Flesh and Stone

Customer loyalty cards proving to be a useful food safety tool

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 09:21:00 -0600

Customer loyalty cards swiped at grocery store check-out lanes helped the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) track the source of a Salmonella infection outbreak to the course pepper used by a salami manufacturer in Rhode Island.

Earlier this month, the CDC used information from shopper bonus cards to pinpoint the source of items that sickened nearly 250 people in 44 states. People who were ill gave public health officials permission to retrieve purchase information based on their loyalty card numbers.

A few store chains, including Costco, Wegman’s and Price Chopper, already use information generated by their bonus cards to inform consumers who have purchased products that later ended up on recall lists. A consumer protection group says more retailers should use their loyalty card program not just to build their databases but to help protect the public from being sickened by contaminated foods.

“If a retailer knows the address, phone number, or email address of someone who has purchased contaminated peanut butter, spinach, or salami, the company should take advantage of that opportunity to prevent future illnesses from recalled products,” according to Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Food Safety Attorney Sarah Klein.

US the big surprise at international drug policy meeting in Vienna

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:58:00 -0700

The Obama Administration’s approach to international drug and HIV/AIDS policy at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) meeting that was held March 8-12 in Vienna, Austria has won praise from the International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA).

More info at the CNDBlog: Although the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the UN body tasked with overseeing global drug policy, does not broadcast its proceedings nor make its minutes or report summaries public, the IHRA has added transparency to this meeting through its CNDBlog. Go there to find out the position your government is taking on global drug policy.

“Real progress was made here this week in Vienna; some countries that in the past tried to obstruct resolutions dealing with harm reduction and human rights have backed off,” said Professor Gerry Stimson, executive director of the IHRA, who attended the Vienna meeting.

“The big –- and welcome –- development is the U.S. position," said Stimson in a written statement. "The fresh approach of the Obama administration to the UN and to international drug and HIV/AIDS policy is making itself felt. U.S. officials here for the first time were able to voice their support for HIV-related risk prevention measures, and for HIV prevention firmly based in human rights. Let’s hope this continues to play through in the years ahead. If so, we are going in the direction of a more rational global response to drug-related harm.”

IHRA also praised a U.S.-sponsored resolution on access to essential controlled medicines. The Commission has long neglected this aspect of its mission, according to the IHRA.

“The real disappointment is Russia, which not only neglects the prevention and care of HIV for drug users within Russia (some 65 percent of HIV infection in the country occurs through injecting drug use and opioid substitution therapy, such as methadone, is illegal), but continues to try to export that negative approach to the rest of the world,” said Damon Barrett, IHRA human rights analyst, who also attended the CND meeting.

“Russia attempted to block key provisions of the HIV/AIDS resolution and with co-operation from Kenya, managed to remove any mention of essential drugs for HIV prevention from the U.S. medicines resolution,” concluded Barrett.

The International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA) promotes a harm reduction approach to all psychoactive substances on a global basis. It works to prevent negative social, health, economic and criminal impacts of illicit drugs, alcohol and tobacco for individuals, communities and society. IHRA supports the engagement of people and communities affected by drugs and alcohol around the world and works to promote harm reduction and human rights issues within national, regional and international bodies such as the UN.

Key resources on drug policy and harm reduction:

Snow removal methods are as varied as the cities where it falls

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:10:00 -0700

It’s snow joke! Snow and its removal can be hazardous to your health, therefore various cities coated in the white stuff have come up with using methods from brute force to high-tech to make snow on icy roads and sidewalks go away.

Cars slipping and sliding on icy roads leads to crashed cars and injured drivers and pedestrians who are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Traversing sidewalks is no less dangerous to pedestrians who can be seen flying in uncontrolled aerobatics, crash landing and suffering everything from embarrassment to bruises to broken bones to concussions.

For the snow-shoveler it’s strained backs and more far seriously, heart attacks.

Snow removal efforts are as varied as the cities where officials fight blizzard fits thrown at them by Mother Nature.

