Mad Cow/Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

This is a bit of a follow-up to the downed cattle post from a few months ago. In the US we tend to deny the existence of Mad Cow Disease, and its related illness. One suspected case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the human equivalent of MCD, made it into the news recently. I find it odd that it didn't get more coverage on national news, especially since it occurred so soon after the downed cow incidents made the news. I find it more disconcerting that I can't find any follow-up on this story.
Read more about this possible current case in Virginia.

Tips to avoiding CJD:

• Know your food!
• Take action to improve the downer cow situation in the US.
• Avoid eating meat.
  
• Prions pass mainly by ingestion.
  
• Our current agricultural industry often feeds parts of animals to other animals.
  
• Grow your own, or have someone you know raise it. Make sure that the animal is vegetarian fed.
  
• Avoid manure based fertilizer.
• Prions may be able to spread from manure onto food; remember the recent E coli spinach outbreak. This is still a tenuous link, but a possibility. Once again knowing your source is important.

Health Care Industry Lobbying

This entry focuses more on the politics of health care in the US, than on individual actions you can take. I urge you to become politically active to help make the US more friendly to "alternative" medicine. Two major steps that need to be taken are getting naturopathic medicine and midwifery licensed nation-wide. Licensing ensures standards of training and procedure, protecting people from inadequately trained practitioners. To help get these professions licensed nationally please visit the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians and The Big Push for Midwives. Both of these groups are fighting the well funded lobbying efforts of the conventional health care industry.

According to a Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, the health care industry is the top spender among lobbying groups in the US, for the second year in a row. Health insurance companies spent $138 million on lobbying in 2007, imagine how much lower costs would be under a single payer system. All the recent horror stories from the pharmaceutical sector (heparin that was not quality tested, drugs approved without full safety testing, etc) makes me think that they should be spending their lobbying money, $227 million, on identifying the safety of their products. I guess pharmaceutical companies find it more economical to get congress to protect them, rather than fully safety testing their products.

The US needs to realize that it should be protecting its citizens, and not big corporations. We protect the financial interests of pharmaceutical companies, while forbidding women to deliver babies in their homes. The health care industry needs to stay focused on life, rather than profit. Life is an unalienable right, not money.

Breastfeeding

One simple way to green living and better health is breastfeeding. Mothers naturally produce milk for their children, and although science has tried to match human milk it has failed. Breast milk meets the nutritional needs of children and in time changes as your child changes. Breastfeeding provides children with the closeness, both physical and emotional, that they require. The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement advocating breast milk as the ideal, exclusive food for babies in the first six months of life. They also recommended that breast-feeding continue for at least 12 months, or longer if mutually desired. A great resource for information on breastfeeding is the La Leche League.

There are some rare circumstances when a woman is unable to feed her child. There are resources in these circumstances. There are worldwide milk banks that can supply breast milk to these children. Milk banks are also a great resource if you're lactating and would be interested in donating extra milk. For more information visit the National Milk Bank.

Our society needs to change its views on breastfeeding. In the last century we managed to reverse the natural way that children feed. Here is a great video that focuses on public breastfeeding.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Protect Drinking Water Quality

Sorry for the shortage of recent postings, I've been focused on my congressional campaign. Below is information from the League of Conservation Voters on the safety of drinking water. Please contact your representatives to maintain high quality drinking water for every American. Clean water is a basic requirement for health.

Did you know that polluters are actually allowed to contaminate
your drinking water?

The Supreme Court and the Bush Administration have recently
sided with polluters to strip vital protections from the Clean
Water Act. That means that pollutants like E-Coli, bacteria,
mercury, PCBs and dioxin could be contaminating the drinking
water of more than 110 million Americans.

Congress will hold hearings in the coming weeks on the Clean
Water Restoration Act, which would restore the Clean Water Act's
original protections to all bodies of water. Even a handful more
co-sponsors would build the momentum we need get to winning
votes of 218 in the House and 60 in the Senate.

Will you contact Congress and ask them to support this critical
legislation?

