ANR news blog

ANR nutrition experts take on obesity

Two ANR nutrition experts spent an hour last Friday morning on the air with Michael Krasney, who hosts the daily "Forum" program on KQED, NPR's Bay Area affiliate.

UC Davis nutrition professor Judith Stern and associate director of the UC Berkeley Center for Weight and Health Gail Woodward-Lopez provided commentary on a new study from Sweden that determined heavy adults shed and reproduce fat cells too rapidly. One of the study's authors, Peter Arner, a professor of medicine at the Karolinska Institutet, also participated in the program.

Woodward-Lopez said the study adds to the body of evidence that it is better to prevent obesity in children, than to try to treat it in adults. She said obesity is a symptom of wider societal issues and suggested that changes in policy can create a more healthy environment for children.

Stern said scientists do not know how to prevent obesity. "Studies haven't been done," she said. "The solution is years off."

She said the big questions are, How do we stop excessive replication of fat cells in children and adolescents? and How do we stop the unmerciful teasing of overweight and obese children and adults?

The program is available for online listening or MP3 download.

Urban 4-H farm animals covered in Chronicle

Reporter Tim Holt wrote a cute feature story about 4-H for today's San Francisco Chronicle. The article focuses on a club in Oakland's "upscale" Montclair neighborhood, where a group of 4-H'ers are raising chickens, goats and pigs.

The story provides lots of details about this aspect of the 4-H Youth Development program, but unfortunately doesn't mention its connection to University of California Cooperative Extension.

 

Growing GMOs generates buzz

UC Berkeley Cooperative Extension biotechnology specialist Peggy Lemaux spoke at a workshop in Lake County this week, where the board of supervisors have been asked again to consider banning genetically modified crops, according to a story in the Lake County Record-Bee. The board narrowly rejected such an ordinance in 2004.

"Since this is such a controversial issue, I thought it would be wiser to have a discussion in the format of a workshop to talk about these things and decide if we want to pursue an ordinance or some other process," board chair Ed Robey was quoted in the story.

Lemaux told the board that creating a crossbreed was like "cutting and pasting genetic information out of a plant" to create a new plant with a desirable genetic trait, according to the story. Referring to an image in Lemaux's presentation (and posted with this blog entry), farmer Doug Mosel differed from her view, according to this quote from the paper:

"Forcefully inserting DNA from an unrelated organic specimen into a target specimen is not as simple as removing part of a page of one book into another. The leaves of books don't interact the same way living organisms interact. They interact with unpredictable dynamics."

GMOs will likely continue to generate discourse for plant pundits. Case in point, the author of "Plenty - The World in Green" blog today quotes UC Berkeley agroecologist Miguel Altieri, who argues against genetically modifying crops.

“The history of agriculture shows us that there will always be another pest,” Altieri is quoted. “Will we have to keep re-engineering the vines for each one? The solution is not in genetic re-engineering but in making our agricultural systems more resilient.”

Image illustrates Lemaux's point.

ANR News Blog goes full circle

More than a year ago, I began blogging about the coverage of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources in the news media. Yesterday, to my surprise, a newspaper pulled from the blog.

On Monday I posted a blog entry about an op-ed piece written by two UC ANR academics that ran in the Ventura County Star. The blog entry was printed verbatim in yesterday's Fresno Bee. Here's a picture of the post in the Bee's "Blogging Across America" column, from the opinion page of its print edition. The editors included a link to all the ANR blogs.

Fresno Bee opinion page.

San Diego UCCE puts automated advisor on the job

The San Diego County UC Cooperative Extension office is now extending vital wildfire information to local residents from a computerized kiosk. Not exactly the robotic assistant envisioned in the classic cartoon The Jetsons, these stand-alone touch screen computers automatically provide customized information to residents about how to protect their families and property from wildfire, according to an article in the Ramona Sentinel.

“The high-tech kiosk is a one-of-a-kind touch screen that allows you to select both indoor and outdoor areas of your home to show what zones might be vulnerable to a wildfire,” the article quoted UCCE environmental issues advisor Valerie Mellano. “In addition, there are tips about what to do before, during and after a fire. One impressive feature is that the kiosk prints out whatever information you select to take with you.”

The kiosk will be stationed at the County Administration Center during the month of May and more will eventually be sent to various county offices and private businesses, according to the newspaper story.

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