Since kids do the darnedest things, snow removal teams in Flagstaff, Arizona, have standing orders to check out piles of snow that accumulate around residential cul-de-sacs before plowing them up, because kids have an affinity for tunneling into them and building snow forts in the drifts.

In Beijing, China, in January when only a few inches fell, they used brute force, mobilizing 20,000 snow shovelers, street cleaners and 40,000 paramilitary police and 300,000 volunteers from the youth league of the Communist Party. This January’s snowfall of only a few inches fell was the biggest one-day snow fall since 1951.

Snowplow jockey Bob York of New Castle, Indiana, told AP they follow his dad’s “It’s better to the kill the snake before it bites you,” plan by using trucks that spread salt and sand early to prevent ice from forming under layers of snow.

Whereas most cities cart off truckloads of snow to empty spaces, in New York City, the most densely populated city in the U.S. with nowhere to dump the snow, they employ the use of 20 huge snow-mantling machines that are capable of steam-blasting more than 50 tons of the white stuff an hour. The liquid then runs off into sewers.

Another New York city, Syracuse, has the nation’s highest average annual snowfall. In Syracuse it’s a matter of keeping ahead of the flakes. The city is able to attack snowstorms around the clock, according to a spokesperson from the department of Public Works.

Across the world in Moscow, they’ve gone experimentally high-tech by having the Russian air force intercept storm fronts and bombard the atmosphere with dry ice and silver iodine in an effort to reduce the amount of snow in the Russian capital. According to Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, that forces the snow to fall on villages and towns far from the city, and helps crops grown in those places.

The Colorado capital city of Denver has gone low-tech and lets nature do its thing while tapping into the sun. The average temperatures in the Mile High City are in the 40s, and the city’s tried-and-true official plan is to let the sun take care of the snow. Officials maintain that the warmth of the sun’s rays enables them to save snow-clearing costs as compared to colder cities that get the same amount of annual snowfall.

Whatever the method -- high-tech, low-tech or brute force -- city managers are always on the alert for the most efficient ways to get rid of snow, making the streets safe to travel. Through it all, it's always a relief to know that spring will eventually chase the snow away...until next year.

Journal reports teenager nearly blinded following vaccination against HPV virus

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:58:00 -0700

A 16-year-old girl developed near complete visual loss after being immunized against human papilloma virus (HPV), according to a case report published in the March issue of the Journal of Child Neurology.

Report authors Mirna Hajjar, MD, a neurologist, Thomas Ciesielski, MD, a pathologist, both of Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Conn., and pediatrician Francis DiMario, Jr., MD, with Connecticut Children's Medical Center, described the injury as chiasmal neuritis (inflammed nerves) with a tumefactive (swollen) demyelinating lesion that were observed through brain biopsy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The vision loss occurred about 10 days after the girl had received the second of three courses of the Gardasil vaccine.

The previously healthy girl had gone to the emergency room after experiencing progressive acute vision loss and a gradually worsening headache over a 48-hour period. She had no other symptoms and no family history of demyelinating disease, collagen-vascular disease, or rheumatological disorders. The authors wrote: “It is tempting to speculate whether there may be a specific immune mechanism initiated with human papilloma virus not yet identified, which resulted in not only acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis but also in an unusual clinical course that resulted in persistent visual loss.”

Eighteen months after her initial symptoms the girl continued to experience “persistent profound visual impairment” but had no additional neurological problems, according to the authors.

The authors noted that only four other cases showing an association between central nervous system demyelination and the HPV vaccine have been published and that larger epidemiologic studies are needed to confirm HPV virus immunization plays a role in demyelinating disease.

Source:

Francis J. DiMario, Jr, Mirna Hajjar and Thomas Ciesielski
J Child Neurol 2010; 25; 321
DOI: 10.1177/0883073809349322

WHO calls avoidable maternal deaths ‘shameful’

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:36:00 -0700

The World Health Organization (WHO) today labeled as "shameful" the fact that 90 percent of maternal deaths in the Western Pacific Region could be avoided if a woman’s right to good health would be properly met.

