Sneaky food books Hot and a hot topic
Sat, 20 Oct 2007 04:54:52 GMT
By MEGAN K. SCOTT, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - It's a technique on the tip of a lot of parents' tongues — and maybe their children's too: Puree healthy fruits and vegetables, and sneak them into regular kid food like macaroni and cheese or chocolate pudding. Watch the kids unknowingly gobble down their vitamins, and smile.
But what's got people talking isn't just the good idea, but the fact that two cookbooks released a few months apart focus on the strategy in strikingly similar ways.
Throw in the fact that one is written by the wife of Jerry Seinfeld, a waiting list for the book and you've got a recipe for intrigue.
First out of the gate in April was "The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals," by Missy Chase Lapine, published by the Running Press, an imprint owned by Perseus Books.
A former publisher of Eating Well magazine, Lapine writes about how she developed a "hiding technique" to get her picky eating daughters to eat what she wanted them to.
Then came "Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food," by Jessica Seinfeld, published in early October by Collins, a division of HarperCollins. In it Jessica Seinfeld tells of a weekly ritual she and her husband have of creating dozens of containers of vegetable purees to be added to meals for their three kids during the week.
Readers on Amazon.com immediately began comparing the two, testing recipes to see which book they liked better. And after Seinfeld appeared on Oprah on Oct. 8, sales of the book took off.
No one is accusing anyone of plagiarism. The idea of putting pureed vegetables in kids food has been written about elsewhere many times, and recipes on the Internet abound for such dishes as brownies spiked with spinach and pudding with avocado. But the timing of the two books has certainly stirred more than appetites.
"The overlap in recipes seems pretty suspicious," wrote one reviewer on Amazon. "It's a bit sad really."
Collins says it's just coincidence, but Perseus says some details closely mirror one another.
According to Steve Ross, president of Collins, his company received a 130-some page proposal from Lapine for her book in May 2006. The company rejected it because they believed it was similar to another book in the works called "Lunch Lessons" by Ann Cooper and Lisa Holmes.
In June 2006, Seinfeld submitted her proposal with the help of an agent, and HarperCollins representatives met with her, partly because of her high profile, Ross said.
At that meeting, staff who sampled her recipes for macaroni and cheese and meatballs were "wowed," he said.
"In person, she was such an articulate and passionate spokesperson and advocate for the idea of having your children eat nutritious foods," he said. The company acquired the rights to the book in June.
Meanwhile, Lapine got a deal with Running Press after an auction among six different publishers, she said.
Lapine's book came out in April, and a month later she saw a promotional brochure that included recipes and a book cover for Seinfeld's book, which she said was similar to her own book's logo — a woman holding carrots behind her back.
"I got really upset," said Lapine. "My visceral action was 'Oh my god.' I was, like, heartbroken. I knew there was a book coming out by a famous person that was so incredibly similar."
David Steinberger, president and CEO of The Perseus Books Group, said he wrote a letter to HarperCollins expressing concern about the similarities.
While Collins did modify the cover to put the carrots on a counter, Ross said that was not in response to the letter. The company made no other changes, Ross said.
"We reviewed the allegations and found them to be completely without merit," he said.
Steinberger said Perseus is trying to get more information on how the similarities may have happened.
Seinfeld said she has never seen or read "The Sneaky Chef."
"My book came from years of trying to get my own children to eat healthy foods — my own trial and error in my own kitchen," she said in a statement. "The idea of pureeing vegetables has been around for decades."
Seinfeld's agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh from William Morris Agency, said she and Seinfeld began discussing the idea in 2005. She said the book was already being bound when "The Sneaky Chef" came out.
Lapine said she is not accusing anyone of anything. But she said it does "hurt" to see someone else given credit for her method.
But with Americans focused on obesity and getting kids to eat better, both books are doing well: Seinfeld's will reach No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list for hardcover advice books Oct. 28, and Lapine's will be at No. 9 on the paperback counterpart list, according to the newspaper.
Collins is working round-the-clock to keep up with demand, Ross said, with 2.3 million copies of the book expected to be in print by the end of January.
