New alarm bells about chemicals and cancer

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/opinion/06kristof.html
New Alarm Bells About Chemicals and Cancer
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOFPublished: May 5, 2010
The President’s Cancer Panel is the Mount Everest of the medical mainstream, so it is astonishing to learn that it is poised to join ranks with the organic food movement and declare: chemicals threaten our bodies.\\The cancer panel is releasing a landmark 200-page report on Thursday, warning that our lackadaisical approach to regulation may have far-reaching consequences for our health.
I’ve read an advance copy of the report, and it’s an extraordinary document. It calls on America to rethink the way we confront cancer, including much more rigorous regulation of chemicals.
Traditionally, we reduce cancer risks through regular doctor visits, self-examinations and screenings such as mammograms. The President’s Cancer Panel suggests other eye-opening steps as well, such as giving preference to organic food, checking radon levels in the home and microwaving food in glass containers rather than plastic.
In particular, the report warns about exposures to chemicals during pregnancy, when risk of damage seems to be greatest. Noting that 300 contaminants have been detected in umbilical cord blood of newborn babies, the study warns that: “to a disturbing extent, babies are born ‘pre-polluted.’ ”
It’s striking that this report emerges not from the fringe but from the mission control of mainstream scientific and medical thinking, the President’s Cancer Panel. Established in 1971, this is a group of three distinguished experts who review America’s cancer program and report directly to the president.
One of the seats is now vacant, but the panel members who joined in this report are Dr. LaSalle Leffall Jr., an oncologist and professor of surgery at Howard University, and Dr. Margaret Kripke, an immunologist at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Both were originally appointed to the panel by former President George W. Bush.
“We wanted to let people know that we’re concerned, and that they should be concerned,” Professor Leffall told me.
The report blames weak laws, lax enforcement and fragmented authority, as well as the existing regulatory presumption that chemicals are safe unless strong evidence emerges to the contrary.
“Only a few hundred of the more than 80,000 chemicals in use in the United States have been tested for safety,” the report says. It adds: “Many known or suspected carcinogens are completely unregulated.”
Industry may howl. The food industry has already been fighting legislation in the Senate backed by Dianne Feinstein of California that would ban bisphenol-A, commonly found in plastics and better known as BPA, from food and beverage containers.
Studies of BPA have raised alarm bells for decades, and the evidence is still complex and open to debate. That’s life: In the real world, regulatory decisions usually must be made with ambiguous and conflicting data. The panel’s point is that we should be prudent in such situations, rather than recklessly approving chemicals of uncertain effect.
The President’s Cancer Panel report will give a boost to Senator Feinstein’s efforts. It may also help the prospects of the Safe Chemicals Act, backed by Senator Frank Lautenberg and several colleagues, to improve the safety of chemicals on the market.
Some 41 percent of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives, and they include Democrats and Republicans alike. Protecting ourselves and our children from toxins should be an effort that both parties can get behind — if enough members of Congress are willing to put the public interest ahead of corporate interests.
One reason for concern is that some cancers are becoming more common, particularly in children. We don’t know why that is, but the proliferation of chemicals in water, foods, air and household products is widely suspected as a factor. I’m hoping the President’s Cancer Panel report will shine a stronger spotlight on environmental causes of health problems — not only cancer, but perhaps also diabetes, obesity and autism.
This is not to say that chemicals are evil, and in many cases the evidence against a particular substance is balanced by other studies that are exonerating. To help people manage the uncertainty prudently, the report has a section of recommendations for individuals:
¶Particularly when pregnant and when children are small, choose foods, toys and garden products with fewer endocrine disruptors or other toxins. (Information about products is at www.cosmeticsdatabase.com or www.healthystuff.org.)
¶For those whose jobs may expose them to chemicals, remove shoes when entering the house and wash work clothes separately from the rest of the laundry.
¶Filter drinking water.
¶Store water in glass or stainless steel containers, or in plastics that don’t contain BPA or phthalates (chemicals used to soften plastics). Microwave food in ceramic or glass containers.
¶Give preference to food grown without pesticides, chemical fertilizers and growth hormones. Avoid meats that are cooked well-done.
¶Check radon levels in your home. Radon is a natural source of radiation linked to cancer

