Food Safety
For Men of Color, Health Problems Are Linked to Place, Not Race
By Viji Sundaram&Poornima Weerasekara
Black and Latino boys and young men – six to 25 years old -- in California are twice as likely to have health problems as their Caucasian counterparts. The bulk of those problems are related to the neighborhoods they live in, according to recent research findings.
The California Endowment, one of the largest health foundations in the country, funded the research, titled "Healthy Communities Matter: The Importance of Place to the Health of Boys of Color."
It combines collective research from the RAND Corporation, PolicyLink, the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School, the Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice and the Department of Emergency Medicine at Drexel University.
Green Chemistry Draft Regs: Toothless, Limited, Biased Toward Industry
By Renee Sharp
Environmental Working Group
California’s Green Chemistry Initiative has been touted as a bold and innovative move toward more effective and efficient regulation of industrial chemicals in consumer products. But the Initiative’s draft regulations would perpetuate the most serious flaws of the current system: too weak, too slow and stacked against the public in favor of industry.
In two letters, nearly 50 environmental, public health, consumer and worker safety advocates from every region of California have written to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and to Cal-EPA Secretary Linda Adams, saying the draft regulations issued last month “fall far short of meeting the worthy goals of the Initiative.”
Fewer Poor Kids Getting Free Summer Meals
By Vivian Po
A new report reveals that due to budget cuts the government-funded summer nutrition programs fed only one out of six low-income children in the United States last year.
The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) report, “Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report 2010,” which was released on Tuesday, found that education cutbacks forced many state and local governments across the country to reduce or eliminate their summer school programs for kids.
As a result, the report said, only 2.8 million children participated in summer nutrition programs in July 2009 — about 73,000 children fewer than in July 2008.
FDA Wimps Out
By Tommi Avicolli-Mecca
The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) may be inching its way to an outright ban on the use of antibiotics in meat unless it’s specifically used to protect the health of the animal, but at this pace it may take forever.
This past Monday, the government agency released a proposed recommendation (open to public comment for the next 60 days) that the meat industry cease using the drugs to increase production and growth. It also suggested that veterinarians be consulted about the use of any antibiotic in the production of meat. The recommendation is expected to become official after public comment.
According to an FDA statement, “The development of resistance to this important class of drugs, and the resulting loss of their effectiveness as antimicrobial therapies, poses a serious public health threat.”
California Considering Approval of Neurotoxic Pesticide for Strawberry Farming
By Traci Sheehan
Planning and Conservation League
Need an ironclad reason to buy organic strawberries? California has one for you: methyl iodide. The chemical is a drift-prone fumigant that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved in 2007, primarily to replace methyl bromide, which is being phased out under the Montreal Protocol because of its ozone depleting properties and its toxicity. The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) plans to approve the use of methyl iodide to sterilize soil for strawberry crops as the alternative to methyl bromide.
California is Lagging on Patient Safety
By Lisa McGiffert
Consumers Union
Alicia Cole never thought that routine surgery to remove two uterine fibroids would turn into such a medical nightmare. But three years later, the Sherman Oaks resident is still struggling to deal with the physical and emotional trauma she experienced after developing a flesh-eating bacterial infection in the hospital following her operation.
What was supposed to be a two-day stay in the hospital, turned into a two month ordeal, six more surgeries and three years of painful rehabilitation. Alicia’s surgical wounds have finally healed but her skin and scar tissue are so delicate that she is prone to developing small skin tears and holes just from normal activity.
A Solution to the Public Health Emergency Created by Alcoholic Energy Drinks
By Sarah M. Mart
On Monday, April 12, 2010, the California Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization (GO) will vote on AB 1598 (Beall, San Jose), a bill that will ban the sale of alcoholic energy drinks in California.
Alcoholic energy drinks (AEDs) are a marketer’s dream: sweet and fruity, brightly colored, easily mistaken for nonalcoholic drinks, and inexpensive, with plenty of market-driven word of mouth from youth, particularly on Facebook and YouTube.
AED producers add stimulants such as caffeine and guarana to malt beverages to create these potent and dangerous alcopops. AEDs often contain substantially higher levels of caffeine than coffee. These stimulants mask the true effects of alcohol, which can lead to increased risk-taking by the drinker.
Anticipating the Light Brown Apple Moth Eradication Program
By Jane Kelly and Lynn Elliott-Harding, RN
Any day now, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) will release the final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on how the CDFA proposes to deal with the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM).
Concerned citizens who opposed the CDFA’s original plans to aerially spray the Bay Area counties with pesticides are assuming that the CDFA will attempt to expand its “eradication” program throughout the state and are gearing up to oppose it.