10 men contract staph infections in NY
Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:08:02 GMT
By JIM FITZGERALD, Associated Press Writer
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - Nine athletes and a coach at Iona College contracted an antibiotic-resistant staph infection, which has spread through schools nationwide, health officials said Friday.
The outbreak was under control and the one student who was hospitalized has been released, said Dr. Joshua Lipsman, the health commissioner in Westchester County, just north of New York City.
Staph infections, including the serious Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, have spread in recent weeks through schools across the nation, according to health and education officials.
A high school senior in Virginia died of the disease Monday, his mother said. And dozens of high school students and some teachers in districts around the country have contracted the illness this fall, officials have said.
Lipsman confirmed that the Iona cases were MRSA, which does not respond to penicillin and related antibiotics but can be treated with other drugs.
Cecelia Donohoe, spokeswoman for the college in New Rochelle, said all the cases had been caught early and were mild. She wouldn't identify the team, citing privacy concerns, but Lipsman said all the victims are male.
The infection can be spread by skin-to-skin contact or sharing an item used by an infected person, particularly one with an open wound. Lipsman said Iona was dealing properly with the infection.
He and Donohoe said team members with open wounds have been forbidden to play, the weight room had been disinfected and all students have been advised about proper hygiene, such as scrupulous hand washing and not sharing razors or towels.
MRSA began showing up years ago in hospitals before working its way into prisons, schools and other community settings. School athletes appear particularly susceptible because of cuts and scrapes, bodily contact and the sharing of equipment.
Schools where the infections have been reported have closed to be sanitized before reopening.
The government earlier this week issued its first overall estimate of diseases caused by MRSA, finding more than 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly infections each year from it.
Judge Katrina death reports are public
Sat, 20 Oct 2007 04:31:22 GMT
By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS - The coroner's reports on the deaths of nine patients trapped in a sweltering hospital in the days following Hurricane Katrina should be made public, a judge ruled Friday.
Chief Civil Court Judge Nadine Ramsey ruled in favor of The Times-Picayune, which had sued Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard for the reports. Ramsey gave Minyard until Monday to release them.
Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti conducted a criminal investigation into the deaths, leading to charges of second-degree murder against Dr. Anna Pou and nurses Lori Budo and Cheri Landry, who stayed to work at the flooded hospital during and after the Aug. 29, 2005 storm.
Foti accused Pou and the nurses of killing patients by overdosing them with a sedative-painkiller mix during the days after Katrina, when Memorial Medical Center and other hospitals had no power and no way to evacuate.
All three women denied the accusations.
A grand jury refused to indict Pou, a decision Foti criticized. Landry and Budo testified before the panel under immunity.
After the grand jury failed to indict Pou, Foti began releasing investigative material. Some legal officials called the action an unusual move aimed at justifying his pursuit of charges against the trio.
"The thing that bothers me is that this material is being made public selectively," Pou's attorney, Richard Simmons, said of Friday's ruling.
Foti is up for re-election Saturday and has had to defend the arrests against political opponents, saying medical experts backed his view.
"This case is between The Times-Picayune and the coroner," said Kris Wartelle, a spokeswoman for Foti. "Our position is what it's always been. The media requested the release of public records and the defense has been blocking that. We have no objection to the release of anything."
Bill Bradley, an attorney for Minyard, said he had not talked to the coroner and probably would not know before Monday if they would appeal the order to release the reports.
Texas town lures industry at a cost
Sat, 20 Oct 2007 05:14:08 GMT
By MONICA RHOR, Associated Press Writer
PORT ARTHUR, Texas - There is a quiet battle for the future of this industrial town, one of America's most polluted places.
On one side is ex-mayor Oscar Ortiz, who in the waning days of his administration worried about one thing. But it wasn't the toxic chemicals that spew from petrochemical plants, the town's richest landowners, through the windows of its poorest residents.
What rattled white-maned, barrel-chested Ortiz, who ran Port Arthur for nine years, was that someday the petrochemical plants would go away.
