Progressive Wednesday

Drug rehab for Asian vultures

This comes out of Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine:

In an effort to save its dwindling Asian vulture populations, India has announced it will ban veterinary use of the drug diclofenac.

Lindsay Oaks of the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine and The Peregrine Fund discovered that the drug used as an anti-inflammatory in cattle was highly toxic to the vultures when they ate carcasses of treated animals.

The drug causes renal failure in the birds, which kills them rather quickly. More than 95% of these animals are now gone from India, Pakistan, and Nepal, forcing the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources to put the bird on their critically endangered list.

Feral dogs, now thriving because of the die-off of their rival, are now adding to the 30,000 human deaths in India caused by rabies each year. This is the largest number in the world, with more than two-thirds of infections coming from dog bites. India has made rabies vaccines much more available recently, but that increase hasn't kept up with the increase in dog bites. Why? The feral dog population has gone up by seven million since the pandemic started.

But the news isn't all bad. As we told you, last May, India ordered that diclofenac be replaced by similar alternative drugs that do not poison vultures such as meloxicam. Nepal and Pakistan followed suit shortly thereafter, banning both the manufacturing and importation of the drug. Breeding programs have also recently been successful in hatching Asian vulture chicks, with hopes that in a few years the chicks will be able to survive on their own. And in Punjab Province, they are already seeing the number of vultures start to rebound.

There are several organizations involved in the repopulation effort. The Peregrine Fund and VulturesDecline.org are two of the leaders. If you want to help out, click here .

Oh, and in case you were wondering, diclofenac is still a widely-used drug in both human and veterinary medicine, and is even sold over-the-counter in the United States. Many vets have discontinued use, but the next time Fido strains a ligament, make sure diclofenac ain't what the doctor ordered.

A tip of the cap to Gov. Ted Kulongoski

The good governor of Oregon has done it again, thank goodness. To shed light on the inadequacies of food stamps, Gov. Kulongoski (or “The Ku-Man,” as we like to call him) is living for a week off $21, “the same amount that the state’s average food stamp recipient spends weekly on groceries.”

According to the Associated Press:

Kulongoski is taking the weeklong challenge to raise awareness about the difficulty of feeding a family on a food stamp budget.

How’d “The Ku-Man” do?

At the check-out counter, Kulongoski’s purchases totaled $21.97, forcing him to give back one of the Cup O’Noodles and two bananas, for a final cost of $20.97 for 19 items.

After the hour-long shopping trip, Kulongoski said he was mindful that his week on food stamps will be finite and that thousands of others aren’t so lucky.

“I don’t care what they call it, if this is what it takes to get the word out,” Kulongoski said, in response to questions about whether the food stamp challenge was no more than a publicity stunt. “This is an issue every citizen in this state should be aware of.”

So what are the national facts about food stamps?

• There is an 8-step process to get approved for the Food Stamp Program.
• In 2005, 25.7 million people received food stamps each month. To put that in perspective, that’s 6 million more people than live in all of New York.
• 40% of food stamp recipients live in households with an income. They work, people. They work. In fact, only 15% of all households receiving food stamps collected TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), sometimes incorrectly referred to as “welfare.”
• In 2005, 54% of the households receiving food stamps contained children.

This, of course, raises the larger problem of poverty in America. We’ll touch on this subject more one Wednesday, but we’ll at least say this: it’s hard to pursue happiness when you’re dirt poor. And according to the U.S. Census Bureau: “The number of people below the official poverty thresholds numbered 35.9 million in 2003, or 1.3 million more than in 2002.” Imagine if every single person in California lived in poverty. I think we’d do something about it. I think we’d stop ignoring it.

Photograph thanks to this fine person.

This Wednesday: I’m not lovin’ it

Problem:

A few weeks ago, I was driving home from my in-laws late at night. Feeling a bit drowsy, I decided to stop at the nearest restaurant for a caffeinated beverage. I don't usually eat at fast-food joints, but there aren't many choices near their house (cows outnumber humans by a ratio of about 4:1). So Burger King it was for a large diet, yes, diet coke and some cheesy tots for my “cheesy– tot.

