Globe gives you the milk:
"A 2-year-old boy who died last month apparently choked on cereal after his father’s girlfriend locked him and his 1-year-old brother in a bedroom while she went to a methadone clinic, State Police said."
Related: State Surrenders in Drug War
Ever wonder where the stuff is coming from?
You are what you eat:
"New rules push healthy foods in schools; US calls for ban on marketing junk to students" by Lyndsey Layton | Washington Post February 26, 2014
WASHINGTON — For the first time, the federal government plans to regulate how food is marketed in public schools, part of Michelle Obama’s efforts to reduce the allure of unhealthy foods to the nation’s children.
The White House and the Agriculture Department on Tuesday proposed marketing regulations that would ban in-school advertising for foods that are high in sugar, fat, and salt and do not meet new federal nutrition rules for foods served in the country’s 100,000 public schools.
‘‘The idea here is simple: Our classrooms should be healthy places where kids aren’t bombarded with ads for junk food,’’ said Obama, who announced the proposal with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the White House. ‘‘Because when parents are working hard to teach their kids healthy habits at home, their work shouldn’t be undone by unhealthy messages at school.’’
They are all over the place!
Obama, who this week is marking the fourth anniversary of her ‘‘Let’s Move!’’ campaign to reduce childhood obesity, has spoken in the past about her own struggles to reduce the junk food consumed by her daughters, Malia and Sasha.
She has a hell of an appetite.
Maybe I will order Chinese today.
The proposal would affect all kinds of advertising that has become ubiquitous in schools — plastered across scoreboards, vending machines, posters, and even cups in the cafeteria.
Look, it's a corporate-controlled nation because it's a corporate government. How do you think the schools pay for $hit?
More than 90 percent of that advertising is for soda, sports drinks, and other beverages, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Food companies spent $150 million marketing to children in schools in 2009, according to the FTC.
‘‘Basically, this means no junk-food marketing in schools,’’ said Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director at Center for Science in the Public Interest, which supports the ban. ‘‘Addressing food marketing is so important because it’s so pervasive. It helps define for kids what they want to eat and even what they think of as food.’’
I think the fast food ads on TV are worse.
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The American Beverage Association — which represents the Coca-Cola Co., the Dr Pepper Snapple Group and PepsiCo., among others — supports the changes. In a statement, the association called them ‘‘common-sense efforts.’’
It also said that the industry already has been replacing sugary drinks with healthier alternatives.
What took so long?
Schools do not earn much revenue from advertising, according to a 2012 study by Public Citizen. It found that less than 1 percent of schools that participated in commercial advertising earned more than $50,000 and that two-thirds of schools that had advertising received no income.
Really? Stupid administrators not looking for their cut when it cuts into corporate profits?
Wow! I'm learning new things every day!
The proposed rules about marketing come on the heels of a new federal law requiring public schools to improve the nutritional content of school meals starting this school year.
Related:
"The US Department of Agriculture reported that 524 schools — out of about 100,000 — have dropped out of the subsidized national school lunch program since the government introduced higher standards for healthier foods last year. The new standards have been met with grumbling from school nutrition officials who say they are difficult and expensive to follow, conservatives who say the government shouldn’t be dictating what children eat, and from some children who say the food doesn’t taste good. But USDA officials said the majority of schools are serving healthier food, with some success."
Then why is their physical condition declining? I know graduation rates (so says the federal government) and cancers are on the rise, but crash deaths are down and drug use has leveled off (too many nut teens running around with weapons). I don't know what to do with them, but jail has been ruled out (almost). Must be the teen pregnancies, the cutbacks in preschool, and the dropouts in high school that are doing it despite teacher protests.
A second requirement of the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act also raises nutritional standards for food sold in schools but away from the lunch line — snacks and drinks in vending machines, school stores, and fund-raisers....
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Take a look at the new you, although the new meals not a hit according to the kids.
That must not have sat well with her, and the cheapness of the Obamas after the election makes you sick considering they are in the phat 1% of income with taxpayers picking up all expenses. Good thing the health law is now healthy after Sebelius was expelled and Burwell brought in to fix the problems and supply the campaign narrative that all's well even though Republicans are all Koched-up to take the Senate.
"Trial starts on doctor’s claims of bias at MGH" by Liz Kowalczyk | Globe Staff April 09, 2014
A jury heard opening arguments Tuesday in a federal trial alleging gender discrimination by Massachusetts General Hospital and its doctors, a case that will put many of Boston’s biggest names in orthopedic surgery on the witness stand.
Dr. Nina Shervin, a former orthopedic surgery resident, was one of the few women in the orthopedics department, and she contends in her lawsuit that the hospital discriminated against her by placing her on probation and then, after she complained, by refusing to give her a permanent job. The hospital and doctors deny Shervin’s assertions and contend that her performance was subpar.
The trial is expected to last five weeks and provide glimpses into the high-pressure world of surgery training at Mass. General and perhaps briefly behind the curtain of another elite local institution, the New England Patriots....
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Also see:
Former Patriots doctor involved in rift, MGH says
Lawyers for Aaron Hernandez associates blast indictments
Data faulted, Brigham study on heart cells is withdrawn
Brigham researcher facing new questions after retraction
IU'm no longer hungry for those lies.
Time to start thinking about lunch:
"Subway says ‘yoga mat chemical’ almost out of bread" by Candice Choi | Associated Press April 12, 2014
NEW YORK — Subway says an ingredient dubbed the ‘‘yoga mat chemical’’ will be entirely phased out of its bread by next week.
Honestly, the bread always felt rubbery. Glad I'm skipping the Subway these days.
The disclosure comes as Subway has suffered from an onslaught of bad publicity since a food blogger petitioned the chain to remove the ingredient.
The ingredient, azodicarbonamide, is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in food as a bleaching agent and dough conditioner.
It can be found in a wide variety of products, including those served at McDonald’s, Burger King, and Starbucks and breads sold in supermarkets.
But its unfamiliar name has an unappetizing ring, and the petition became a flashpoint by noting that the chemical is also used to make yoga mats and isn’t approved for use in some other parts of the world.
Tony Pace, Subway’s chief marketing officer, told the AP in a phone interview that the chain started phasing out the ingredient late last year and that the process should be complete within a week.
It's still in the roll?
Subway is privately held and doesn’t disclose its sales figures. But it is apparently feeling pressure from the uproar.
‘‘You see the social media traffic, and people are happy that we’re taking it out, but they want to know when we’re taking it out,’’ Pace said. ‘‘If there are people who have that hesitation, that hesitation is going to be removed.’’
The issue illustrates a split in thought about what should go into our food.
Does it? Does it really?
Anyone really want poisons in the food?
One side says such additives are used in hundreds of food products and are safe to eat in the quantities approved by the FDA. The other side asks why such ingredients need to be used at all.
Just because the FDA jiggers their standards to meet safety standards doesn't mean we believe them!
John Coupland, a professor of food science at Penn State University, noted that people concerned about azodicarbonamide focus in part on a carcinogen called urethane it creates in the baking process. But he said some level of urethane is already present in bread and that even toasting can increase its levels.
‘‘Nobody worries about making toast,’’ Coupland said, adding that one could argue there’s some type of risk associated with any number of chemicals.
And radiation in pacific seafood is okay (not covered, but) and oil-soaked, corexit infected fish is fine, too!
Coupland also questioned whether Subway’s removal of the ingredient would make people think the food is healthier....
I didn't think the subs were anyway despite the glitzy TV jingles.
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I think I'll order a pizza instead....
