Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Texas House Rejects Order by Governor on Vaccines

Six weeks after Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order making Texas the first state to require that sixth-grade girls be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, the State House of Representatives voted 119 to 21 yesterday to approve a bill that would nullify the order.
But Mr. Perry’s spokeswoman said the efforts to overturn the order would create a dangerous situation in which far fewer women might receive the vaccine.
The order mandated shots of the Merck vaccine Gardasil as protection against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, starting in September 2008. While it was praised by health advocates, it caught many by surprise in a largely conservative state where sexual politics are often hard fought and where both houses of the Legislature are controlled by Republicans.
Ms. Moody said in a statement that the order “would help to protect 95 percent of young women in Texas against the strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were nearly 10,000 cases of cervical cancer last year and about 3,700 deaths from the disease.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/us/14vaccine.html?ex=1331524800&en=8a43ce71ac57404d&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Top General Explains Remarks on Gays

Gen. Peter Pace of the Joint Chiefs, shown last year, said he should not have expressed a personal view that homosexual conduct was immoral.
The officer, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, re-ignited a smoldering debate on Monday over the armed services’ policy, telling the editorial board of The Chicago Tribune that he believed homosexual conduct was immoral and akin to adultery.
The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was instituted by the Pentagon after legislation was passed by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton into law in 1993. It allows gay men and lesbians to serve in the military if they do not openly display or discuss their sexual orientation and do not engage in homosexual acts.
Since the policy was enacted and through the 2005 fiscal year, 9,488 service members have been dropped from the military under it, according to government statistics. Statistics from the 2006 fiscal year are still being compiled.
The issue was raised this year when Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs when the policy was adopted, said that conversations with military personnel had led him to change his mind.In an Op-Ed article published by The New York Times on Jan. 2, General Shalikashvili wrote that conversations with gay soldiers and marines had showed him “that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers.”
I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces,” General Shalikashvili wrote. “Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/washington/14pace.html?ex=1331524800&en=05cdb45b71c102ac&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

The Right to Ban Arms

A federal appeals court panel in Washington has marched blithely past a longstanding Supreme Court precedent, the language of the Constitution and the pressing needs of public safety to strike down Washington’s law barring residents from keeping handguns in their homes.
The ruling, approved 2 to 1 last week by the Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, was the first from a federal appeals court to hold a gun control law unconstitutional on Second Amendment grounds. It cries out for prompt reversal by the full circuit, and ultimate rejection by the Supreme Court.
The district’s strict gun-control law bars all handguns unless they were registered before 1976. The law was challenged by a guard at the Federal Judicial Center, who was permitted to carry a gun on duty and said he wanted to keep one at home.
The outcome turned on an interpretation of the Second Amendment, which says, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
The new decision jeopardizes sound legal precedent and the district’s law. It would imperil needed gun controls in place in jurisdictions around the country at a time when violent crime in many places is once again on the rise. It must be overturned.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/opinion/14wed2.html?ex=1331524800&en=658f79e92cf09bb2&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

From Mexico Also, the Message to Bush Is Immigration

As President Bush tried to mend frayed relations with Mexico, the Mexican president gave him a cool reception on Tuesday, calling on Mr. Bush to live up to his longtime promise to make Mexico a priority and criticizing American plans to build a 700-mile fence along the border.
President Felipe Calderón warned that the only way to stem illegal migration and ensure regional security was to raise the standard of living here.
Mr. Bush took the slight chastising in stride and promised, as he has in the past, to push for an immigration bill that would allow more guest workers and provide a path to citizenship for many Mexicans living in the United States illegally.
On Monday, President Óscar Berger of Guatemala complained about the forced deportations of his countrymen who enter the United States illegally.
At nearly every turn, the American president has been faced with anger over what is perceived as the United States’ neglect of the region and frustration with its tougher border-security policies in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
On immigration, the Mexican leader raised objections, as he has in the past, to the construction of a 700-mile wall along parts of the border, saying that building roads in Mexico would be more useful.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/world/americas/14prexy.html?ex=1331524800&en=6b7841e56f8f0504&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Trans fat in my dear Kangshifu Muffin...