After I placed my order, the little machine at the counter piped in: “Would you like to add a Whopper with cheese for 80 cents more?– By rounding up to an even five buckaroos, I could save over 60% on “ America's favorite burger.– So I stared at the 12-foot banner advertising the Quadruple BK Stacker (that's a full pound of beef, if you can call it beef) behind the 5' 6– , 220-pound cashier trying to decide. Almost 800 calories for only 80 cents. That's, let's see– ¦ 800 divided by– ¦ carry the one– ¦ 10 calories per Lincoln head. No wonder we're so fat.

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Make Progress:

When I say “we– , I have to include both of us here at Progressive Wednesday. And, for that matter, two-thirds of our great, if somewhat gluttonous, nation. Yes, according to the American Obesity Association, 64.5% of Americans like us are considered to be overweight, while half of those fit the definition of obese. That definition? A Body Mass Index over 25 is considered overweight. A BMI surpassing 30 is considered obese. You can figure out your BMI with the calculator here.

Obesity is not an issue of beauty; it's an issue of health. It's not about fitting into those size two jeans or looking good at the beach this summer in that new two-piece. It's about living longer and feeling better. It's about being around when your kids have kids, and maybe even when your kids' kids have kids. It's about being there when the Buffalo Bills finally win the Super Bowl, whether it's this year or in 2077 (that'd be Super Bowl CXI).

But the effect the amount and type of food we eat stretches well outside the milieu of health or appearance. These issues wander into the field of economics, both local and global, health care, animal rights, the environment, agriculture, human rights, and– ¦ do I really need to list more? Let's make some progress.

• Watch
• Stop
• Choose
• Walk

I’m not lovin’ it: Watch

Frontline: Diet Wars

It probably won't come as a complete shock when I tell you that our friends over at PBS have done it again. Their Frontline series has produced a piece called “Diet Wars,– which takes an in-depth look at the problem with obesity in this country and around the world, with an emphasis on the constant battle between commercial diets and their role in the increase of obesity in the United States during the 1980s and 90s.

Steve Talbot, yes the same one who played Gilbert Bates on “Leave it to Beaver,– tries, as so many others have, to sift through the claims and accusations flung around like emaciated rag dolls by the creators and critics of these commercial diets. It may sound like the same old same old, but “Diet Wars– isn't. Talbot's willingness to give the non-mainstream opinion a fair shake actually makes the debate interesting, and the results sometimes shocking. You can watch the whole program online at the PBS website or you can purchase it here and help out the last true public television station.

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Super Size Me

The only problem with “Diet Wars– is that it can be very discouraging to someone considering attempting one of the commercial diets, even though many of them have proven to be very effective at least at taking the weight off, if only temporarily. It can stifle motivation. Not so with “Super Size Me.– In this 2004 Academy Award nominee, writer/director Morgan Spurlock eats nothing but McDonald's for a whole month. Three times a day for 30 days, he eats everything on the menu at least once. Oh, and if they ask him if he wants to “Super Size– it, he says yes.

Spurlock doesn't just get fatter, he gets sick. He becomes addicted to McDonald's food, developing headaches and depression that only a McMeal can cure. His liver acts like that of an alcoholic and he develops heart palpitations after less than three weeks. Against the advice of several doctors, he finishes, gaining 25 pounds in the month. You can get it here, or rent it at any video rental store. After you see this film, you'll likely never want to eat fast food again. And that wouldn't be the worst thing. In fact– ¦

I’m not lovin’ it: Stop

Stop eating fast food, plain and simple. Okay, plain, but maybe not so simple. We have become a society on the move (at least in our cars) and sometimes a quick meal at KFC is the only thing we seem to have time for. Plus, we've grown to like the food, maybe even love it. It's fast, convenient, tasty, cheap, and deadly. To prove my point, the ever useful numbered list:

