Counterfeit, falsified, and substandard drugs are a dangerous threat to people around the world, including Americans. These drugs may include toxins or inert substances that do nothing at all. They may contain too much of an active ingredient or not enough. They may also be copies of prescription drugs or over-the-counter medications, imitating brand name drugs or generics. The people selling counterfeit medicine are depriving patients of life-saving or life-sustaining therapies. They also endanger global health by creating an environment for diseases to become resistant to drugs used to treat them. Given that 80 percent of the active ingredients in medications used in the United States originate abroad, primarily in China and India, we have a vital interest in ensuring the safety of an ever more complex global drug supply chain.
When a massive earthquake hit Japan in March 2011, an informal global network of government officials and NGOs delivered real-time satellite images showing the exact extent of the earthquake and tsunami damage. Japan's emergency responders used this information to find disaster victims, determine evacuation routes, and prepare for further aftershocks. This is a significant yet small example of the ways we are using earth observing and other satellite information from space to respond to disasters, understand the environment and climate change, and improve the use of our natural resources.
For several decades, the United States and many other countries have worked together to develop advanced earth observing satellites that are literally changing the way we look at the world. Earth Day 2012 falls close to the 40th anniversary of the launch of the U.S. Landsat 1, the… more »
Held on-site at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in Palo Alto, California, the three-day conference energized the global discussion about connection technologies and how they can foster the global sustainable development agenda. The interactive event also explored the issues… more »
World Wetlands Day is here! Join us in congratulating our Wetlands Photo Celebration fan favorites -- with images and photographers from around the globe. We have four categories of favorites within our wetlands and tourism theme: plants, landscape, tourists, and wildlife. In the slideshow, you'll see a silt village in Ghana, a gorgeous river in West Virginia, a diver in the coastal wetlands of Mexico, and a beautiful damselfly in Cambodia. Also, many thanks to all of our wetlands tourists and photographers for the hundreds of photo submissions. You can learn more about our World Wetlands Day Photo celebration on our Flickr page. We salute the world's wetlands for their beauty and many critical benefits to humankind. Happy World Wetlands Day 2012! more »
On January 23, I joined seven other members of a joint U.S.-Russian Federation team that departed Christchurch, New Zealand, for the United States' McMurdo Station in Antarctica to conduct inspections of facilities maintained by other nations in Antarctica. Antarctica is the coldest, driest, windiest, and most isolated continent on Earth. Despite these challenging conditions, there are more than 100 facilities of various sizes and capacities in Antarctica established by almost 30 Antarctic Treaty Parties. The Department of State and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, joined by colleagues from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Russian Antarctic Expedition, co-led the first joint inspection conducted by either country. NSF provided invaluable logistical assistance.
After an eight-hour flight on board a New York Air National Guard ski-equipped LC-130… more »
In the enduring spirit of friendship and cooperation, the United States and Canada conducted their fourth joint mission to map the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean this past summer. The 2011 Arctic mission traversed more than 5,600 total miles and reached more than 1,230 miles north of the Alaskan coast. It marks the completion of a successful five-year collaboration between the United States and Canada to collect the scientific data necessary to determine the extent of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles (referred to as the extended continental shelf) in the Arctic. Determining the extent of the continental shelf is important because a country has rights to manage and protect the resources of its continental shelf.
Collecting these data was not a trivial endeavor, especially in the Arctic's ice-covered waters. The 2011 joint mission spanned nearly… more »
As the United States and nations worldwide work to build their economies within the context of the global marketplace, the ability to innovate is the most basic and essential underpinning. As I travel worldwide or meet with foreign guests in Washington, D.C., one of the most common questions for me is to describe the U.S. system which leads to innovation. What are the policies which support innovation and what are the practices on the ground which propel innovation? My response always touches on the need to invest in education and scientific research, to value and protect intellectual property rights, and to support a system which allows failures while celebrating success, which seeds promising ideas with funds, and which nurtures future innovators.
If the fundamentals are right, innovation proceeds, economies grow and solutions to tough problems, including energy… more »
May 23: The State Department, through its office of the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), is pleased to announce $1.5 million in funding to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to support open governance and political participation in the Middle East and North Africa. more »
May 23: Today, Russia was invited to join the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) at a ceremony hosted by its parent body, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. ã more »
![An unidentified National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, (NAFDAC) official shows samples of seized fake drugs at the NAFDAC warehouse in Lagos, Nigeria, Aug. 30, 2005. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0522_drugs_m.jpg)
![These images provided by NASA shows a Landsat 5 image of the Mississippi River in the Memphis, Tenn. area taken on May 12, 2006, left, and a Landsat 5 image of the Mississippi River in the Memphis, Tenn. taken area on May 10, 2011. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0422_landsat_image_m.jpg)
![Members of a joint United States-Russian Federation team pose for a photo at the United States McMurdo Station in Antarctica in January 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0131_us_russia_antarctic_m.jpg)
![Views of the U.S.-Canada fourth joint mission to map the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean in August and September 2011. The 2011 joint mission employed the flagship icebreaker from each country, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy and the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent (LSSL), with each ship performing different functions and one ship breaking ice for the other.[State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0123_arctic_m.jpg)
![Dr. E. William Colglazier, Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State, celebrates the launch of the Innovation Generation with winners of the Conrad Foundation Spirit of Innovation Award, all students at Thomas Jefferson Science and Technology High School, in Washington, D.C., on January 19, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0120_Innovation_Generation_m.jpg)