"The only money here in the city of Port Arthur that amounts to anything comes from industry, from petrochemical companies," said Ortiz, leaning back in his chair in an office decorated with framed photographs of refineries. "If industry goes away, people might as well go away too because there'll be no money. That's the continued salvation of this city."
Hilton Kelley, like Ortiz born and raised in Port Arthur, is the opposition.
Kelley does worry about the toxic chemicals, the foul-smelling air and the west side residents who suffer from asthma, respiratory ailments, skin irritations and cancer. As the city's most visible environmental activist, Kelley has long campaigned for more restrictions on industrial construction and stricter monitoring of plant emissions.
"I grew up smelling the SO2 smell, the chemicals. I remember seeing little kids with sores on their legs, with mucus running in August. It's ridiculous what we've had to deal with," says Kelley, a former actor with the sonorous voice of a radio announcer. "We're not trying to shut doors of industry. We're just trying to push these guys to do what's right."
Ortiz calls Kelley an alarmist who likes to "stir things up" in the minority community Kelley accuses Ortiz of sacrificing the community's welfare in exchange for slim tax revenue from the plants.
One man represents Port Arthur the way it has always been; the other symbolizes a growing call for change.
But change, especially in a place like Port Arthur, never comes easily.
"This city is not going to change. It is a refinery town — tomorrow, next year, 100 years from now. It will always be a petro-chemical area," says Ortiz.
And if its residents are getting sick from the pollution?
Well, says Ortiz: "We've all got to die of something."
___
Port Arthur, located next to the Louisiana line, sits in a corridor routinely ranked as one of the country's most polluted regions. Texas and Louisiana are home to five oil refineries considered among the nation's 10 worst offenders in releasing toxic air pollutants, emitting 8.5 million pounds of toxins together in 2002.
Yet even here, Port Arthur stands out.
Its skyline is framed by the smokestacks and knotted steel pipes of the refineries and chemical plants clustered along the edges of the town. Flares from the plants glow red against the night sky, as incinerated chemicals filter into the air.
The smell of rotten eggs and sulphur hangs stubbornly over the apartments and shotgun houses on the west side. Port Arthur, population 57,000, is on the EPA's list of cities with dangerous ozone levels, and the state has flagged its excessive levels of benzene.
Many cities along the Texas Gulf Coast are dotted with refineries. But the companies' high tax bills are used to improve schools, create green space and bulk up city coffers. Port Arthur waives most property taxes to lure industry.
Eric Shaeffer, a former EPA official who runs the Environmental Integrity Project in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit advocacy group, has written two studies on pollution in Port Arthur. "It's one of the worst I've seen," he said.
The Veolia Environmental Services plant in Port Arthur recently started incinerating nearly 2 million gallons of VX hydrolysate, the wastewater byproduct of a deadly nerve gas agent.
Besides the pollution the state and EPA allow as part of the cost of doing business, the plants spew more toxins during "upset events" — unpermitted releases caused by lightning strikes, human error, startups and shutdowns.
Plant officials cite statistics showing steady progress in reducing some emissions, but Shaeffer cites a continuing hazard.
"When you get releases, it really hits people right in the chest," said Shaeffer. "It's one thing to be driving past the plants on the highway. It's another thing for kids to be out on the swing sets when there's a release."
___
Jordan, 5, and Justin, 7, play on the swings at Carver Terrace, the public housing project they live in next door to refineries run by Motiva and Valero that produce half a million barrels of oil a day and belch thousands of pounds of pollutants into the air.
Jordan's lungs are so weakened from a lifelong battle with asthma and bronchitis that he can't shout or call for help like other children, says their mother, LaShauna Green.
He must inhale medicine every four hours through a plastic mask that swamps his chubby face. Every two hours, he must take one of seven prescription drugs that keep his air passages from tightening.
Justin struggles to breathe after climbing just one flight of stairs.
Those troubles vanished when the Green family left the area for a year following 2005's Hurricane Rita. But two days after their return to Carver Terrace, Justin was rushed to a hospital twice in one day with respiratory attacks.
"When you start getting this kind of toxic chemical soup, we don't really know what the combination of all these things are doing," said Debra Morris, an assistant professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston who studied Port Arthur-area pollution.