WHO said that more than 100 women in the region die from pregnancy-related deaths each day and, unless drastic measures are taken, the number of tragedies of this kind will continue to rise. The WHO figures singled out Cambodia and the Lao People's Democratic Republic

"It is shameful that despite the Region's rapid economic growth, a large—and growing—number of women are still excluded from the fruits of this progress," said Dr. Shin Young-soo, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, in a written statement. "Good health is a universal right, not a privilege. Taking on this issue will be at the top of our agenda in the Western Pacific."

Numerous obstacles, including societal discrimination and limited access to health services, combine to deprive women of this right. A further challenge is the low level of education provided to women on average despite the fact that improved education for women has been found to produce better health outcomes for themselves and the generations that follow.

Scientists develop worldwide food alert system

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:44:00 -0700

Countries producing food containing harmful bacteria and toxins could be named and shamed more quickly using a worldwide alert system devised by a team of scientists from London’s Kingston University.

Professor Declan Naughton, a biochemist, led a team that developed a computer tool for tracking and monitoring contaminated food products. The goal is to prevent the products from reaching store shelves.

Food safety and security is a worldwide priority issue. In accordance with the Beijing Declaration, all signatory countries have agreed to develop comprehensive programs for monitoring food safety and security on behalf of their citizens. -- PLos ONEThousands of alerts about contaminated food are produced each year, particularly by developed countries, but there is no single international system for monitoring food safety. This prompted Naughton and his colleagues, from the School of Life Sciences, to develop a program to analyze alerts and produce a global picture of the countries that trade and detect contaminated food that can be deadly or cause health problems from food poisoning to long term degenerative diseases. Naughton recently presented a summary of the team’s findings at a conference organized by the European Food Security Authority, the EU’s food safety and security watchdog.

Naughton said the program provides complex information “in a snapshot form.” He said it could be particularly helpful to developing countries that are new to food testing because information is easy to access and available in minutes. The program could also be applied to other global health hazards such as pest control or illegal animal or plant imports.

China, Iran, Turkey, the United States and Spain were the top five offenders when it came to producing contaminated food, according to an analysis of data from 2003-2008. Over the same five-year period, Italy, Germany, the UK, Spain and the Netherlands were the countries that reported the largest number of contaminated products from other countries. Toxins in pistachio nuts from Iran, food recalled by major supermarket chains and imported products stopped by border agencies were among the alerts included in the analysis.

Naughton said the program could provide profiles of individual countries that had problems with food safety as well as identifying particular contaminants that needed investigating, such as high levels of mercury in fish.

“We’d like to develop the tool to create an international alert system that will provide real time information about emerging patterns and problems,” said Naughton. The program could also be used to help prepare for malicious or terrorist attempts to contaminate food, he added.

Source:

Kingston University

Several hospitalized after ingesting pot brownies

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:13:00 -0700

Several people got a trip they didn’t expect after eating pot brownies purchased at a medical marijuana clinic in Huntington Beach, California. Instead they got a trip to the hospital.

Instead of the expected high or relief from pain, they found themselves in a world of hurt, enough to call paramedics to assist them at a restaurant where they went after making their medical marijuana purchases, authorities said.

Their complaints ranged from difficulty in breathing to hallucinations, said Huntington Beach Police Lt. Craig Bryant. He added that because they all had medical marijuana cards, their cases were considered to be the result of an illness and not a criminal matter.

According to the National Institutes of Health, eating marijuana can produce reactions that are more unpleasant than those a user can get from inhaling pot smoke.

Smoking pot has and instantaneous effect, whereas ill effects from ingesting it can take from 30 minutes to an hours to appear.

If adverse side effects are felt while inhaling, the person simply has to stop smoking, but that isn’t the case when marijuana is ingested.

According to the Institute’s Web site: "These effects add up and last longer, making unpleasant reactions more likely."

SCOTUS ruling: Is Clean Water Act only valid for navigable waters?

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:29:00 -0700

The interim goal of the Clean Water Act (CWA) was swimmable and fishable waters by 1983 and the final goal was the elimination of all water pollution by 1985.

