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Thursday, December 30
Hidden Caffeine in Food and Drink: Do You Know What You Are Consuming?
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 30 Dec 2004 10:29 PM CST
 Hidden Caffeine in Food and Drink: Do You Know What You Are Consuming?
National Geographic
Did you know?
Guarana: Hidden Caffeine
Guarana
is an ingredient found in many sodas, energy drinks, protein bars, and
natural weight-loss aids. It comes from the seeds of a woody vine
native to Brazil named for an Amazonian people, the Guarani, who
process the seeds for use in food, drink, and medicine. What might be a
surprise is that guarana contains concentrations of naturally occurring
caffeine higher than that found in coffee, tea, cacao, and kola.
Guarana sodas are immensely popular in South America, especially
Brazil, and the stimulant is finding its way into more and more energy
drinks. Guarana is sometimes marketed as a natural alternative to
caffeine, but it's caffeine all the same. Look at the labels of some
energy drinks and you'll see both caffeine and guarana, which means
that you're getting caffeine from two sources.
Rethinking Caffeine
Scientists
have developed various theories to explain caffeine's "wake-promoting"
power. The consensus today focuses on the drug's interference with
adenosine, a chemical in the body that acts as a natural sleeping pill.
Caffeine blocks the hypnotic effect of adenosine and keeps us from
falling asleep. Since caffeine has also been shown to enhance mood and
increase alertness in moderate amounts, it's a potent potion for
students and scholars stuck in the lab at three in the morning. Paul
Erdős, the Hungarian mathematician who often worked his equations
around the clock, is known for saying that "a mathematician is a
machine for turning coffee into theorems."
..."Caffeine
helps people try to wrest control away from the human circadian rhythm
that is hardwired in all of us," says Czeisler. But then a shadow
crosses the doctor's sunny face, and his tone changes sharply. "On the
other hand," he says solemnly, "there is a heavy, heavy price that has
been paid for all this extra wakefulness." Without adequate sleep—the
conventional eight hours out of each 24 is about right—the human body
will not function at its best, physically, mentally, or emotionally,
the doctor says. "As a society, we are tremendously sleep deprived."
In fact,
the professor goes on, there is a sort of catch-22 at the heart of the
modern craving for caffeine. "The principal reason that caffeine is
used around the world is to promote wakefulness," Czeisler says. "But
the principal reason that people need that crutch is inadequate sleep.
Think about that: We use caffeine to make up for a sleep deficit that
is largely the result of using caffeine."
(Click here to read the complete article.)
Sunday, December 26
Future IOWA Weather
by
Molly Regan
on Sun 26 Dec 2004 02:11 PM CST
 Future IOWA Weather
So, now that we IOWANS have endured our first wave of 4-degree F
temperatures and less this winter, what is all the hubbub about global
temperature change?
Let us put it in terms we can understand. Humans put thousands of
pounds per day of carbon dioxide and other nasty items into our air
from our activities. More and more of us have become aware that
these behaviors are not good for our health or for the status of our
weather. According to the Sierra Club, the last four years have
been the warmest since 1861 records were kept. If you happen to
look at the forecast for the end of this week, at least here in eastern
IOWA, we will be close to 60 degrees F by Thursday or Friday.
This is not necessarily a good thing. Let's look at what the
Sierra Club says about this because the consequences of global climate
change will be felt locally by IOWANS and our economy.
The world's leading scientists project that during our children's
lifetimes, global warming will raise the average temperature of the
planet by 2.7 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Earth is only 5 to 9 degrees warmer today than it was 10,000 years
ago during the last ice age. Throughout history, major shifts in
temperature occurred at a rate of a few degrees over thousands of
years. They were accompanied by radical ecological changes, including
the extinction of many species. Manmade global warming is occurring
much faster - faster, in fact, than at any time in the past 10,000
years. Unless we slow and ultimately reverse the buildup of greenhouse
gases, we will have decades, not millennia, to try to adapt to radical
changes in weather patterns, sea levels and serious threats to human
health. Increased flooding, storms and agricultural losses could
devastate our economy. Plants and animals that cannot adapt to new
conditions will become extinct.
But How Much of a Difference Can a Few Degrees Make?
Plenty.