___
Texas oil was first discovered near Port Arthur. For decades, the region nurtured industrial build-up with generous tax abatements. In return, the companies would promise to pay later and to create local jobs.
Ortiz defends the incentives as the only way to keep his city alive.
"The one main substance that keeps the city floating is the refineries," he said.
Refineries and chemical plants contribute about 67 percent of the city's budget through some taxes, Ortiz said. Still, without the abatements the city would have collected tens of millions of dollars more.
The city of Port Arthur has at least 28 tax-abatement deals with refineries and chemical plants. Surrounding Jefferson County has at least six, including with Motiva, Total, and Valero, which will pay no property taxes for the first two years of a nine-year contract, and then pay 10 percent of the taxes it would owe for the next seven.
Motiva will pay no taxes on a $3.5 billion expansion project for the next three years. Total taxes rise to $4.16 million by 2012.
Jeff Branick, assistant to Jefferson County executive Ron Walker, says the Motiva expansion is expected to create thousands of temporary construction jobs and 300 permanent jobs; Valero's project is expected to create 40 to 65 jobs, he said.
"It's going to be pumping a whole lot of money into the local economy," Branick said. "It creates hotel-motel tax revenue and will be attracting people from the outside who will be coming here to work and renting houses."
Ortiz also points to a new development on Pleasure Island, a resort with golf courses, new hotels and bustling shopping centers springing up on the city's south side. All, says Ortiz, spurred by the growth of the industrial complexes.
However, that prosperity bypassed Port Arthur's predominantly black west side and central city neighborhoods where singer Janis Joplin and sports legend Babe Zaharias were raised.
"This town is like a forgotten grandmother. It helped nourish the growth of the area, now all the wealth is moving ," said Kelley. "It's not fair to leave this entire community unnourished."
Despite the development, Port Arthur is not as prosperous as other refinery towns. Its median household income is two-thirds the Texas average; its homes are valued at less than half the state average. Port Arthur public high school students pass the test required for graduation at about half the state rate.
By comparison, the Houston suburb of Deer Park — home to its own refinery row — collects more taxes from its petrochemical complex. Before the state equalized school funding, its school district was nearly the richest in the state. The median home price is 25 percent higher than the state average and its median household income is 30 percent above the state average.
Both cities have roughly the same percentage of residents in chemical or construction fields.
Kelley is not the only one raising questions about how things are done in Port Arthur.
Some city officials have also started to question the benefits of the tax abatement deals.
In most, companies promise to "give Port Arthur residents a fair opportunity to apply for employment" but don't require jobs go to city residents. One company's pledge to use local labor and contractors defined "local" as covering a nine-county region.
Councilman Michael Sinegal says he frequently hears from residents who say they have been rejected for jobs at the plants. Overall unemployment here is about 6 percent, while among blacks it's 14 percent, he said; the state rate is 4 percent.
"The bottom line is that the people of Port Arthur are getting the negative byproduct from the plants, but should be getting an abundance of positive byproduct," Sinegal said.
Valero said the refinery has hired 161 people since Jan. 1, 2005. About 20 percent live in Port Arthur.
The city council recently ordered a study on contractors' hiring practices so it can devise a monitoring plan.
"We've let the community down," Sinegal said.
___
In late August, a group of 28 state lawmakers joined Kelley and others in urging Texas Gov. Rick Perry to block further shipments of VX hydrolysate to Port Arthur. Perry declined to intervene.
The latest assessment by state environmental regulators of Port Arthur showed that benzene had dropped to acceptable levels for the first time since 2000. Valero officials said they reduced emissions by more than 82 percent between 1996 and 2005, and had reduced "upset" emissions by 98 percent. Residents, however, still suffer higher rates of progressive pulmonary diseases than people elsewhere in the state.
Last year, Motiva agreed to give $3.5 million to help fund medical care, air monitors and a revitalization program for Port Arthur's west side community. The agreement was part of a settlement with Kelley's Community In-Power Development Association, after it challenged the plant's expansion.
