NEWS & UPDATES
Animal Welfare, Environment, Health, Politics & More
January 2006
~ All descriptions and quotes come from the respected websites ~
"Seniors need Medicare without headaches! Are you and your family baffled by the confusing new Medicare prescription drug program? Your troubles aren’t over yet! This fall hundreds of drug plans can change their premiums, copays, and even the pharmacies they include, leaving seniors and people with disabilities with a new round of difficult choices. What’s worse Congress actually prohibited Medicare from negotiating with the drug companies to lock in the best possible drug prices. That doesn’t make sense. We already negotiate huge drug discounts for Veterans and others. Why should seniors be any different! Right now, a bill that would help simplify Medicare for seniors and save taxpayers money is bottled up in a House committee. To bring it to a vote, 218 members of Congress must sign a petition—about 80 have signed so far, so we’re well on our way! Tell your representatives to give seniors a break and bring the Medicare bill to a vote!"
"Right now on the Internet, you can go where you want, buy what you want, and use whatever services you need. Not for long! Companies that offer high-speed Internet service want the right to decide which web sites, services, and applications you can get on the Internet. We don’t want that to happen. Send a letter to Congress telling them to protect the Internet!"
"Tonight, President Bush is giving his State of the Union address. I'm sure he'll talk about terrorism, evildoers and how he plans to save us all. But I'm here to tell you that his plans are actually a threat to us all. That's because Bush wants to build new nuclear power plants across the country and put average American citizens in jeopardy. This April will mark the 20-year anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. If you think that can't happen here - think again. Since Three-Mile Island in 1979, more than 100 near-misses have occurred in nuclear power plants across the country. And for all of Bush's promises to prevent terrorism, he's done absolutely nothing to protect nuclear plants from a 9-11 style terrorist attack. And now he wants to create more targets?"
"While you’ve been paying at the pump, ExxonMobil has been raking it in – to the tune of $36 BILLION in profits last year alone. It's time for Exxon's new CEO to use that money to invest in renewable energy sources."
"Since the day he took office, President Bush had been working toward dismantling the Roadless Area Conservation Rule - protection for nearly 60 million acres of our national forests. In May 2004, he got his wish and now our land is being auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Last year, more than 60 million acres of forest were protected by one of the greatest and most popular environmental policies in history: the Roadless Rule. That is, until the Bush administration repealed the policy. The Roadless Rule was originally enacted to do exactly what its name implies: prevent new roads from being built in America's national forests. That's because roads always lead to more development, drills, logging, mining and habitat fragmentation. In other words, roads are the beginning of the end for our nation's forests. And apparently, that's exactly what the Bush administration wants. But it's NOT what the American public wants. It's up to us to protect our heritage. Tell the Bush administration you want the Roadless Rule reinstated. Sign our citizen's petition now."
"On January 23, 2006, the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Committee of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) voted to deny a hearing on consultative status to two lesbian and gay organizations. Representatives of the US government abstained on a motion to deny the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) and a Dutch gay and lesbian group the right to a fair hearing on their application and then supported a separate motion to summarily dismiss their applications. Both resolutions passed. In taking this position the US government aligned itself with severely oppressive regimes including Iran, China, Sudan and Zimbabwe."
I came across this fun littl article about Henry the 8th and his life of jumping from one religion to the next, and what happens to the
"common people" who don't follow his "flip-flopping"
"Perhaps the best example of how destructive this could be was the Tudor period in England. Remember Henry VIII? The king with six wives?
I won't go into gory detail (go read the whole story for yourself....better than any soap opera, I promise) but basically, Henry started out as a devout Catholic. Catholicism was England's state religion. Since there was no separation of church and state, this made all Protestants criminals, subject to imprisonment, torture and death and this was exactly what happened to many Protestants who refused to abandon their faith. Then Henry wanted an annulment from his wife, Katherine of Aragon. She'd produced a daughter, Mary, but hadn't borne a male child. (Henry also had his eye on another woman). The Pope refused to grant an annulment and threatened to excommunicate Henry. So Henry decided he'd create his own church, with himself as its leader, and the Protestant Church of England came into being. Suddenly, all Catholics were heretics and criminals, including all nuns, monks and priests. Henry confiscated Catholic property and imprisoned or executed those who resisted conversion to the new "state" religion. He also granted himself a marriage annulment. His wife was was labeled a whore, his daughter Mary a bastard. Henry's new wife had a daughter, Elizabeth, but did not produce a son. Henry's eye wandered again. Forget annulment; this time, he had his Queen accused and convicted of adultery, then beheaded. Eventually, he went through four more wives and did manage to sire a son, a sickly boy who died almost immediately after being crowned."
