Food:
Watsonville slaughterhouse inspected -- A state agriculture official Friday inspected a Watsonville slaughterhouse where malnourished and injured livestock were removed earlier this week. However, the plant continued to operate and officials said there is not an imminent food safety concern. The slaughterhouse continued to do business Friday afternoon during the unscheduled state inspection, which lasted less than a half-hour. About 85 apparently healthy animals remained on the property and no additional livestock were removed during the inspection. Monterey Herald 5/3/08
Shortage fears fuel rice price hikes -- Skyrocketing prices and media reports of a shortage are driving many immigrants and U.S. Asians, Hispanics, Indians and others to stock up on rice Emphasizing that there is no rice shortage in the United States, economists and commodity traders blame the price hikes confronting U.S. consumers on everything from the weather in producing countries to the increased buying power of countries like China. Inside Bay Area 5/2/08
Health:
*Plastics set off alarm -- Responding to an unusually large number of consumer product recalls last year - many of them involving lead in everything from toys and candy to clothing and lunch boxes - several Bay Area lawmakers are pushing for better state regulation of chemicals believed to be toxic. One bill, labeled the "Toxin-free Toddlers and Babies Act" by Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, would ban the chemical bisphenol A from toys and child-care products sold in California, such as baby bottles. SJ Mercury 5/6/08
Fat cell count is steady even if you lose weight -- Every year, whether you are fat or thin, whether you lose weight or gain, 10 percent of your fat cells die. And every year, those cells that die are replaced with new fat cells, researchers in Sweden reported Sunday.The result is that the total number of fat cells in the body remains the same, year after year throughout adulthood. Losing or gaining weight affects only the amount of fat stored in the cells, not the number of cells. Obesity investigators say the study raises tantalizing questions. For instance, what determines how many fat cells are in a person's body? SF Chronicle 5/5/08
UHW Outlines Solutions to California's Health Crisis -- Caregivers from around California on Monday will host the latest in a series of statewide forums, in which experts in the field will discuss the crisis facing the state's healthcare infrastructure and potential solutions. Fox Business 5/5/08
*California Sued Over Health-Care Cuts -- A coalition of California hospitals, doctors, dentists and other health-care providers has sued the state to block a 10% cutback in payments to them for treating the poor who are covered by Medi-Cal, a joint federal and state program. The $1.3 billion in cuts, set to take effect July 1, are included in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed 10% across-the-board reductions in the budget for state services. The governor has said the move is needed to close a fiscal 2009 budget deficit now approaching $20 billion. Wall Street Journal 5/6/08
State budget crisis threatens health care -- Recent budget cuts to the state's Medi-Cal program will put patients and California's hospitals at even greater risk. In February of this year, the governor signed into law a 10 percent budget cut to the Medi-Cal program, which serves our state's most vulnerable patients — the uninsured, underinsured, working poor, disabled and seniors. Visalia Times Delta 5/2/08
Agriculture:
Late cold snap puts a chill on California vineyards -- April was a cruel month for California winemakers, bringing a series of unusually late frosts to vineyards baring the tender, green shoots of spring. The damage still is being assessed -- it could be June before growers know the full extent -- but most expect smaller-than-average harvests this year. The frosts hit all over Northern California, including Mendocino and Lake counties in Northern California as well as the Napa Valley and Sonoma County regions. The cold also was felt in Central Coast vineyards. Business Week 5/6/08
Growers' frost fight squeezes water supplies -- The use of water by grape growers for frost protection during this unusually cold spring has taxed North Bay water resources, which are already so low that conservation measures will be needed this summer. Press Democrat 5/3/08
California's farm belt plan to cut air pollution criticized -- Environmentalists say a new plan to clean up the soot-laden air in California's farm belt would fail to adequately regulate agricultural sources of pollution. California's farm belt has some of the highest levels of airborne dust, smoke and soot in the country. The district's governing board voted 8-3 in favor of a plan that could keep families from using their fireplaces for up to 35 days each winter and require local employers to make a portion of their workers car pool. Air quality advocates said the plan should have done more to regulate dairies, wineries and diesel pumps on farms, but farmers speaking at the meeting warned that a stricter plan would have risked job losses in the valley. AP 5/2/08
*Apple moth quarantine around Sonoma -- A 15-square-mile quarantine was established Monday in Sonoma County in the ever-widening - and increasingly controversial - war against the pest known as the light brown apple moth. The quarantine will subject grape growers, nurseries and other businesses inside the infestation zone to inspections and, if the alien moth is found, an extensive treatment program. A team of scientists from the California Department of Food and Agriculture also announced Monday that sticky traps alone are not an effective way to fight the destructive Australian invader. Instead, they concluded, aerial spraying will have to be used to fight the pest. SF Chronicle 5/6/08
Biofuel:
US, EU asked to reconsider biofuel goals as food prices rise -- The U.S. and European Union should reconsider a shift to biofuels that has helped increase food prices worldwide by turning agricultural land over to energy crops, American economist Jeffrey Sachs said Monday. Targets to produce more fuels that release less carbon dioxide when burned "do not make sense now in a global food scarcity condition," Sachs, a special adviser to the United Nations, told reporters before he spoke to EU lawmakers at the European Parliament. AP 5/5/08
Senators call for EPA to reconsider ethanol output mandate -- Senate Republicans have asked environmental regulators to use their power to halt the country's plans to expand ethanol production amid rising food prices. Twenty-four Republican senators, including presidential candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona, sent a letter Friday to the Environmental Protection Agency suggesting it waive, or restructure, rules that require a fivefold increase in ethanol production over the next 15 years. SF Chronicle 5/5/08
Ethanol defended by President Bush -- President Bush on Friday defended his emphasis on ethanol to help the nation meet its energy needs even though increased production of the corn-based biofuel has been blamed for contributing to sharp increases in food prices. LA Times 5/3/08
Nutrition education:
New Natomas school roof is green - and growing -- A new school being built in Natomas will have a cover of vegetation across its roof. The H. Allen Hight Learning Center has a "green roof" as one of many construction features designed to save energy when the campus opens in August with 500 students. It's also likely the first local example of a building trend sweeping across rooftops worldwide. Green roofs – roofs covered with soil and plants – have become a favorite feature among environmentally minded builders. They naturally keep buildings cool and absorb rainwater. Sacramento Bee 5/6/08
Forests:
*Tree study clears the air -- UC Davis researchers say they have confirmed in laboratory experiments that certain trees are highly effective in filtering and dispersing some of the most toxic particles in auto exhaust. The findings suggest health risks in neighborhoods and schools near heavy traffic can be cut significantly by flanking the roadways with tall evergreens. The study found redwood trees to be the most effective of three species tested at removing particle pollutants, followed by the longer-needled deodar cedar and the broad-leaf live oak. Sacramento Bee 5/6/08
Farm Bill:
*Farm bill upends normal political order -- It is the rarest of moments: President Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are on a collision course over a giant farm bill, but it is Bush who is broadly aligned with liberal Bay Area activists pushing for reform, while the San Francisco Democrat is protecting billions of dollars in subsidies to the richest farmers. A conference committee approved on Thursday most of a nearly $300 billion farm bill. SF Chronicle 5/4/08
Fishing:
Fishing in waters off West Coast is deadliest -- A new report from the federal government says fishing off the West Coast of the United States has one of the highest human death rates in commercial fishing - even higher than in waters off Alaska. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health released a report late last month detailing the hazards of fishing in the Pacific Ocean off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington, which had a combined fatality rate more than twice as high as the rate in Alaska as well as the national commercial fishing average rate between 2000 and 2006. SF Chronicle 5/4/08
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