The human race is engaged in the largest and most dangerous experiment
in history - an experiment to see what will happen to our health and
the health of our planet when we change our atmosphere and our climate.
This is not some deliberate scientific inquiry. It is an uncontrolled
experiment on the environment of the Earth, and we're gambling our
children's future on its outcome. The results of this pollution are
already significant. We have increased levels of carbon dioxide (CO2),
the primary global warming gas, in our atmosphere by 30 percent in the
past 100 years. Some regions of the world have already warmed by as
much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Physicians at Harvard University and
Johns Hopkins medical schools and other medical institutions have
issued grim assessments that global warming may already be causing the
spread of infectious diseases and increasing heat-wave deaths. Extreme
weather events have become more common. Plants and animals around the
world are shifting their ranges in an effort to escape a changing
climate.
The rapid buildup of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere is the source
of the problem. By burning ever-increasing quantities of coal, oil and
gas, we are choking our planet in a cloud of this pollution. If we
don't begin to act now to curb global warming, our children will live
in a world where the climate will be far less hospitable than it is
today.
The current Washington, D.C. administration has a Clogged Skies Policy
that does nothing more than give a pass to energy industries and other
corporations that spew killing toxins into our atmosphere. Current
administrators have given their plan a different name, but I choose to
call it EXACTLY what it is: THE CLOGGED SKIES POLICY. For you
see, this current administration is WEAK when it comes to keeping
cancer-causing, asthma-inducing products out of our lives. The
businesses that choose to slide under the radar and not be progressive
and benevolent enough to do the right thing, are going to continue to
contribute to the ill health of us all.
So, are you asking yourself what you can do? Look around your
town, your county, your state, and nearby states to see where the
pollution in your area is coming from. Then take action. It
is as close as looking in your own backyard.
For more information and to see what you can do to alleviate this problem, go to: www.sierraclub.org/globalwarming/overview/
See also the September 2004 issue of National Geographic or go to their site: www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine
Naughty and Nice 2004
by
Linda Thieman
on Sun 26 Dec 2004 04:44 AM CST
 Naughty and Nice 2004
American Progress
The Progress Report
makes this year's holiday list and checks it twice
Naughty: Merck, for
spending millions to market the pain-reliever Vioxx to consumers long after
the company knew it was unsafe.
Nice: Dr. David Graham, of the
FDA's Office of Drug Safety, for fighting to keep
dangerous drugs off the market.
Naughty: Bernard
Kerik, for turning an apartment donated for weary Ground Zero police and rescue
workers into a
love nest for his adulterous affairs.
Nice: Miramax Films, for putting the kibosh on Kerik's
summer blockbuster biopic.
Naughty: Congress,
for underfunding the Low-Income
Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). allocating "$164 million less than
needed to cover the expected 24 percent increase in home heating costs" this
winter.
Nice: Richard
Hamann and his wife, Donna, for paying the electricity bills for the entire
town of Anthon, Iowa, because they wanted to give something back to their
community.
Naughty: NRA
Radio, for broadcasting anti-gun-control propaganda and calling it
legitimate news.
Nice: Ed
Schultz, Arnie Arnesen, Tony Trupiano, Thom Hartmann, Wendy Wilde, Al Franken,
Katherine Lanpher and the rest of the Air America crew, for showing
progressive radio can be thought-provoking, hard-hitting and fun.
Naughty: Department
of Homeland Security, for omitting
"major sites" like chemical plants and dams from its unfinished national
database of potential terrorist targets.
Nice: Department of Homeland
Security, for including
"water parks and miniature golf courses" in the national database. At your
local putt putt, the terrorists never win.
Naughty: The
Environmental Protection Agency, for using
camcorders to bribe parents into offering up their toddlers as guinea pigs
for a study about the dangers of pesticides on children…sponsored
by the chemical industry.
Nice: The Natural Resources Defense
Council, for fighting to protect kids from the harmful effects of pesticides
and chemicals.
Naughty: Right-wing
conservatives in the House of Representatives, for changing
ethics rules so Tom DeLay (R-TX) could one day be their indicted
leader.
Nice: Whistleblowers like Bunnatine
Greenhouse, Richard
Foster and Paul
O'Neill, for holding our government to a higher ethical standard.