And, 50 years after Carver Terrace was built, the Port Arthur Housing Authority plans to demolish the units and move residents to new homes throughout the city.
Was Carver Terrace's proximity to the refinery the authority's prime motivation? No, said authority chief Cele Quesada. "Of course, in the back of everyone's mind, there is awareness that we are on the fenceline. We would rather see a green area here than 180 families."
The likely buyer? Motiva Enterprises.
Kelley, who was born in Apartment 1202-E in Carver Terrace, commented: "When you appeal to the conscience of man, how these things are impacting our children, you can get them to see our point. But a lot of the times, the bottom line still wins."
Conference to examine world obesity epidemic
Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:10:25 GMT
by Virginie Montet
WASHINGTON -
Some 1,800 researchers will gather in New Orleans this weekend to discuss efforts to treat and contain the worldwide obesity epidemic.
More than 300 studies will be presented during the annual conference, organized by the Obesity Society, a US scientific association created 25 years ago to study the phenomenon.
Between 64 percent to 66 percent of adults in the United States are overweight, of whom 60 million are obese with the epidemic on the rise.
More than a billion adults worldwide are overweight, according to the World Health Organization , and there are at least 300 million obese people on the planet.
In Europe, Britain leads with a 23 percent obesity rate, followed by Germany at 12 percent and Italy at eight percent, according to a study published at the end of 2006 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development .
In France, 5.9 million people are obese, of which 2.3 million are nine years old.
In China, the obesity rate can reach 20 percent in some cities, according to the WHO.
Over the four-day conference, scientists will review genetic research and how modifying genes can affect weight, the retention of body fat and appetite.
A major element of the conference will be devoted to sociological and behavioral studies as lifestyle, diet and a lack of exercise are the primary causes of the epidemic. Pediatric obesity is also a top priority, with 20 percent of American children deemed obese -- a figure that has tripled in 40 years.
A person is considered obese if his body mass index , calculated by dividing weight by the square of his height, is more than 30. A patient is considered overweight if the BMI is between 25 and 30.
Obesity, which can reduce life span by five to eight years, is linked to increased risk of diabetes, hypertension, arthritis and cancer.
An increase in the occurrence of type two diabetes over the past 20 years in the United States is due to the rise in obesity, according to The Obesity Society.
Being overweight is also blamed for doubling the risk of kidney cancer and breast cancer for post-menopausal women.
Death rates in the United States due to bad diet combined with a lack of exercise represent 16.6 percent of all deaths, almost equal to the toll from smoking.
The conference is being held in a region hard-hit by the epidemic. Poorer US southern states have particularly high rates of obesity.
In Mississippi, which has one of the highest poverty rates in the United States, nearly every third adult -- 30.6 percent -- was obese, and slightly more said they engaged in no physical activity, said a report released in August.
The rate of adult obesity more than doubled in percentage terms in the past 25 years across the United States, growing from 15 percent in 1978-80 to 32 percent in 2003-04, said the Trust for America's Health in its annual &;F as in Fat&; report.
In the same period, childhood obesity increased more than three-fold.
The report urged &;new, grand scale changes&; across the country to stop the obesity epidemic from undermining the country's productivity.
&;US economic competitiveness is hurting as our workforce becomes less healthy and productive. Obesity-related health care costs are draining dollars from the bottom line of businesses,&; it said.
New hearing loss warnings set for Viagra Levitra Cialis
Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:51:32 GMT
WASHINGTON - The US Food and Drug Administration has decided to put more prominent warnings of potential hearing loss on impotence drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra.
An FDA statement said the goal was &;to display more prominently the potential risk of sudden hearing loss, and to guide consumers on what to do if they experience sudden problems with their hearing.&;
Revatio, used to treat pulmonary hypertension, also will get the same labelling changes, the FDA said.
The warnings followed what the administration called &;a very small number&; of patients reporting hearing loss and at times ringing in the ears and dizziness.
&;Because some level of hearing loss is usually associated with the aging process, patients on these drugs may not think to talk to their doctor about it,&; said Janet Woodcock, MD, FDA deputy commissioner for scientific and medical programs, chief medical officer, and acting director of its Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.