, but I could do so if I  looked for an ID in the paper and used it to search.   In the case of valinomycin (above), I only knew about it from Wikipedia, and was able to search for it by name and get it from ChemSpider.

Some additional steps were required to convert structures into a PDB format for viewing, but the structures could be displayed.

It’s nice to know that someone so productive left some kind of data behind.

References:

1. Wikipedia, Isabella Karle,  accessed Dec. 1, 2015.
2. Valinomycin, downloaded from ChemSpider, Dec. 1, 2015
3. Valinomycin, PubChem record.  Dec. 1, 2015.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1N2mKpd

When finding a female scientists’ data turns into an archeological treasure hunt.

A few months ago, I decided it would be interesting to celebrate various scientific contributions by making images of chemical / molecular structures in the Molecule World iPad app and posting them on Twitter  (@MoleculeWorld).  Whenever I can, I like to highlight scientific contributions from women on their birthdays.  Tomorrow’s post will feature Dr. Isabella Karle, an x-ray crystallographer who worked on the Manhattan project and solved structures of interesting molecules like valinomycin and a South American frog venom (1).

Valinomycin in Molecule World. The structure was obtained from ChemSpider (2) and converted to a PDB file for viewing. This antibiotic makes a channel in the plasma membrane causing potassium to leak out and triggering apoptosis (3)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading about Dr. Karle’s many accomplishments in Wikipedia made me think it should be easy to find and view some of the structures she solved. Indeed, I found 18 papers in PubMed, where she’s listed as an author. Most impressively, if this is the same IL Karle, one paper dates from 2012, making her almost 91 at the time of publication!

But in the quest for structures, the results were nil.  Searching the NCBI’s Molecular Modeling Database and the PDB structure databases only gave me a few structures –all from her husband. Searching with her maiden name was futile as well.

I went back to scanning her papers.

Titles like “Crystal structure of …” were so tantalizing. Being involved in genomics for so long, I couldn’t imagine how a journal like PNAS could publish a 2004 paper, with a title like “Crystal and molecular structure of a benzo[a]pyrene 7,8-diol 9,10-epoxide N2-deoxyguanosine adduct: absolute configuration and conformation”  without requiring the authors to deposit the structure data in a public database.

Luckily, they did.  But the data weren’t in the PDB or the NCBI.  Karle deposited her data in a database I’d never heard of, The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC).  It still wasn’t easy to find her structures, but I could do so if I  looked for an ID in the paper and used it to search.   In the case of valinomycin (above), I only knew about it from Wikipedia, and was able to search for it by name and get it from ChemSpider.

Some additional steps were required to convert structures into a PDB format for viewing, but the structures could be displayed.

It’s nice to know that someone so productive left some kind of data behind.

References:

1. Wikipedia, Isabella Karle,  accessed Dec. 1, 2015.
2. Valinomycin, downloaded from ChemSpider, Dec. 1, 2015
3. Valinomycin, PubChem record.  Dec. 1, 2015.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1N2mKpd

Announcing a Series of Actions to Strengthen EPA’s Civil Rights Program

By A. Stanley Meiburg, Acting Deputy Administrator

Today, EPA is taking both regulatory and management actions to move its civil rights program forward and prevent discrimination.

EPA takes seriously its responsibilities under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other federal nondiscrimination laws. Today we are proposing a rule change to both improve how our Office of Civil Rights (OCR) operates and enhance our ability to help our partners comply with these laws.  In addition to the rule change, we are developing tools to help resolve cases more promptly and consistently across the country.

Over the last year and a half, we have been reevaluating our regulations to identify what data and information we currently obtain from grant recipients and how we can make our processes more effective and transparent. We have benchmarked our rules against those of twenty other federal agencies and are proposing changes to conform more closely to the best practices used by others.

One change is to remove inflexible, non-statutory deadlines from our internal rules that fail to respect the individual circumstances of each complaint. We support clear management milestones, but we also recognize that determining how pollution can impact populations is a scientifically complex process that can take longer than our previous deadlines allowed. We have also found that numerous discrimination allegations and legal theories may be asserted in a single complaint under Title VI or other nondiscrimination statutes, and we need the ability to treat each case individually.

This rule change will enable EPA to use new tools to resolve cases and protect communities, including informal resolution and Alternative Dispute Resolution, better positioning EPA to strategically manage its complaint docket and produce better case resolution outcomes.

On the management side, earlier this fall OCR released an External Compliance and Complaints Program Draft Strategic Plan 2015-2020 that set forth specific accountability measures to manage the docket of external complaints more promptly. Today we are also releasing an internal Case Resolution Manual, which we will post on line.  This manual will align OCR’s procedures with those already in place at many other federal agencies.

OCR is also strengthening its proactive compliance efforts through targeted compliance reviews, strategic policy development, and engagement with internal and external stakeholders—including recipients and communities. Proactive engagement and partnerships with recipients will let OCR address potential discrimination before it becomes a challenge for communities. This winter, we will release a Civil Rights Toolkit to help educate states, other recipients of EPA financial assistance, and communities on their rights and obligations under federal laws prohibiting discrimination in providing and utilizing federal assistance grants.

Finally, OCR will work more closely with communities to make sure they understand their nondiscrimination rights and how to work more effectively with recipients of federal financial assistance to secure those rights. For example, in the past some communities filed complaints with OCR against private companies that were not recipients of federal funds and thus were not subject to Title VI requirements. By working with communities from the beginning, we can help direct their concerns to where they can best be resolved, and strengthen transparency and accountability. Starting in 2016, OCR will publish an annual report to keep the public apprised of the office’s progress.

OCR is committed to systematically changing the way it approaches complaints, and EPA is committed to building a model civil rights program. I am confident that through the dedicated, proactive work of our staff and the efforts of recipients and communities, we will make that vision a reality.