Naughty: Medicare
head Tom
Scully, Rep. Billy
Tauzin, Rep. James
Greenwood and trade representatives Ralph Ives and
Claude Burcky, for using public service for personal benefit, taking
lucrative, top-dollar jobs with the pharmaceutical industry they had formerly
regulated.
Nice: Rep. Henry Waxman, for using public service for
public benefit, compiling reports on everything from the Halliburton to undue
secrecy in the White House.
Naughty: EPA
administrator Mike Leavitt, for blaming pollution on
poverty.
Nice: The Union of
Concerned Scientists, for giving us the facts about global
warming, pollution, clean
energy and the Bush administration's ideological
approach to science.
Naughty: Sinclair
Media, for planning to run an
hour long anti-Kerry screed as "news" just before the U.S. presidential
election.
Nice: Media Matters and the
blogosphere [and Rapid Response!], for forcing Sinclair to change its plans. (And continuing to
demand that Sinclair stop broadcasting one-sided political spin.)
Tuesday, December 21
John Drury: Iowa's Prescription for Low Cost Medicine
by
John Drury
on Tue 21 Dec 2004 02:46 PM CST
 Iowa's Prescription for Low Cost Medicine
by John Drury
Currently, there are only four U.S. states that openly encourage their
citizens to buy prescription drugs from Canada: Kansas, Illinois,
Missouri, and Wisconsin. Iowa is not on the list, but I believe that it
should be.
In the
recent presidential election, we heard Bush use one of his
many scare tactics saying that if we are going to import drugs from
Canada, he wants to make sure “it cures you, and doesn’t kill you.” He
said his worry is that a drug might “look like it’s from Canada but it
might be from a third world.”
While
that’s a very good scare tactic, and undoubtedly worked very well in
his campaign, it is, like many of his scare tactics, not based on
any sort of fact.
 Predictably,
the prescription drug companies have only added to the fear with full
page ads like the one shown here. One way to get people to stop getting
their drugs from Canada would be to tell them they are from a third
world country, schemes the pharmaceutical companies.
According
to a recent Day to Day news story aired on NPR on December 7, the
opposite is true. Most of the drugs that Americans buy from Canada are
actually made in the United States, exported to Canada, and then get
re-imported back to the United States.
Canadians
are baffled by our ignorance, and offended by the suggestion that their
pharmacies aren’t safe and that it is some sort of prescription drug
grab bag free for all. Their government regulates the quality and the
price of their prescription drugs. We, on the other hand, turn our
government over to the pharmaceutical companies, letting them write our
laws and set our policies, all at our own expense. Oddly enough, our
high drug prices—which seniors cannot afford—are effectively
subsidizing the low-cost prescriptions that Canadians enjoy.
Iowa is
in the top five in the percentage of its elderly population. Since the
federal government has failed its people on this issue, the state of
Iowa has a moral obligation to meet the needs of Iowans who cannot
afford the drugs that are prescribed to them. It is time for the state
of Iowa to join our neighbors and make lower cost, prescription drugs
from Canada readily accessible to our seniors.
Monday, December 20
FDA's Credibility Hits Yet Another Low as Consumer Health Lands on Back Burner
by
Linda Thieman
on Mon 20 Dec 2004 04:07 PM CST
  
FDA's Credibility Hits Yet Another Low as Consumer Health Lands on Back Burner
American Progress
Pfizer's Greed A National Shame
The drug
maker Pfizer "reaffirmed its commitment" over the weekend to keep its
prescription painkiller, Celebrex, on the market, despite a disclosure
last week that the drug more than tripled the risk of heart attacks,
strokes and death among those taking high doses in a national trial.
That level of risk is even greater than the one found in patients
taking the similar painkiller, Vioxx, in a similar trial that led Merck
to withdraw Vioxx in September. The results have "raised new questions
about how well federal drug regulators protect the public and worsened
drug makers' already dismal image." Indeed, reports following the
discovery have shown Celebrex, "fast-tracked" by the agency and never
even proved it protected the stomach from gastrointestinal problems
associated with aspirin and ibuprofen – its primary advantage over
existing pain relievers.