Kiwifruit: the fuzzy superfruit

http://arabnews.com/lifestyle/food_health/article50335.ece
Kiwi fruit: The fuzzy superfruit

By MARIAM ALIREZA, MARIAM.ALIREZA@GMAIL.COM
Published: May 5, 2010 21:04 Updated: May 5, 2010 21:59
Being cool, juicy and flavorful, kiwi fruit is a pleasure to eat as a snack with skin or without plus it is a healthy ingredient for juices, smoothies, tarts, and cheesecakes. A glass of mixed green apple and kiwi juice before breakfast cleanses the body; gives energy and enriches the blood with protective phytochemicals and vitamin C. Kiwi, gold or green, adds color and nutrients to cut fruits. One whole kiwi fruit makes a delicious healthy helping for breakfast or snack and contains very few calories. Don’t miss this fuzzy superfruit.
We have been probing into the 20 superfruits (mango, fig, orange, strawberry, goji (wolfberry), red grape, cranberry, kiwi fruit, papaya, blueberry, sour and sweet cherries, red raspberry, seaberry, guava, blackberry, black currant, date, pomegranate, acai (assai), prune) in the same hierarchy as Paul Gross put them in his book, Superfruits. Even though they are in the above order, some of them tie up with their predecessors. In spite of some being at the very bottom of the list, it does not mean they are less effective. They just happen to be less known or scientifically and clinically researched. We may not know now, but after getting the proper attention and research, they may climb up the ladder. In my view, superfruits like guava, date, and pomegranate will take higher positions when they get studied more profoundly. And don’t be surprised when the list grows longer. Let us explore, today, the kiwi fruit, the exotic superfruit.
The kiwi fruit (do not confuse it with the kiwi bird), Actinidia deliciosa, originated in China and spread to New Zealand. It only surfaced in the recent years. Though China is the fruit’s country of origin, New Zealand is kiwi’s main exporting country worldwide.
Kiwi fruit has an oval shape, a little larger than an egg. Its thin brownish skin, which is covered with fine fuzz, protects the fruit and its freshness. The original kiwi has green pulp, but a different cultivar has produced golden pulp that is richer in carotenoids with a sweeter taste. Horticulturists in New Zealand have recently succeeded in producing a kiwi with crimson pulp more abundant in anthocyanins.
The kiwi fruit has earned its superfruit status due to its high nutritional value like its predecessors. Its remarkable high content of vitamin C surpasses many fruits even the orange. Its greenish pigment comes from chlorophyll. Its tiny black seeds in the center of the pulp offer generous amounts of essential fatty acids (omega-3-and-6) as well as vitamin E. Potassium and other minerals are found in the fruit in healthful quantities along with dietary soluble and insoluble fiber in the pulp and furry skin. Hence, it is worth eating and juicing the fruit with its skin. The golden color kiwi pulp and seeds are high in carotenoids (beta-carotene, lutein, and polyphenols), which are synthesized to vitamin A in the body.
Recently, a concentrated protein, called kiwellin, in the fruit has been isolated. In studies, kiwellin seems to show effectiveness on the immune mechanism. A byproduct of kiwellin, by the name of kissper, is found to be useful in improving the delivery of medication in the body.
Published laboratory tests, employing gold kiwi puree on mice, showed immense immune response results. Ovalbumin, an immune activator, has effectively boosted immune reactive chemicals in the blood as well as increased antibody cells in lymph fluids. This finding indicates that there is a direct connection between the fruit and antibody stimulation, leading to improved immune responses.
Scientific research has become more interested in kiwi because of its rich phytocompound content, which has the potential of being effective on inflammation, diabetes, infections, immune disorders and cancer. However, what sets the fruit back in the superfruit list is the scarcity of animal testing and lack of clinical studies.
N.B. Individuals with medical conditions or on medication should consult their physicians when they decide to introduce anything new in their diet even if it is natural.