"One would think that open waters used as urinals are not swimmable and that discharging wastewater containing toxic compounds, carcinogens, oils, pesticides, herbicides, and industrial waste, to name a few, would fall under the category of “water pollution.” But again, now the Supreme Court is claiming that the CWA is valid only for navigable waters and not for streams one cannot navigate a boat in." Peter Maier

The following paragraph was used in a 1997 lawsuit against the EPA heard before the federal Court of Appeals in Denver. The lawsuit stemmed from the EPA’s refusal to address the pollution caused by nitrogenous (urine and protein) waste in its definition of “secondary treatment.”

“First always, is the question whether Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue. If the intent of Congress is clear, that is the end of the matter; for the court, as well as the agency, must give effect to the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress.”

The suit stated that, due to an incorrect water pollution test application, the EPA had excluded nitrogenous waste from treatment. Besides exerting an oxygen demand (just like fecal waste), this urine and protein waste is also a fertilizer for algae and thus is causing eutrophication, often resulting in dead zones.

Maybe not for those working in our judicial system, but the intent of the CWA was unambiguously clear, as explained by Sen. Edmund Muskie, who, speaking from the Senate floor, stated: “This Act simply means that we cannot use our open waters to treat our sewage any longer.”

One would think that open waters used as urinals are not swimmable and that discharging wastewater containing toxic compounds, carcinogens, oils, pesticides, herbicides, and industrial waste, to name a few, would fall under the category of “water pollution.” But again, now the Supreme Court is claiming that the CWA is valid only for navigable waters and not for streams one cannot navigate a boat in.

One has to wonder why the people that wrote the CWA even used this wording, since it obviously is violating the intent of the CWA legislation and that obviously those non-navigable streams eventually will discharge into navigable waters.

The legal fight will now likely erupt over whether the discharge was meant to be directly or indirectly discharged into navigable waters. It will keep the courts busy for decades, while the water quality in our open waters suffers further deterioration and the real intent of the CWA is again ignored by our legal system.

Maier received a doctoral degree in civil engineering from the University of Delft in Holland, and has professional engineering licenses in New York and Utah. He worked for the State of New York, a large engineering consulting firm in Holland and an equipment manufacturing firm in Utah. He was involved in the design and R&D of municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants in Europe, Brazil, Mexico and the United States. He can be reached at pmaier@petermaier.net.

Farewell, Mikael the Mime

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:56:00 -0700

Mikael Rudolph, a mime, actor, dancer, teacher and political activist, passed away Fri., Feb. 26, at his home in Minneapolis. He was 51.

I first met Mikael several years ago through his social activism (he co-founded Impeach for Peace) and only later did I come to know him for his creative talents. He won his first battle with cancer and made it the subject of his soulful, funny one-man play, "Cancer My Ass!" which debuted -- or “de-butted” as Mikael called it -- in Minneapolis one year ago.

For Mikael, “All the world’s a stage” was more than a line from Shakespeare. It was his approach to life. “That’s who I am,”
he told me last year, then looking as fit as a fiddle. “I always process my own issues and problems through friends. I don’t isolate.”

The second time cancer reared its ugly head six months ago, this time in the form of therapy-related acute myelogenous leukemia, he fought it with the support of loving friends and both traditional and alternative healers. When I visited him in the hospital I sensed him searching our faces as if looking in a mirror to see how he was doing. Mikael lived not to simply act, but to interact.

His friend Angela, who lived Mikael’s ups and downs these past months, said he was not afraid to die and “knew it was his time...He wanted to go and we all know when Mikael decides, that's what is going to happen.”

Thank you, Mikael, for your unwavering compassion for the people of Iraq and those in need in this country and everywhere. http://www.mikaelthemime.com/

States will usher in health care reform

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:25:00 -0700

Forget Congressional action on meaningful health care reform. It’s clear that whatever national health care legislation is passed, its main intent will be the preservation of a for-profit system.