MARKETING
TO MIDDLE AGE: Celebrex and Vioxx were designed for senior citizens,
who have the highest risk of stomach bleeding – "principally people
over 65 years who have suffered from gastrointestinal problems," – but
marketed aggressively to middle-aged Americans, who could have
benefited just as well from traditional painkillers like aspirin.
Dorothy Hamill, the 1976 Olympic figure skating gold medalist, "was the
middle-aged celebrity face of Vioxx," while commercials for Celebrex
targeted "baby boomers beginning to suffer from arthritis." Many
medical experts "now say that Celebrex and Vioxx, selling for $2 or $3
a pill, have been too widely prescribed to patients who could safely
obtain the same pain benefits from over-the-counter drugs costing
pennies apiece." Under pressure from the FDA, Pfizer now says it will
halt advertising to consumers, but not to doctors.
THE
PASSING LANE: Celebrex, like Vioxx, was "fast-tracked" by the FDA,
because it was suggested the drug would help cut the rate of
gastrointestinal bleeding associated with older painkillers. That meant
the FDA took only six months to approve the drug, even though
scientists concluded it had not "sufficiently demonstrated" it reduced
the rate of the gastrointestinal problems compared with existing
painkillers. Later studies by Pfizer "were never convincing enough for
the agency to remove the warning from Celebrex's labeling." In other
words, Celebrex "has never been proven to the FDA's satisfaction to
have the stomach-protecting benefits that originally were supposed to
be the point of that category of drugs."
THE
'SPECTACULAR' FDA: Celebrex and Vioxx are not the only drugs to come
under scrutiny lately. On the same day the Celebrex study broke, "in
less than 12 hours," AstraZeneca reported that a trial of Iressa, a
lung cancer drug approved in the United States last year, showed that
the drug did not prolong lives. Eli Lilly warned doctors that
Strattera, its drug to treat attention deficit disorder had caused
severe liver injury in at least two patients. And doctors writing in a
prominent medical journal recommended that physicians stop prescribing
Pfizer's Bextra painkiller. So what was the White House's reaction to
the finding that several FDA approved drugs are ineffective or
dangerous? White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card said the agency was
doing a "spectacular job."
SPECTACULAR
NEGLIGENCE: The Washington Post reports the FDA, "which regulates
almost one-quarter of the U.S. economy, has been without a permanent
chief for almost two-thirds of the time that Bush has been in
office." The agency also has had a "high number of temporary appointees
administering its centers, offices and divisions, including the key
positions running the offices that evaluate new drugs and monitor the
safety record of approved medications." The White House's negligence
plays right into the hands of major drug companies, which would rather
"have no one there than someone who favors a proactive stance that
might slow down the industry or raise hard questions about profitable
drugs." Observers say the agency's lack of leadership has made it "less
able to respond quickly and effectively to emerging problems."
SPECTACULAR
FUNDRAISERS: Another reason Bush has not appointed an FDA head may be
that some Democrats have signaled they would "strongly oppose any
nominee from the pharmaceutical industry." But the pharmaceutical
industry, which was the major winner in last year's prescription drug
bill, includes some of the GOP's biggest supporters. And of health
industry contributors, Pfizer is number one. Company executives have
contributed $2.7 million to Republicans since 2000, and the drugmaker's
political action committee (PAC) has pitched in more than $1.4 million.
Since 2000, 79 percent of the company's contributions have gone to
Republicans. Merck has made almost $1.8 million in political donations
since 2000, 74 percent to Republicans.
Sunday, December 19
Recycle 'Til You Drop!
by
Molly Regan
on Sun 19 Dec 2004 02:08 PM CST
 Recycle 'Til You Drop!
Waste Commissions In Your Area
There
once was a girl name' of
ANN
Who'd recycle every jar, every
can
'cycling cartons and
boxes
And papers and
watches
Such a good little example this girl name' of Ann
Did you know the recycled cardboard that your cereal comes in used only
1/4 the energy to make and also only created 1/2 the pollution as a
newly made box?
Besides decreased
energy use and pollution reduction, another advantage is the resultant
pride knowing you are contributing to the welfare of your community and
state. It can also be a chance to create a family project at home or
with your friends. See who can recycle the most as well as
purchase recycled items. List items that you find are made by recycling
means. This can be something we ALL can work on every day of our
lives.