Click below to contact your Members of Congress and ask them to
support the Clean Water Restoration Act.
http://action.lcv.org/ct/11_I3_91LRT8/

Developers and corporate polluters want to keep dumping
contaminants linked to cancer, birth defects and other health
problems into our water, because dealing with chemical waste,
oil spills, and other pollution would cut into their profit
margin.

Congress has a choice between standing with polluters or
standing up for the health and well-being of millions of
Americans. No doubt they will be hearing from polluters - they
need to hear from constituents as well.

Don't wait until it's too late - the Senate hearing on clean
water is on April 9 and the hearing in the House is on April 16.
Ask your Members of Congress to support the Clean Water
Restoration Act TODAY.
http://action.lcv.org/ct/11_I3_91LRT8/

Tens of thousands of LCV supporters have already contacted their
Members of Congress to demand an end to this reckless
contamination. Please add your voice today.

Downed Cattle

I wasn't going to post on this topic, however my conscience is forcing me to. You're probably aware of the meat recall that occurred earlier this year after the results of a Humane Society of the United States’ investigation of a dairy cow slaughter plant in California were released. If you didn't see the video I encourage you to watch it now.



There is a reason that downed animals are not eaten. The floors of slaughter houses are often covered with excrement. Dragging an animal through this can lead to contamination with a wide variety of fecal contamination- including E. coli. In the aftermath of the recall, I heard a lot of reports that no illnesses had been reported from consumption of the recalled meat. Dr. Dick Raymond, USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety stated that "We don’t think there is a health hazard, but we do have to take this action."

No hazard!? One of the main reasons downed animals are not eaten is the risk they pose of carrying BSE (Mad Cow Disease.) This disease is very slow to develop and it could take decades before human transmission is evidenced. If Westland disregarded the inspection safeguard on non-ambulatory cattle, for two years, how can we be sure that specified risk materials were removed?

I am outraged that this situation was allowed to happen. How could a plant that provides meat to the federal food and nutrition program do this? Large amounts of this meat was given to the most vulnerable in our society. According to the USDA, this meat was used in the National School Lunch Program, the Emergency Food Assistance Program, and the Food Assistance Program on Indian Reservations.

People need to start caring about their fellow man, rather than focusing on the bottom dollar. We need to care for our vulnerable populations not feed them meat that is not suitable for human consumption.

What can you do to protect yourself?

• Limit meat consumption. Most Americans consume more protein than is optimal.
  
• Grow your own. This is truly the best way to obtain food of any type. If you're the grower you know the state of health that your food supply is in.
• Buy from a small local producer. Check around you may find someone who has a small herd of cattle and sells off whole or partial cows. Ask if you can inspect the animals.
• Tour a local packing plant. If the public is watching, repeats of this type of gross violation of health standards are less likely to repeat. A tour will also keep you more in touch with where your food comes from.
  

Children and Pesticides

Study Reveals Pesticides from Foods in Children's Bodies
Here is yet another example of why we should try to feed our children organic foods. Research is still inconclusive about the effects of low level pesticides on children's health, however prudence suggests that we should not be feeding these chemicals to the most susceptible members of our society.
Organic foods can be more expensive, but there are ways to cut costs while protecting your health.

• Avoid conventionally grown peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, nectarines, strawberries and cherries. These foods tend to be chemically intensive.
• Grow your own foods. Plant a fruit tree, this can provide you with not only healthy fresh food, but years of happy memories.
  
• If you can't grow your own foods, find someone in your community who can. Talk to your neighbors and visit your local farmers market. Often people will sell produce that is grown without chemicals, but isn't certified organic yet, which can take several years. These products are often cheaper than their certified counterparts.
• Join a co-op or CSA program.
  

Sorry for the delay

Sorry for the delay between posts. I am currently kicking off a congressional campaign, so my energies have been directed towards that. I will hopefully begin posting entries here on a more regular basis in the near future. I have a file started of topics to discuss, but writing and researching takes time.

If you are interested in my campaign please visit: www.votemock.com or www.newmenu.org/votemock.