DC students chnage habits- one fruit, veggie at a time

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/05/AR2010050502171.html
D.C. students change habits -- one fruit, veggie at a time
Ten-year-old Octavia Coleman of Southeast Washington has changed her eating ways.
After learning how much sugar is in everyday drinks (a Snapple ranks right up there with sodas) and how much salt is in her favorite potato chips, she could no longer look at those corner store snacks without feeling guilty.
"I've been exercising and learning how to live a healthy lifestyle," Octavia said. "I can't eat those chips anymore. They're my favorite, but they have too much salt, and that's not good for your body."
The fourth-grader at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Southeast helped serve fresh fruit and vegetables recently during an expo that brought to a close the school's Road to a Healthy Body program, which was held every Tuesday since January to combat childhood obesity.
Coordinated by Niama Sandy, an after-care teacher at the school, the initiative was funded with a $500 grant from Unison Health Plan of the Capital Area as part of UnitedHealth Group and Youth Service America's UnitedHealth Heroes grant program.
Sessions with a personal trainer and dietitian helped students think about the way they interact with food and how to exercise even if they don't have equipment or a ball, Sandy said. The students weighed in by helping to pick mangoes, cauliflower and other snacks that they sampled at the end of the school day.
"Basically, my hope is to change the culture at this school so that they talk about health daily. I want them to begin to expect their healthy snack to the point that if they don't get it, they're like, 'Hey, what happened to our snack today?' " Sandy said.
She also tested the students' palates with unfamiliar flavors, such as coconut water.
"There was a very polarized reaction: They either hated it, or they loved it," Sandy said. "I also prepared a mango chow, which is a Caribbean dish created with fresh mango and pineapple mixed together with a little bit of salt and a little bit of pepper. They either really loved or really hated that, too."
Octavia's healthful food conversion is what Whitney Bateson thinks can happen if children are given healthful choices.
Bateson, a resident dietitian at the school, manned one of four nutrition education stations at the expo. She said she is confident that elementary-age students are capable of understanding the dietary benefits of, say, flaxseed.
"When you see the look on their faces when they taste something, you know they're surprised that they like what they've just tasted. I try to give out handouts in hopes that they find their way home," Bateson said. "In the beginning, we just did some basic fruits and veggies. Then we moved to whole-grain tortillas and hummus. And in our last session, we had smoothies. Of course they loved that."
The school is also a beneficiary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which provides federal funding for District schools to serve fresh produce to students daily after lunch and has been in place since the beginning of the semester.
"The program really helps students get exposed to new foods. It was difficult getting them to warm up to some of the vegetables," Bateson said as students polished off three fruit platters while the first vegetable platter sat hardly touched.
"I kept trying what they tell you in nutrition school, that it takes 10 to 20 times for a person to taste something before they know if they like it or not," she said. "I gave them vegetables, like sugar snap peas, and told them that it's good that they tried it and it's okay if they didn't like it maybe they will the next time."

Citrus production to grow in Peru

http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=k9hpicMK6ec=
Citrus production to grow by 3.6% this year
Lima, Mar. 12 (ANDINA). The production of citrus will grow by 3.6% in 2010 due to the increase of the yield and the cultivated area, boosted by the growing demand of fresh citrus from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Holland, projected today the consultant Maximixe.
It considered that an opportunity for the citrus industry is that, starting this year, it will enter to the Chinese and Mexican market duty-free.
In the first case, due to the Free Trade Agreement with China, and in the second because Mexico would sign the protocols that will allow the free entry of citrus to its market.
Likewise, the bigger local demand will be favored by the expansion of the supermarkets in an environment where there is more concern about health and the consumption of natural products.
This way, Maximixe projected that the production of orange, tangerine, lemon and lime will increase by 3.8%, 7.3%, 1.5% and 5.4% respectively.