Actual delivery of health care to all Americans who need it remains a lesser priority than keeping the system profitable. The federal plan will protect the insurance CEOs’ eight- and nine-figure salaries and the system of monthly premiums, which with promised rate hikes, will soon equal or exceed our monthly housing payments. Individuals will continue to fund the insurance industry’s marketing and bureaucracy through taxes and premiums. As an added bonus for the industry, citizens could be fined if they refuse to purchase its insurance.

The real reform action is taking place in the states.

David Sawnson (“Daybreak,” 2009, After Downing Street) is keeping a running tab on state health reform efforts. His analysis includes talking with the lead sponsors of state legislation, many of whom believe theirs will become a model for the nation. Below are excerpts.

Single-payer healthcare coming to Minnesota and Maryland

California keeps passing bills for state single-payer healthcare, but Ahhhnold won't sign em, and Jerry Brown who wants to be governor doesn't seem to want it badly enough to make a commitment on healthcare. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania is encouraged that their current governor has said he probably will sign a single-payer healthcare bill, and the legislature just might pass one. But Minnesota has an angle neither of these other states can claim: a serious candidate for governor who is the state's leading advocate for single-payer. More

Pennsylvania likely to get healthcare before rest of U.S.

I've been writing about various states just beginning campaigns for single-payer healthcare. Pennsylvania is on the cusp of completing one.

They claim to have the best legislation, which will provide everyone with healthcare, pay for it, and in fact save people and businesses money, as well as getting around the federal restrictions Congressman Dennis Kucinich has attempted unsuccessfully thus far to waive for states. In Pennsylvania they have Democratic and Republican cosponsors. Imagine that in Washington, D.C.! And they have a governor ready to sign the bill into law. More

Colorado could see single-payer healthcare

Now, let me tell you about Colorado. Mark Mehringer is a candidate for the Colorado State House from District 7 (Denver). His website at has an issues page and a video on the home page that both put a Medicare-for-All healthcare solution at the top of his agenda. More

Single-payer healthcare coming to Missouri

Byron DeLear, whom I have known and learned from for years, said on Monday: "If elected, I will sponsor the 'Melanie-Care for All Act', providing a simple plan to get all of our Missourian families the coverage, protection and care we deserve." DeLear, is a state rep. candidate in the 79th District of Missouri. (See http://www.ByronDeLear.org )

DeLear is proposing to accomplish something, however, that neither Obama nor Reid will even entertain any discussion of: taking the profit-motive out of healthcare coverage. "If Melanie had access to affordable healthcare," DeLear says, "her untimely death might have been prevented. Seeing a doctor was simply too expensive, just as it is for tens of thousands of Missourians, whose fear of skyrocketing healthcare costs are justified. Health insurance premiums in Missouri have risen 82.5% in the last decade, consequently, the vast majority of all personal bankruptcies are due to medical costs, for both the insured and uninsured alike. This creates a specter of fear for families all across our state. Melanie's death is one of thousands of needless lives lost due to our current broken and inhumane healthcare insurance system." More

Candidate for North Carolina House commits to introducing state single-payer healthcare

Now North Carolina house candidate Marcus Brandon has pledged to introduce a bill to create single-payer healthcare in that state. Brandon, whom I know and like and who worked for Congressman Dennis Kucinich's 2008 presidential campaign, is a candidate in North Carolina House District 60. That's near Greensboro, where I can just picture Marcus sitting at a lunch counter and refusing to be provoked. More

Pennsylvania Democrats unanimously endorse single payer Senate bill 400 and House bill 1660

Lancaster – The Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee today unanimously endorsed a resolution calling for passage of single payer healthcare, Senate Bill 400 and House Bill 1660, also known as the "Family and Business Healthcare Security Act."

Given the healthcare reform deadlock in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania’s nation-leading status in the battle for state-based “Medicare for All,” is all the more significant.

“Not only does Pennsylvania now have the Democratic Party on board with the Single Payer healthcare for all,” said Healthcare for All PA executive director Chuck Pennacchio, “we also have the promised signature of our governor and the active support of Republican and Democratic leaders in both the State Senate and State House.” More