From a recycled garden in Davenport on North
Carey Avenue above 53rd Street, to a Davenport resident winning a car
for her years of recycling, IOWANS are doing their part to make our
state a cleaner state.
So what can recycling do for you and what can you do for
recycling? Park benches, rugs, goggles and fiber for filling ski
jackets are just a few items that can be made from recycled
plastics. Used aluminum and steel have each found a second life
as bikes, cookware, and cars.
Every county in IOWA should have a WASTE COMMISSION. Check out your
government listings. Here in SCOTT COUNTY you can go to
www.wastecom.com to find more
information. Or you can contact them at
WASTE COMMISSION OF SCOTT COUNTY/PO BOX 563 BUFFALO, IOWA 52728/(563)
381-1300/ or FAX 381-1301...Love, Peace, Happy Holidays.... Please,
remember to CPR: CONSERVE, PARTICIPATE, &
RECYCLE.
Thursday, December 16
Food Supply Vulnerable to Contamination by Drugs and Plastics from Gene-Altered Crops
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 16 Dec 2004 03:37 PM CST
 Food Supply Vulnerable to Contamination by Drugs and Plastics from Gene-Altered Crops
Union of Concerned Scientists
WASHINGTON
-- For more than a decade, corn, soybeans, and other food crops
genetically engineered to produce drugs, vaccines, and industrial
chemicals have been grown on American farms. But a new report by six
agricultural experts now warns that the food supply is vulnerable to
contamination by these "pharmaceutical crops" unless substantial
changes are made in the ways and places such crops are grown and
managed.
Based on
the experts' findings, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) [this
week] called on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to immediately
ban the field production of corn, soybeans, and other food crops
engineered to produce pharmaceutical and industrial chemicals. UCS
recommends that the USDA spearhead a major campaign to encourage and
fund safer alternatives like non- food crops or growing pharmaceutical
food crops indoors....
UCS
convened the panel of experts to determine whether it is possible to
produce pharmaceuticals in familiar food crops like corn or soybean
(the two plants most often used for pharmaceutical production) without
contaminating human food or animal feed. The panel -- acting
independently of UCS -- analyzed the current system for growing food-
and feed-grade corn and soybeans and identified many points where drugs
and plastics could pass to the food supply if pharmaceutical crops were
grown under the same system. After evaluating various approaches to
blocking contamination at those points, the panel concluded that the
current corn and soybean production system cannot be used for
pharmaceutical corn and soybean in the United States while ensuring
virtually no contamination of the food and feed system.
"It is
sobering that drugs and industrial chemicals could have so many routes
to the food supply," said Dr. David Andow, editor of the technical
report and a professor in the Department of Entomology at the
University of Minnesota. "Pollen can be carried to fields with food
crops by the wind or insects, seeds lodged in the crevices of
harvesting equipment could come loose while harvesting food, and plants
can come up as volunteers in the middle of a food crop. To protect the
food supply, each potential route has to be blocked."
(Click here to read the complete article.)
Sunday, December 12
Asthma Danger To Rural Children
by
Molly Regan
on Sun 12 Dec 2004 03:17 PM CST
 Asthma Danger To Rural Children
IOWA Public Radio
December 12, 2004
Children living close to large factory hog farms have a higher than
normal incidence of ASTHMA than children who do not live in such
areas. Those children living close to factory farms that use
antibiotics on the swine incur the highest rate of ASTHMA.
This information was reported on IOWA Public Radio Friday, December
10th and is from a study in part by Dr. James A. Merchant. Dr.
Merchant is Dean of the University of IOWA College of Public Health in
IOWA City. The College of Public Health at the U of I teaches and
publishes research on causes of rural illness and prevention as well as
environmental health policy. They also have published information
on "Cancer In IOWA", the "IOWA Birth Defects Registry Annual Report"
and "Environmental Health Science Research".
Connections between use of pesticides and prostate cancer are
laid out in their 2004 College of Public Health Research
Publication. On page 16 entitled "All in a Day's Work" it
states: "In IOWA individual farm holders have 27% increased
risk of prostate cancer, while commercial pesticide applicators have a
41% increased risk."
(See: www.public-health.uiowa.edu/news/pubs)
(Also see: www.ehsrc.org and www.aghealth.org)
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