Hey guys, I was eating Kangshifu Muffin when I spotted online that muffin contains trans-fat... How terrible, I have a whole stock of it in my dorm...What should I do with them now, my dear... Anyway, here are two pieces of olds.

The New York City Board of Health voted unanimously yesterday to move forward with plans to prohibit the city’s 20,000 restaurants from serving food that contains more than a minute amount of artificial trans fats, the chemically modified ingredients considered by doctors and nutritionists to increase the risk of heart disease. Chicago is considering a similar prohibition affecting restaurants with less than $20 million in annual sales.
The New York prohibition would affect the city’s entire restaurant industry, by far the nation’s largest, from McDonald’s to fashionable bistros to street corner takeouts across the five boroughs.
The city would set a limit of a half-gram of artificial trans fats per serving of any menu item, sharply reducing most customers’ intake. The fats are commonly found in baked goods, like doughnuts and cakes, as well as breads and salad dressing.
Officials said that the typical American diet now contains 5.8 grams of trans fats per day, and that a single five-ounce serving of French fries at many restaurants contained 8 grams of trans fats.
The proposal met immediate resistance among restaurant owners, who said banning trans fats would raise their costs and change the taste of some items.
Trans fats, derived from partially hydrogenated oils, became popular in the 1950’s as an alternative to the saturated fats in butter. They allow fast-food restaurants to use frying oil for longer periods and make crunchier cookies and flakier pie crust. They also have a longer shelf life than butter, olive oil, corn oil or other alternatives.
Health officials said yesterday that many healthier alternative cooking ingredients had been developed that would cost little more than trans fats, and have little or no effect on taste.
Human life is much more important than shelf life.”If the measure is adopted in December, health officials said, the restrictions would be phased in. Restaurants would be given until July to eliminate oils, margarines and shortening from the recipes that contain more than a half-gram of trans fat per serving.
Health officials said that the regulations would be enforced by restaurant inspectors, who would examine kitchens for products with trans fat, but that there would be no attempt to test prepared foods.
The New York City proposal comes at a time when companies in the packaged food industry, under pressure from health advocates, have reduced the use of trans fats. A recent ruling by the federal Food and Drug Administration requires all food companies to include trans fat levels in labeling information.
Three years ago, the city banned smoking in restaurants, a measure angrily protested by some restaurant owners, but it led to similar bans in several other cities.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/27/nyregion/27fat.html?ex=1317009600&en=e20e688e95d428bd&ei=5090

But restaurant industry representatives called the ban burdensome and unnecessary. Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said recently that officials seriously weighed complaints from the restaurant industry, which argued that it was unrealistic to give them six months to replace cooking oils and shortening and 18 months to phase out the ingredients altogether.
The ban contains some exceptions; for instance, it would allow restaurants to serve foods that come in the manufacturer’s original packaging.
Trans fats are formed when liquid oils are made into solid fats by adding hydrogen in a process called hydrogenation. A common example of this is partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, which is used for frying and baking and turns up in processed foods like cookies, pizza dough and crackers. Trans fats, which are favored because of their long shelf life, are also found in pre-made blends like pancake and hot chocolate mix. The FDA estimates the average American eats 4.7 pounds of trans fats each year. Trans fats are believed to be harmful because they contribute to heart disease by raising bad cholesterol and lowering good cholesterol at the same time. Some experts say that makes trans fats worse than saturated fat.
The panel also passed another measure that has made restaurants unhappy: Some that chose to inform customers about calorie content will have to list the information right on the menu.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who banned smoking in bars and restaurants during his first term, is somewhat health-obsessed, and even maintains a monthly weight-loss competition with one of his friends in order to stay slim.
Already, McDonald’s Corp. has been quietly experimenting with more than a dozen healthier oil blends but has not committed to a full switch. Wendy’s International Inc. introduced a zero-trans fat oil in August and Yum Brands Inc.’s KFC and Taco Bell said they also will cut the trans fats from their kitchens.
New York’s move to ban trans fats has mostly been applauded by health and medical groups, although the American Heart Association warns that if restaurants aren’t given ample time to make the switch, they could end up reverting to ingredients high in saturated fat, like palm oil.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16051436/