Thank you for your interest and for sharing our commitment to both protect the environment and our civil rights as provided in federal law.  If you would like to learn more information, the website here can help.

from The EPA Blog http://ift.tt/1Nm2BcN

By A. Stanley Meiburg, Acting Deputy Administrator

Today, EPA is taking both regulatory and management actions to move its civil rights program forward and prevent discrimination.

EPA takes seriously its responsibilities under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other federal nondiscrimination laws. Today we are proposing a rule change to both improve how our Office of Civil Rights (OCR) operates and enhance our ability to help our partners comply with these laws.  In addition to the rule change, we are developing tools to help resolve cases more promptly and consistently across the country.

Over the last year and a half, we have been reevaluating our regulations to identify what data and information we currently obtain from grant recipients and how we can make our processes more effective and transparent. We have benchmarked our rules against those of twenty other federal agencies and are proposing changes to conform more closely to the best practices used by others.

One change is to remove inflexible, non-statutory deadlines from our internal rules that fail to respect the individual circumstances of each complaint. We support clear management milestones, but we also recognize that determining how pollution can impact populations is a scientifically complex process that can take longer than our previous deadlines allowed. We have also found that numerous discrimination allegations and legal theories may be asserted in a single complaint under Title VI or other nondiscrimination statutes, and we need the ability to treat each case individually.

This rule change will enable EPA to use new tools to resolve cases and protect communities, including informal resolution and Alternative Dispute Resolution, better positioning EPA to strategically manage its complaint docket and produce better case resolution outcomes.

On the management side, earlier this fall OCR released an External Compliance and Complaints Program Draft Strategic Plan 2015-2020 that set forth specific accountability measures to manage the docket of external complaints more promptly. Today we are also releasing an internal Case Resolution Manual, which we will post on line.  This manual will align OCR’s procedures with those already in place at many other federal agencies.

OCR is also strengthening its proactive compliance efforts through targeted compliance reviews, strategic policy development, and engagement with internal and external stakeholders—including recipients and communities. Proactive engagement and partnerships with recipients will let OCR address potential discrimination before it becomes a challenge for communities. This winter, we will release a Civil Rights Toolkit to help educate states, other recipients of EPA financial assistance, and communities on their rights and obligations under federal laws prohibiting discrimination in providing and utilizing federal assistance grants.

Finally, OCR will work more closely with communities to make sure they understand their nondiscrimination rights and how to work more effectively with recipients of federal financial assistance to secure those rights. For example, in the past some communities filed complaints with OCR against private companies that were not recipients of federal funds and thus were not subject to Title VI requirements. By working with communities from the beginning, we can help direct their concerns to where they can best be resolved, and strengthen transparency and accountability. Starting in 2016, OCR will publish an annual report to keep the public apprised of the office’s progress.

OCR is committed to systematically changing the way it approaches complaints, and EPA is committed to building a model civil rights program. I am confident that through the dedicated, proactive work of our staff and the efforts of recipients and communities, we will make that vision a reality.

Thank you for your interest and for sharing our commitment to both protect the environment and our civil rights as provided in federal law.  If you would like to learn more information, the website here can help.

from The EPA Blog http://ift.tt/1Nm2BcN

BBC Panorama’s tobacco industry revelations are genuinely shocking

Last night’s Panorama on BBC1 contained new – and shocking – allegations about the behaviour of one of the world’s biggest tobacco companies: British American Tobacco (BAT).

According to the programme, people working on the company’s behalf are alleged to have offered payments to politicians, civil servants and other Government officials in several African countries, in order to buy influence, make changes to tobacco control legislation, and gain market information to undermine competitors.

Notably, they’re alleged to have paid bribes to influence work at the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a United Nations campaign aimed at reducing deaths from tobacco-related illness that’s supported by the governments of 180 countries.

In our view, these allegations require urgent investigation by the relevant national and international authorities. We’ve become accustomed to the idea that tobacco companies will try every legal avenue available to help them sell a product that kills millions each year. But in 2015, allegations of bribery and corruption are genuinely outrageous.

Global efforts to restrict sales of tobacco are vital. Smoking causes at least 13 different types of cancer. And if present smoking trends continue, estimates suggest that by 2050, smoking will have killed 450 million people around the world over the previous fifty years. It’s an intolerable burden that we should do everything to avoid.

You can watch Panorama’s ‘The Secret Bribes of Big Tobacco’ here:

Henry

from Cancer Research UK - Science blog http://ift.tt/1HEq1yb

Last night’s Panorama on BBC1 contained new – and shocking – allegations about the behaviour of one of the world’s biggest tobacco companies: British American Tobacco (BAT).

According to the programme, people working on the company’s behalf are alleged to have offered payments to politicians, civil servants and other Government officials in several African countries, in order to buy influence, make changes to tobacco control legislation, and gain market information to undermine competitors.

Notably, they’re alleged to have paid bribes to influence work at the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a United Nations campaign aimed at reducing deaths from tobacco-related illness that’s supported by the governments of 180 countries.

In our view, these allegations require urgent investigation by the relevant national and international authorities. We’ve become accustomed to the idea that tobacco companies will try every legal avenue available to help them sell a product that kills millions each year. But in 2015, allegations of bribery and corruption are genuinely outrageous.

Global efforts to restrict sales of tobacco are vital. Smoking causes at least 13 different types of cancer. And if present smoking trends continue, estimates suggest that by 2050, smoking will have killed 450 million people around the world over the previous fifty years. It’s an intolerable burden that we should do everything to avoid.

You can watch Panorama’s ‘The Secret Bribes of Big Tobacco’ here:

Henry

from Cancer Research UK - Science blog http://ift.tt/1HEq1yb