Act Now to Save Our Children
"Your immediate action is critical to protecting children from the devastating consequences of foster care budget cuts currently pending a vote in Congress. On February 1, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to cast its final vote on the budget reconciliation bill, which cuts nearly $600 million in federal foster care assistance. American Humane urges you to call your U.S. Representative NOW! Tell her or him to vote against the bill unless those destructive cuts are removed. The time to act is growing shorter by the hour. Please don’t delay. Your call can make all the difference. The cuts will eliminate support for grandparents and other relatives who provide care for children, make it more difficult to provide support for children who move into foster care from hospitals, and decrease funding for monitoring “at-risk” children who are in danger of entering the foster care system. The Senate has already passed the bill -- by the narrowest of margins -- a single vote. The House’s vote is expected to be very close as well. Every voice and every vote does count. Make sure your Representative votes against it! As the clock counts down in the House, the futures of some of our nation’s most vulnerable children and their loving caregivers are at stake. For the sake of the children, the time for action is NOW! Please make your voice heard. Call your Representative toll-free at 1-800-426-8073. If you don’t know who your Representative is, the operator will determine it, based on your zip code, and will connect you."
"On Monday night, President George W. Bush will speak to Congress and the nation in his annual State of the Union Address. He should make stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction one of his key foreign policy themes. In the summer of 2004, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States, better known as the 9/11 Commission, released its report on the 2001 attacks. The report offered specific recommendations on how to better guard against future attacks. Prominent among the Commission's findings was the threat of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: "The greatest danger of another catastrophic attack in the United States will materialize if the world's most dangerous terrorists acquire the world's most dangerous weapons . . . Preventing the proliferation of these weapons warrants a maximum effort." In December, 2005, the Commission disbanded. The Commission's last formal act was to release a "report card" on how the United States government had progressed toward fulfilling the recommendations in its initial report. On the subject of Non-Proliferation, the government received a D: "Countering the greatest threat to America's security is still not the top national security priority of the President and the Congress." During the 2004 Presidential debates, Bush agreed that the threat of nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists is the greatest danger this country faces. It is time for the President to match action with rhetoric. Click here to send a message to President Bush telling him that it is time for him to focus on the real threats facing the American people by making nuclear nonproliferation one of the cornerstones of his foreign policy."
"Congress is currently considering legislation to allow Association Health Plans (AHPs) to take away what few health protections we have under state law. AHPs will make America's families sitting ducks. AHP insurers will raise your rates if you get sick. AHP insurers will not be required to have cash on hand to pay your claims. AHP insurers will not allow you to appeal their decisions when they deny your claim. And, AHP insurers will restrict essential healthcare services including OB-GYN choice and mandatory mammogram coverage for women."
SOURCE: Protect Your Healthcare.org "The goal of ProtectYourHealthcare.org is to protect consumer and employee access to quality healthcare and oppose federal legislation that would allow Association Health Plan (AHP) insurers to take away the few health protections that consumers now have under state law."
(excerpts)
"Across the country, VA hospitals and clinics – already facing budget crunches and backlogs – report increases in veterans suffering PTSD. Ironically, many are Vietnam vets only now seeking help, but the VA is hardly prepared for the aftermath of Iraq and Afghanistan.
A recent New England Journal of Medicine study found that 17 percent of soldiers who returned from Iraq suffered PTSD, a 2 percent increase from that reported by Vietnam veterans. Beyond "Stay the course" or "Pull out now," few of our leaders are concerned about making sure these soldiers have the health care they need once they return. Congress must calculate the total cost of this war, which includes caring for Mr. Bocanegra and other vets long after the last gunshot or explosion. If not, our soldiers will continue to feel as if they're begging for handouts, and our leaders will have failed them. Supporting our troops means more than sticking a yellow-ribbon decal on our cars, a standing ovation at the airport or an American flag flying on Veterans Day. We can talk of patriotism, but until we demand that our soldiers get the treatment they need, our words are empty. They and their families have been torn apart by war, while the rest of us sacrifice nothing."
"The United States has decided not to change the status of beef imports from Canada in response to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announcement Monday that confirmed mad cow disease in a six year old cow born and raised in Alberta. News of the case comes days after Japan suspended U.S. beef imports when a shipment of U.S. veal containing bones arrived in Tokyo."
