Yesterday

• Shark Bites: the nation kept a worried eye on the rash of shark bite injuries and deaths that plagued our beaches.
• Foot and Mouth Disease: the U.S. scrambled to protect its borders from the livestock epidemic in Britain, continental Europe and elsewhere.
• Arsenic Standard: after a drawn out investigation and a lot of bad press, the Bush Administration decided to adopt the 10 parts per billion arsenic standard recommended by the Clinton Administration.
• Tropical Storm Allison Hits Houston: the local population suffered injuries, deaths and severe physical damages costing the city over $2 billion.
• Food-borne Illness: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration launched a campaign to raise awareness about food-borne illness; the World Health Organization called for international collaboration for global food safety standards.

Today

• Water Security: the potential of a terrorist attack on our water supply - in the form of water supply contamination or service disruption via structural damage - has prompted more thorough personnel checks and staff training at utilities and strengthened internet and physical security.
• Bioterrorism: following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington and the anthrax mail attacks, federal, state and local officials are engaged in strategic thinking to aggressively curtail future bioterror threats to our nation.
• Food Safety: in addition to concerns about E. Coli, domestic and trans-border agro-terrorism prevention is now on the forefront of the continuing FDA food safety campaign; foreign meat and crippling crop diseases are the subject of greater attention and concern.
• Droughts: several regions are experiencing droughts that have prompted local water restrictions.