<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">
<b><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; ">Dear Friends and Colleagues</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><font style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></font><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; ">New from Independent Science News:</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; "><b>Vitamin A Wars: the Downsides of Donor-driven Aid</b></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; ">by Ted Greiner, Prof. of Nutrition, Hanyang University, Korea</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; ">at</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" color="#000099" style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; "><a href="http://independentsciencenews.org/"><u>http://independentsciencenews.org</u></a></font><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; ">/</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><font style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></font><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; ">Synopsis:</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; ">Millions of preschool age children in more than 100 countries world-wide receive mega-dose Vitamin A capsules (VAC) twice every year at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars to international donors. While early clinical trials suggested this might reduce mortality rates, the effectiveness of VAC in real-life programs has never been proven. And for children who do not need them Vitamin A mega-doses may cause health problems. Even more problematic, VAC supplementation programs are actively blocking potential holistic solutions (such as nutrition education or small scale farming) which could not only alleviate vitamin A deficiency, but help solve broader problems of malnutrition in these countries. Since VAC programs may be benefitting only the companies who supply the capsules, they are increasingly resented in host countries. In this article, Ted Greiner, Prof of Nutrition and former nutrition adviser to the Swedish International Development Agency, highlights the many problems and calls for implementation of an exit strategy. Donors urgently need to discuss with host countries how to shift priorities and funding to more sustainable food-based approaches that best meet each country's needs.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><font style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></font><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><font style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></font><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; "><b>Please forward, post, distribute, tweet, like, link to, and recommend this important article to colleagues, etc with interests in development, aid, nutrition and sustainable farming, if you can.</b></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><font style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></font><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><font style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></font><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; ">Apologies for any cross-posting</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; "><font style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></font><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; ">Yours sincerely</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal;">Allison</span></font></div></b><div> </div><br><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><div>Allison Wilson, PhD</div></div><div>Science Director</div><div>The Bioscience Resource Project</div><div>P.O. Box 6869</div><div>Ithaca, NY 14851</div><div>USA</div><div><br></div><div>email: <a href="mailto:a.wilson@bioscienceresource.org">a.wilson@bioscienceresource.org</a></div><div>phone: USA (607) 319-0279</div><div><br></div><div><div><div><div><a href="http://independentsciencenews.org/">http://independentsciencenews.org/ </a></div></div><div>and</div><div><a href="http://www.bioscienceresource.org/">http://www.bioscienceresource.org/</a></div><div><br></div></div></div>The Bioscience Resource Project</div><div>"Good with Science"<br><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><br></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div><br></body></html>