A spend and borrow debt mess

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/05/06/a_spend-and-borrow_debt_mess_105464.html
A Spend-and-Borrow Debt MessBy Larry Kudlow
The ink was barely dry on the $150 billion European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout of Greece, when world stock markets tanked on two major fears. First, financial analysts are concerned that the bailout money won't be enough to cover Greece's borrowing needs from its out-of-control budget deficit. Second, there are fears that the EU/IMF deal will not be approved by the German parliament in a vote scheduled for Friday.
Additionally, there are new worries that the Greek debt contagion will spread to Spain and elsewhere in Europe. The looming specter of debt default and deflation is heavy in the air for investors worldwide.
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[+] More Making market matters even riskier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces key regional elections this Sunday in populous North Rhine-Westphalia, including the conservative areas of Cologne, Bonn and Stuttgart. These cities hate government debt and overspending as much as the rest of Germany, if not more so.
The great postwar German leader Konrad Adenauer came from Cologne. He was a conservative Catholic who despised Nazism and Soviet communism. He also was an inflation fighter. To stop hyperinflation in the postwar period, Adenauer sponsored the new German mark and linked it to the dollar, which in those days was as good as gold.
Today, all of Germany still hates inflation. And the Germans are afraid that the currency printing presses used to buy bad bailout bonds will return the country to a haunted past. So it's tricky business for Merkel to sell the Greek bailout on the eve of local elections that could disrupt her already thin governing coalition.
Merkel is playing a double game here. She's telling the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal that the bailout must pass in order to save the euro currency. At the same time, she's telling folks at home that Greece's extravagant social-welfare entitlement system of bankrupt promises is a disgrace that Germans would never tolerate.
Apparently, credit markets won't stand for it, either. Both around the world and here in the U.S., credit markets are boycotting massive government debt creation. The result is that gold is fast becoming a currency substitute, with strong markets for the yellow metal saying a pox on all your houses.
Merkel and other European leaders would like the IMF to be the fiscal-discipline policeman for Greece and the rest of Southern Europe. But as Nobelist Robert Mundell has argued, while the unified and fixed exchange rate of the euro currency system, along with liberalized trade, has been good for economic growth, things have broken down with the failure of the so-called fiscal-stability pact that was never enforced.
With tens of thousands of Greek government union workers marching in the streets of Athens calling for more general strikes in protest of IMF austerity measures to cut back on bloated pensions, voters in Germany and perhaps other EU countries do not believe the bailout conditionality will ever work. Voters see solvent nations being saddled with more debt that the European Central Bank may well monetize into higher inflation.
Perhaps the Greeks should consider a privatization asset sale of the Parthenon, or some of the beautiful Greek islands, as a means of raising desperately needed cash. Think of it: Greek Thatcherization. Of course, in addition to privatization, Margaret Thatcher used her budget ax. That's something neither Greece nor Spain appears capable of implementing in a sustained way. Thatcher also reminded us that the problem with socialist governments is that they finally run out of other people's cash.
What's more, while Greece and Spain have moderate 30 percent business tax rates, lower than rates in the U.S., their combined personal and VAT tax rates come to about 60 percent. Team Obama take note: These are anti-growth tax policies.
Indeed, the debt follies of Europe and the bankruptcy of the European entitlement state should be a lesson for Barack Obama's Washington, where overspending and borrowing have reached absurdly grand heights. As a share of gross domestic product, U.S. debt is projected to move toward 100 percent in the wake of the new Obamacare entitlements. That's near the 125 percent debt ratio of Greece.
And just like Greece, U.S. government union-worker benefits, which run 50 percent above private-sector equivalents, are bankrupting federal, state and local budgets. They're also spawning a massive voter revolt against big-government debt that will bear fruit this November in the tea-party midterm elections.
In a vague sort of way, British Tory leader David Cameron is opposing the spend-and-borrow mess of Gordon Brown's Labor Party that so resembles Obama's policies. Consequently, Cameron looks set to win the U.K. election on Thursday. That's good news for England. But it could embolden German legislators to vote against the EU-IMF bailout for Greece on Friday. And that could create an even bigger stock market mess, at least in the short run.
Call it a spend-and-borrow debt mess. A pox on all your houses, at least until financial-market and voter discipline force the dimwitted politicians to radically change course.
Lawrence Kudlow is host of CNBC's The Kudlow Report and co-host of The Call. He is also a former Reagan economic advisor and a syndicated columnist. Visit his blog, Kudlow's Money Politics.