The founder of The McDougall Plan for healthy living, has been studying and writing about the effects of nutrition on disease for over 30 years. Dr. John McDougall believes that people should look and feel great, and enjoy optimal health for a lifetime. Dr. McDougall has developed a nourishing, low-fat, starch-based diet that not only promotes a broad range of dramatic and lasting health benefits such as weight (fat) loss, but most importantly can also reverse serious illness, such as heart disease, without drugs.
Will the religious right stymie the first-ever cancer vaccine?
By Tali Woodward
One might think a medical breakthrough that could prevent most cases of cervical cancer would be met uniformly with joy.
Think again. Two separate but similar vaccines for human pampillomavirus, a sexually transmitted infection that is the primary cause of cervical cancer, have recently been developed. In clinical tests they have proven to be shockingly effective. Medical researchers say the vaccines, if administered routinely, could virtually eradicate the second most fatal type of cancer in women.
The problem is this: It makes sense to administer the vaccine to women who haven't yet been exposed to HPV – in other words, women who haven't had sex. The best way to do that is to inoculate preteen girls. But some conservatives see the vaccine as an invitation to be promiscuous – and are gearing up to limit its reach.
Even though many people have never heard of HPV, it's the most common sexually transmitted infection around, infecting up to 80 percent of Americans at some point before they turn 50. Public health officials have found stemming the spread of HPV particularly challenging because it can be transmitted simply through the contact of skin in affected areas, with condoms offering only limited protection.
Most women have immune systems strong enough to kill HPV. But in some, HPV causes genital warts. And in others, the virus causes potentially cancerous cells to develop in the cervix. (It's possible, though significantly less common, for HPV to cause cancer in men.)
Cervical cancer – which researchers believe is almost always tied to HPV – kills more than a quarter million women each year. Women who live in developed countries where regular Pap smears are the norm are fairly well-protected because the test can detect precancerous cells that doctors can then remove. Still, in the United States about 3,900 mostly lower-income women die of the disease each year.
But in recent years, two pharmaceutical companies, Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, have announced development of a vaccine – administered in three doses over six months – that protects against HPV, and therefore against cervical cancer. In clinical tests both have proven extraordinarily effective: They blocked contraction of the two most dangerous types of HPV in every woman who had been inoculated.
Dr. Joel Palefsky, a UC San Francisco professor who is an expert on HPV, said he thinks the development of these vaccines is "the most important thing since sliced bread in the HPV business" and something that ranks high on any list of recent medical advances.
But not everyone is greeting the vaccine with such enthusiasm.
Conservative groups, including the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, and the National Abstinence Clearinghouse, have already suggested that vaccinating young girls would send them a message that premarital sex is acceptable. Christian-oriented Web sites have also been following objections to the vaccines more closely than mainstream news organizations.
Palefsky characterized concerns that the HPV vaccines will encourage promiscuity as "nonsense."
"There's no evidence to suggest that the risk of HPV is a factor in someone's decision whether or not to have sex," he said. (He also pointed out the vaccine is somewhat of a boon to HPV education efforts since news coverage of its development is probably acquainting many people with the virus for the very first time.)
Meanwhile, the Merck vaccine, which is called Gardasil, is wending its way through the Food and Drug Administration's approval process. Everyone believes that unless there's a repeat of the political maneuvering that surrounded the agency's rejection of the application to sell emergency contraception over the counter, Gardasil will be approved in the next six months and available to US women sometime in 2006.
But the real political challenges to widespread acceptance of the HPV vaccines may not end there. Groups and politicians who have questioned the overall wisdom of the vaccine are focusing on whether or not it is included among the government's official vaccine recommendations.
Control over those recommendations rests with a panel assembled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccines that get the panel's stamp of approval are frequently added to state lists of inoculations that are required before a child begins a certain grade in school, as the tetanus and polio shots usually are. They also commonly become eligible for insurance reimbursement – a huge step toward becoming part of mainstream care.
For some time the CDC has recommended that children aged 11 to 15 receive the vaccine for Hepatitis B, an infection that is usually transmitted through sex. And the Hep B vaccine regimen is very similar: three shots over six months. Ideally the HPV vaccine could be given at the same time. But if conservatives interfere with the CDC process, or prevent government funding of the HPV shots, access to this breakthrough vaccine could be seriously curtailed.
Things could also get interesting when Cervarix, the vaccine manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline that is expected to make its debut in Europe, goes through the process for for US approval. Cervarix actually elicited an immune response that was twice as strong when given to girls aged 10 to 14. In other words, earlier vaccination could eliminate the need for booster shots. It's unclear how the right will respond to that medical evidence.
