Social Spending and Income Redistribution in Argentina During the 2000s: The Rising Role of Noncontributory Pensions

Between 2003 and 2009, Argentina's social spending as a share of GDP increased by 7.6 percentage points. Marginal benefit incidence analysis for 2003, 2006, and 2009 suggests that the contribution of cash transfers to the reduction of disposable income inequality and poverty rose markedly between 2006 and 2009 primarily due to the launching of a noncontributory pension program - the pension moratorium - in 2004. Noncontributory pensions as a share of GDP rose by 2.2 percentage points between 2003 and 2009 and entailed a redistribution of income to the poor, and from the formal sector pensioners with above minimum pensions to the beneficiaries of the pension moratorium. The redistributive impact of the expansion of public spending on education and health was also sizeable and equalizing, but to a lesser degree. An assessment of fiscal funding sources puts the sustainability of the redistributive policies into question, unless nonsocial spending is significantly cut

A systematic review of floating and beach landing records of Sargassum beyond the Sargasso Sea

Sargassum algal blooms on ocean surfaces and landings of huge Sargassum mats on beaches is an emerging global environmental challenge with wide socio-economic and environmental implications. Literature on Sargassum growth cycles, travel patterns, species and morphotypes, and quantified impacts have tended to focus on a geographic region, or a specific event. Few, if any, publications document long term continuous monitoring of Sargassum blooms in large areas such as the Pacific, or the tropical Atlantic. To address this gap, this paper systematically reviews the global evidence of Sargassum bloom monitoring beyond the Sargasso Sea, and identifies gaps in the evidence base of floating and landing influxes. This systematic review uses combinations of two key terms relating to Sargassum and monitoring, and utilises the resources in ISI Web of Knowledge, Scopus and Google Scholar. The analysis moves us past a classic literature review, and produces an unbiased assessment of empirical research on Sargassum monitoring from 1960 to 2019. We find a significant research focus on open-ocean blooms and floating mats whereas research on beach landings and their associated impacts is comparatively limited. Research is focused within specific countries or water bodies (notably, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and North Atlantic Ocean) and tends not to comprehensively assess neighbouring or regional shorelines, for example, West Africa and Central America. There was a lack of consistency in the application of methods for quantifying Sargassum biomass volume (including dry/wet weight, unit of measurement, and spatial extent of calculations). Further, in many publications Sargassum species identification was omitted. Given current attempts to understand the drivers and impacts of the exponential growth in Sargassum in some parts of the world, a consistent and replicable research approach to monitoring Sargassum could support creation of a Sargassum evidence database. To move this agenda forwards, we propose a definition for a Sargassum 'event': a continuous bloom of any Sargassum in open oceans, or, an aggregation of landed Sargassum, with the potential to disrupt social, economic or ecosystem functioning, or to impact human health. This review highlights the importance of standardising Sargassum monitoring methods to facilitate improved documentation of temporal and spatial patterns of Sargassum blooms and beach landings

Antimicrobial resistance monitoring and surveillance in the meat chain: A report from five countries in the European Union and European Economic Area

Background The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in zoonotic foodborne pathogens (Salmonella, Campylobacter) and indicator microorganisms (E. coli, enterococci) is a major public health risk. Zoonotic bacteria, resistant to antimicrobials, are of special concern because they might compromise the effective treatment of infections in humans. Scope and approach In this review, the AMR monitoring and surveillance programmes in five selected countries within European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) are described. The sampling schemes, susceptibility testing for AMR identification, clinical breakpoints (clinical resistance) and epidemiological cut-off values (microbiological resistance) were considered to reflect on the most important variations between and within food-producing animal species, between countries, and to identify the most effective approach to tackle and manage the antimicrobial resistance in the food chain. Key findings and conclusions The science-based monitoring of AMR should encompass the whole food chain, supported with public health surveillance and should be conducted in accordance with ‘Zoonoses Directive’ (99/2003/EC). Such approach encompasses the integrated AMR monitoring in food animals, food and humans in the whole food (meat) chain continuum, e.g. pre-harvest (on-farm), harvest (in abattoir) and post-harvest (at retail). The information on AMR in critically important antimicrobials (CIA) for human medicine should be of particular importance

Evaluation of existing control measures in reducing health and safety risks of engineered nanomaterials

While the risk management of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) receives significant attention, there is still a limited understanding of how to select optimal risk management measures (RMMs) for controlling and mitigating the risks associated with exposure to ENMs. Clearly, there exists a need to expand current risk management practices to ensure safe production, handling and use of ENMs. Moreover, the performance of the existing RMMs should be re-evaluated for ENMs since control options that are proven to be effective for preventing or limiting risks associated with traditional particles might give unsatisfactory results in the case of nano-scale particles. This paper has brought together the evidence on the adequacy of traditional controls to minimize potential health and environmental risks resulting from exposure to ENMs. The aim here is to advance our understanding of the risk management approaches relevant for ENMs, and ultimately to support the selection of the most suitable RMMs when handling ENMs. To that end, evaluative evidence collected from the review of relevant literature and survey of nanotechnology institutions are combined and summarised to understand the level of protection offered by each control measure, as well as the relative costs of their implementation. The findings suggest that most relevant risk control options are based on isolating people from hazard through engineering measures (e.g. ventilation and chemical fume hoods) or personal protective equipment (PPE), rather than eliminating hazard at source (e.g. substitution). Although control measures related to the modification of ENMs have high efficiency in the occupational risk control hierarchy, they are not widely employed since there is currently a high degree of uncertainty regarding the impact of manipulating nano-characteristics on the performance of final product. Lastly, despite its low cost, PPE is the least effective category in the occupational risk control hierarchy and should not be used on its own when significant risk reduction is required. Clearly, further quantitative data is needed to fully assess the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of risk control options to prevent risks from exposure to ENMs. When there is little information on the efficiency of control measures specific to ENMs, the default efficiencies can be used for initial assessment purposes although it should not be considered exhaustive

EFSA NDA Panel (EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies), 2013 . Scientific O pinion on Dietary Reference Values for molybdenum

Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) derived Dietary Reference Values (DRVs) for molybdenum. Molybdenum is efficiently and rapidly absorbed at a wide range of intakes, and the body is able to maintain homeostasis through the regulation of excretion via the urine. Molybdenum deficiency in otherwise healthy humans has not been observed and there are no biomarkers of molybdenum status. Various metabolic balance studies have been performed to establish molybdenum requirements. However, only one balance study, which was performed with a constant diet and under controlled conditions in adult men, was considered to be of sufficient duration. In this small study, balance was reported to be near zero when molybdenum intakes were 22 µg/day. Biochemical changes or symptoms suggestive of molybdenum deficiency were not observed, and it is possible that humans may be able to achieve molybdenum balance at even lower intakes. Data on molybdenum intakes and health outcomes were unavailable for the setting of DRVs for molybdenum. As the evidence required to derive an Average Requirement and a Population Reference Intake was considered insufficient, an Adequate Intake (AI) is proposed. Observed molybdenum intakes from mixed diets in Europe were taken into consideration in setting this value. An AI of 65 µg/day is proposed for adults; a figure that is based on molybdenum intakes at the lower end of the wide range of observed intakes. It is suggested that the adult AI also applies to pregnant and lactating women. An AI is also proposed for infants from seven months and for children based on extrapolation from the adult AI using isometric scaling and the reference body weights of the respective age groups