Great A & P results dip

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/The-Great-Atlantic-Pacific-bw-3828050982.html?x=0
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc. Announces Results for Its Fourth Quarter and Full Year Ended February 27, 2010
MONTVALE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc. (A&P, NYSE Symbol: GAP) today announced fiscal 2009 fourth quarter and full year results for the 12 and 52 weeks ended February 27, 2010.
Sales for the 12-week fourth quarter were $2.0 billion versus $2.3 billion in last year’s 13-week fourth quarter. Comparable store sales decreased 4.8% during the comparable 12-week period. For the 12-week fourth quarter, excluding non-operating items, adjusted EBITDA was $41 million versus $86 million for last year’s 13-week fourth quarter. The estimated EBITDA benefit from the 13th week was approximately $6 million. Adjusted loss from operations was $13 million versus adjusted income from operations of $26 million last year. The non-operating items excluded from adjusted income from operations are listed on Schedule 3 of the press release and adjusted EBITDA is reconciled to net loss on Schedule 3 and to net cash from operating activities on Schedule 4. For the fourth quarter, reported loss from continuing operations was $158 million which includes charges of $65 million for goodwill, trademark and long-lived asset impairment and income of $16 million for mark to market adjustments related to financial liabilities. Loss from continuing operations in last year’s fourth quarter totaled $84 million, and included income of $3 million for mark to market adjustments related to financial liabilities.
Ron Marshall, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc., said, “The past year was certainly a challenge, as the economy continued its sluggish pace. The good news is that we have identified several critical issues within our organization that will lead us back to market prominence. We are committing our undivided attention to clarifying our brand identity in our principal banners, completing the integration of the Pathmark acquisition and maximizing supply chain cost improvement opportunities.”
Sales for the 52-week full year were $8.8 billion versus $9.5 billion for the 53 weeks in 2008. Comparable store sales decreased 4.3% during the comparable 52-week period. Excluding non-operating items, adjusted EBITDA was $224 million versus $333 million for the 53-week fiscal 2008. Adjusted loss from operations was $22 million versus adjusted income from operations of $72 million last year. The non-operating items excluded from adjusted income from operations are listed on Schedule 3 of the press release and adjusted EBITDA is reconciled to net loss on Schedule 3 and to net cash from operating activities on Schedule 4. Reported loss from continuing operations was $781 million which includes charges of $477 million for goodwill, trademark and long-lived asset impairment and expense of $9 million for mark to market adjustments related to financial liabilities. Loss from continuing operations in the prior year totaled $90 million, and included income of $117 million for mark to market adjustments related to financial liabilities.
Marshall continued, “The fixes in our Company are attainable and the initiatives are in place today to provide us the path forward. Concurrent to transforming the culture of our Company, we are gaining ground in better understanding our customer, developing the skills critical for our success, making prudent reinvestments in our business and reducing costs through a process of continuous improvement. Our sole mission is to make The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company great, again.”
The Company also announced its planned filing of a shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission following the filing of our Annual Report on Form 10-K. In connection with its convertible preferred stock offering in August 2009, the Company agreed to register all of the shares of common stock beneficially owned by Tengelmann and Yucaipa, including the shares issuable upon conversion of the convertible preferred stock. The Company also replenished its shelf capacity by registering up to $500.0 million of securities for primary sales. The Company has no current plans to sell securities under the shelf, and is not aware of any planned sales by the selling security holders.