1. Chicken served at McDonald’s, Burger King, Chick-fil-A, Outback, Applebee’s, Chili’s and TGI Friday’s was found by the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine to contain PhIPm, a carcinogenic compound. In other words, it causes cancer and they didn't tell us.
2. To quote Eric Schlosser, author of Fast-Food Nation: “Fast food has become the operating system of today's retail economy, wiping out small businesses, obliterating regional differences, and spreading identical stores throughout the country like a self-replicating code.– To quote me: “It's like Wal-Mart that makes you fat.–
3. In the “duh– category, eating fast food regularly greatly increases your chance of becoming obese and developing diabetes. Even, or especially, in children.
4. The 142 billion dollars we spend annually on fast food exceeds the amount we spend on higher education. That would help explain more than just our weight problem.
5. According to the Worldwatch Institute, 12 percent of the national healthcare budget goes toward treating ailments caused by obesity.
6. Animal rights groups have won many lawsuits against every major fast food chain. Conditions have since gotten better, but are still a long ways from good.
7. The production of food by major fast food chains contributes exponentially to soil depletion, water and air pollution, the loss of family farms and rural communities, and even global warming.
8. Every fast food hamburger you eat contains meat from hundreds of cattle. Each burger potentially contains diseases from all of those animals.
9. Because fast food is so highly processed, much of its flavor is destroyed, so the tastes of most fast food are manufactured at a series of special chemical plants in New Jersey.
10. Major fast food companies are frequently involved in civil rights lawsuits for the treatment of workers at their supplier's farms, from Florida to China.

I’m not lovin’ it: Choose

Editor's Note: We do not endorse any of the diets mentioned in this section. We write only to describe our personal experience, as results will vary from person to person. Of course, before starting any weight-loss or exercise program, you should consult a physician first.

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Weight loss programs. Weight Watchers, Atkins, Nutrisystem, Medifast, Pritikin, Eat, Drink and Be Healthy, South Beach, Jillian Michaels, Jenny Craig, Sonoma Diet. These are just a relative few. Americans spend over $40 billion-with-a-b on books, products and programs to help them lose weight. But how on earth are you supposed to decide on which one, if any, to spend your increasingly hard-earned cha-ching? As “Diet Wars– showed us, sticking to any one can be difficult, and often the weight comes back on as quickly as it came off. To keep it off requires more than a diet; it requires a change of lifestyle. And that's what we're all about here at Progressive Wednesday, changing our ways to make things better.

But what diet is best? The debate is still as strong as Samson on anabolic steroids and will likely never be settled. It all depends on who you ask, what you believe, and what you think you can stick to. All I can offer is good sense and my own personal experience.

Through all our research, the most sensible criteria for choosing a diet plan came from Baptist Memorial Health Care. To determine if a commercial diet program is safe and maintainable, ask these questions:

1. Does the diet exclude any of the major food groups?
2. Does the diet exclude any certain foods that may be “bad?”
3. Is a “quick fix” promised versus a gradual weight loss?
4. Is a diet of less than 1200 calories per day recommended?
5. Does the program exclude behavior modification and exercise components?

If the answer to any of these is “yes,– it's probably not healthy or easily maintained.

In my own experience, I found the South Beach Diet to be the most effective. After three months on the diet I had gone from 285 pounds (remember, I'm 6'7– ) to around 240 pounds. By limiting my carbs to whole grains and natural sugars and most of my fats to the polyunsaturated variety, I've been able to keep about 25 of those pounds off. Recent studies by the Harvard School of Public Health found that there was no association between low-carb diets and cardiovascular problems, as was previously believed. Though the diet maintains that it is a “good carb” rather than a “low carb” diet.

None of these diets will work if you don't stick to them, so pick one, stay with it, and get healthy. Now it's time for some exercise.

I’m not lovin’ it: Walk

Any weight loss program worth its weight in cubic zirconium, will tell you that in order to be healthy and keep the weight off, you have to increase your exercise. So shell out 500 George Washingtons, join a gym, and start training like an Olympic triathelete. What's that? You'd rather be fat? Point taken. How about something easier? Try walking one extra mile per day. Then two. Then three. Then four. Then five.

Studies have shown that walking just one extra mile per day can keep you from gaining any more weight and seriously reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, or even cancer.  Walk a little more, reduce your risk a little more. Walk a lot more– ¦you get the picture.

The best way to do this is to buy a pedometer to measure the steps you take in a day. The average person takes about 2,000 to go one mile. So take the dog for a walk, or maybe your spouse (they could probably use it too). For women, those 2,000 steps have even been shown to reduce their chance of losing bone density with age.

But even if you don't count your steps, just be conscious to take more of them. Do some light activity instead of watching TV. Park in the farthest spot in the parking lot, or better yet, walk to the store.

Being a progressive means making the world a better place, even for yourself. So let's collectively lose a few pounds, get in shape, help the environment, the economy, small farmers, improve the lives of animals, and for that matter, humans, and maybe feel a bit better and live a bit longer too. – ˜Cause you won't want to miss that Super Bowl CXI party, baby.