Alan Kaye, who became the executive director of the National Cervical Cancer Coalition after the disease killed his wife, told us he hopes critics of the vaccine back down. "I can tell you, with a ripped heart, that anyone who's ever battled cancer themselves or with family or friends would be for it," he said. "I mean, how can you not be for a cancer vaccine?"
Helpful Links
The FDA has launched an investigation into the deaths of dozens of dogs who apparently consumed contaminated pet food that was distributed throughout the eastern and southeastern United States. Find out if your pet is at risk.
SOURCE: "Humane Society of the United States" Email
Health Scare: Contaminated Pet Food Proves Fatal
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched an investigation into the deaths of dozens of dogs who apparently consumed pet food contaminated with aflatoxin, a substance that can cause lethal liver disease in animals.
When the FDA announced its investigation on December 30, the agency was aware of only 23 dogs who had died from eating the contaminated food as well as another 18 dogs who had become ill. Since then, news outlets have quoted FDA officials as saying that the number of dead dogs has more than tripled to 76 animals.
On Monday, January 9, The New York Times quoted veterinarians at Cornell University Hospital for Animals, who are tracking dogs affected by the contaminated pet food, as saying they believe that 100 dogs have died nationwide from aflatoxin poisoning. The veterinarians fear the number could rise significantly, because dog owners, preoccupied by holiday activities, may not yet be aware of the threat.
The pet food, sold under the labels Diamond, Country Value and Professional, was produced by Diamond Pet Foods, a privately owned company based in Missouri. The company issued a recall on December 20 when aflatoxin was discovered in pet food made at its Gaston, South Carolina facility, and shipped to stores throughout the east and southeastern United States as well as to 29 countries.
The State newspaper, based in Columbia, South Carolina, reported on January 6 that tests showed that about 30 samples—from about 3,000 tested samples of Diamond brand pet food—contained aflatoxins that exceeded the maximum level allowed by the FDA for human and pet food. “The positive results were found for food made Oct. 1 through Oct. 16, which means they would bear ‘best buy’ dates of April 1-16, 2007,” the paper wrote.
Diamond recalled all dried pet food produced from September 1 through December 10 at the Gaston plant. The recall included both dog and cat food, but to date, dogs appear to be the only animals affected.
Aflatoxin is a naturally occurring substance produced by fungi that grow on grains, including corn. Humidity, high temperatures, or drought are some of the conditions that contribute to aflatoxin growth on crops. Aflatoxin is toxic and can cause severe liver damage in animals.
Pet guardians whose animal may have consumed a Diamond brand pet food product are urged to contact their veterinarian if their pet exhibits any of the following symptoms, which may indicate aflatoxin consumption:
Sluggishness;
Loss of appetite;
Jaundice (yellow whites of the eyes, gums, belly or areas where hair is very thin);
Severe, persistent vomiting combined with bloody diarrhea;
Discolored urine;
Fever
According to Diamond, 23 states are affected by the recall, including Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Vermont, and Virginia.
The FDA said it is continuing to investigate the situation and is working closely with the state feed regulatory agencies in the affected states. Some of the products included in the recall were exported to at least 29 countries in the European Union. The FDA said those countries have been notified.
According to Diamond, any unused portions of recalled pet food should be returned to the retailer where it was purchased for a refund or replacement. According to press reports, Diamond has also offered to compensate pet guardians who can confirm that their pet died or became ill as a result of eating the contaminated food.
Diamond Pet Food is requesting that customers whose pets have become ill from eating contaminated food contact the company through its online help form.
Customers can receive more information about the recall by calling the Diamond Pet Foods Customer Information Center toll free at 1-866-214-6945. The Information center is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to midnight EST.
wing cat and dog food products are affected by the recall:
Diamond Low Fat Dog Food
Diamond Hi-Energy Dog Food
Diamond Maintenance Dog Food
Diamond Performance Dog Food
Diamond Premium Adult Dog Food
Diamond Puppy Food
Diamond Maintenance Cat Food
Diamond Professional Cat Food
Country Value Puppy
Country Value Adult Dog
Country Value High Energy Dog
Country Value Adult Cat Food
Professional Chicken & Rice Senior Dog Food
Professional Reduced Fat Chicken & Rice Dog Food
Professional Adult Dog Food
Professional Large-Breed Puppy Food
Professional Puppy Food
Professional Reduced Fat Cat Food
Professional Adult Cat Food
