Dust air water sources of lead
Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:27:07 GMTBy The Associated Press
NEW YORK - The dangers of lead in some toys are well-known, but there are plenty of other ways people can be exposed to the metal.
Young children are especially at risk of harm because their bodies are growing quickly. They can suffer damage to the brain and nervous system, slowed growth and other problems.
In adults, excessive lead exposure can lead to problems in reproduction, high blood pressure, memory and concentration problems and other effects.
Levels of lead in the air have plunged since the late 1970s with the removal of lead from gasoline. Today, most lead in the air comes from industrial plants, and it's a problem chiefly in urban and industrialized areas, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency says.
Other potential sources:
_Deteriorating lead paint can produce lead dust and chips that children swallow. The federal government banned lead paint from housing in 1978, but older homes may have it.
_Soil can become contaminated and be carried indoors.
_Drinking water can pick up lead from pipes or solder in older homes. Consumers can ask their local health departments or water suppliers about having water tested.
_Traces of lead can be brought home on hands or clothes from jobs that involve working with the metal. The federal government recommends that workers in such jobs shower and change clothes before going home, and wash work clothes separately.
_Food and liquids stored in lead crystal or lead-glazed containers may pick up the metal.
_Some folk remedies contain lead.
_Lead is used in some hobbies, such as making pottery or stained glass, or refinishing furniture.
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On the Net:
http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/leadinfo.htm facts
http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/lead/index.html
http://www.epa.gov/air/urbanair/lead/index.html
Brazil carnival star eyes surgery record
Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:18:15 GMTBy PETER MUELLO, Associated Press Writer
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Brazilian model Angela Bismarchi will dance nearly nude ahead of a 300-person drum corps in next month's Carnival parade, hoping her sculpted beauty as a "percussion queen" will lead her samba group to the championship.
But she has another goal in mind as well.
In preparation for Rio's five-day Carnival blowout in February, she's having her 42nd plastic surgery — closing in on the Guinness World Record of 47 surgical procedures held by 52-year-old American Cindy Jackson, who calls herself a "Living Doll" and now promotes her own skincare line.
"I always was vain," Bismarchi, 36, acknowledges at the medical clinic near Rio where her plastic surgeon husband has operated on her 10 times. "And for carnival, you have to feel especially pretty."
Just days before Brazil's Feb. 2-6 carnival begins, Bismarchi will have nylon wires implanted in her eyes to give them an Asian slant, in line with this year's theme of her samba group, Porto da Pedra: the centennial of Japanese immigration to Brazil.
Bismarchi's unabashed passion for plastic surgery has made her a celebrity in this image-mad country, where even the poor get surgical enhancements on the installment plan. Brazilians see no shame in touching up their bodies, which are routinely exposed at carnival and flaunted on the beach in thong bikinis so tiny they're called "dental floss."
Born poor in Rio, Bismarchi had her first cosmetic surgery in 1992 after her daughter was born. She was just 21, but said she was depressed after nursing caused her breasts to sag. So she had them lifted, adored the results, and became so fascinated with cosmetic surgery that her next two husbands were plastic surgeons.
"I put in a prosthesis and loved it. I was beautiful and sensual again," Bismarchi said, a striking figure at 6 feet — taller in white high heels — with long blond hair flowing over her white minidress.
Carnival has a special place in Bismarchi's career.
She first made headlines in 2000, when police tried to arrest her after she paraded partly nude with the Brazilian flag painted on her body.
"I became famous all over," she said. "The power of carnival is amazing."
Two years later, she paraded with the face of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva painted across her exposed body. Police released her after she explained it was a gesture to Silva's anti-hunger program.
A wardrobe malfunction at last year's carnival put Bismarchi back in the news — when her G-string broke and dangled from her waist, Porto da Pedra was threatened with a penalty for total nudity, forbidden under parade rules. But the resourceful Bismarchi hid from the judges behind the drum section, changed her tiny "sex cover" and finished the parade.
Today, Bismarchi promotes an exclusive line of sexy lingerie, gives beauty tips and responds to the 500 to 700 letters and e-mails she receives each day. To care for her famous figure, she does two and a half hours of exercise daily, takes dance lessons and spends hours tanning on the beach.
"I consider myself quite timid. I'm just a little girl grown big," she said. "I never imagined I would be famous. Things just happened."
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On the Web: http://www.angelabismarchi.com.br
Future chefs learn how to cut trans fat
Sat, 26 Jan 2008 21:47:01 GMTBy MICHELLE R. SMITH, Associated Press Writer
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The movement to ban artery-clogging trans fats from food has a new venue: cooking schools.
The places that train the people who will someday be feeding the rest of us are cutting back or eliminating artificial trans fats from their classrooms, saying they have a responsibility to teach students how to cook healthy foods.
"It's a very welcome change," said John O'Connell, 19, a sophomore culinary arts student at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, one of the nation's largest cooking schools.
The school has started phasing out trans fats in its restaurants, hotels and dining services on four campuses around the country, and plans to be trans fat-free by the fall semester.
"We have made sure that we do the right thing," said Karl J. Guggenmos, dean of culinary education.
Other cooking schools, such as Le Cordon Bleu Schools North America, with 13 locations, are looking at reducing or eliminating trans fats, said Kirk T. Bachmann of Le Cordon Bleu, which is based in Hoffman Estates, Ill. The prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., banned trans fats from nearly all its classes and restaurants in 2005.
Artificial trans fats are often found in oils used to deep-fry foods such as french fries and in baked goods. Bakers like to use shortenings with trans fats because cakes stay fresher longer, frosting is easier to use, and they cost less than butter.
Trans fats are created when hydrogen is added to liquid cooking oils to harden them. Along with saturated fats, they raise levels of so-called bad cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease.
New York City banned cooking oils with trans fat from all restaurants last year, and several states and cities have debated similar measures. A number of fast-food restaurants chains are making the switch to trans fat-free cooking oils.
At the Culinary Institute of America, trans fat is one of the "hot button" topics, said school spokesman Stephan Hengst.
"Once they get out in the industry, they've got to understand it," he said of students.
The school has about 3,000 students at its main campus and three branches, and boasts such famous alumni as restaurateur Charlie Palmer and best-selling author and chef Anthony Bourdain.
Trans fats are banned at the school, Hengst said, except in advanced cake decorating classes where students work with trans fat-based shortening. But no one eats the cakes once they're decorated; they're thrown away.
At Johnson & Wales, it took months of work to get trans fats out of the school's curriculum. Their textbook has hundreds of recipes and about 50 included trans fats, said Wanda Cropper, who oversees the school's baking and pastry institute.
Eliminating it from some recipes was relatively easy — butter and olive oil are often good substitutes. But baking was different. Getting the right texture, color, smell and taste was tricky, and took a lot of trial and error, Cropper said.
"Baking is a science. You can't just substitute," she said.
Until recently, there weren't many good options for trans fat-free baking products, Guggenmos said. The school worked closely with its supplier to find ingredients that worked and to reformulate its recipes as needed.
Guggenmos estimates it will cost about 5 percent more for the trans fat-free ingredients, although that could ease as the market grows for such products.
Robbi Mills, 21, a 2007 graduate of Johnson & Wales who's now a manager at the university-owned Johansson's Bakery in downtown Providence, said trans fats weren't an issue when she was in school. The bakery is switching non-trans fats in the coming months.
"I didn't really have any exposure to it when I was in the labs," she said. "I wish I had known more."
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On the Net:
Johnson & Wales University: http://www.jwu.edu/
Culinary Institute of America: http://www.ciachef.edu/
