Safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving
UC scientist OK with overweight surgeon general-designate
Retired UC Berkeley nutrition specialist Joanne Ikeda didn't mince words when she commented about the woman President Obama has nominated to be the nation's surgeon general. The nominee, Dr. Regina Benjamin, is a McArthur genius grant recipient, holds advanced degrees in medicine and business administration, and runs her own family practice medical clinic in rural Alabama that treats predominantly low income patients.
But by all accounts, she is overweight.
"I thank God that Dr. Regina Benjamin is a fat woman," Ikeda was quoted in The Daily Voice, Black America's daily news source. "Maybe now we will stop making the assumption that all fat people are unhealthy particularly in light of new data coming from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey."
The comment was picked up by Huffington Post columnist Linda Bergthold.
According to media reports, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey has data that show more than half of people labeled overweight are metabolically healthy, compared to about a quarter who are what the survey calls “metabolically abnormal.”
The study points out that examination of metabolic health — blood pressure, cholesterol, sugar levels — are better predictors for future health problems.
A White House photo of Dr. Regina Benjamin.
Valley fruit and nut crops threatened by climate change
Climate change is not just about sea-level rise and polar bears, UC Davis researcher Eike Luedeling told the Los Angeles Times for a story in today's paper. Climate change, he said, threatens U.S. food security.Luedeling's dire prediction was included in a story about new UC Davis research that shows winter chill hours in the San Joaquin Valley could decrease 60 percent from 1950 levels by mid-century and by as much as 80 percent by the end of the century. The reduction in winter chill, a vital component of many fruit and nut tree's growth cycle, means the valley may ultimately become unsuitable for many of the crops currently grown there. The story, written by Margot Roosevelt, was prompted by a release issued by UC Davis news service about research being published today in the online journal PLoS One.
The UC Davis study builds on a 2007 paper by UC Berkeley scientists Dennis Baldocchi and Simon Wong that predicted dramatic drops in winter chilling hours, the Time story said.
"The irony is, just as the populace is getting more in tune with eating better, eating local, our wonderful fruit industry may be negatively affected," Baldocchi was quoted in the Times.
The story also appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and on the Discovery Channel news Web site.
The earth's climate is changing.
Invasive species council appoints two ANR academics to new advisory board
The Invasive Species Council of California has apointed a 24-member advisory committee that includes a diversity of environmental and agricultural experts, including two UC agriculture and natural resources scientists, according to a news release issued yesterday by CDFA.
The UC advisory board members are:
- Joseph M. DiTomaso, Weed Specialist, University of California Davis Cooperative Extension
- Larry Godfrey, Vice Chair, Department of Entomology, U.C. Davis
In addition, the board includes representatives from the Citrus Research Board, the U.S. Forest Service, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Nature Conservancy, the California Farm Bureau Federation and many other agencies.
California ag secretary A.G. Kawamura said the 24 founding advisory board members have a challenging task ahead of them.
“They will lay the groundwork that will enable this council to enhance our collective ability to protect California’s environment, food systems, human health and economy from invasive and destructive pests, plants and diseases," the release quoted Kawamura.
The release was picked up today in the Salinas Californian, the Imperial Valley News, and Lake County News.
Invasive species currently threatening agriculture and natural areas in California include:
- Mediterranean fruit fly
- Quagga mussel
- Zebra mussel
- Asian citrus psyllid
- Gypsy moth
- Light brown apple moth
- Hydrilla
- Scotch broom
- Japanese dodder
- Japanese beetle
UC members of the ISCC advisory board.
Contra Costa Times redeems itself
A story last week in the Contra Costa Times got a few things wrong, but a story the newspaper published over the weekend was spot on. Reporter Rowena Coatsee crafted an article about the California Youth Fair, held last week in Antioch, and the local 4-H program.
The California Youth Fair was formerly a 4-H event, but it was reorganized in 2007 into a non-profit organization with its own board of directors. The fair is open to all youth, including 4-H members, Future Farmers of America (FFA) and Grange. At last week's event, all but three participants were from 4-H clubs.
One 4-H participant spotlighted in the article, 11-year-old Roy Chapman, is the son of the rancher, but said he didn't know his cuts of pork, lamb and beef until he joined Briones 4-H.
The article clearly spelled out 4-H's tie to UC Cooperative Extension in Contra Costa County and concerns that dwindling county funding could signal the demise of the local program by this fall.
According to Paul Tringali, a Danville 4-H parent who founded California Youth Fair, even if the clubs stay afloat without UC Cooperative Extension's support, they no longer could use the 4-H name — a proprietary label protected by federal statute. Without the county funding, the youth currently in Contra Costa 4-H program wouldn't be able to participate in 4-H camps, public-speaking opportunities, leadership training or any other event the organization sponsors, the story said.
Recent Contra Costa news story included errors
A news story published in the Contra Costa Times on July 8, and referred to in this blog the following day, didn't get all the facts right. The article, which appears to be no longer available on the Times Web site, was about the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors' proposal to cut its $325,383 funding for the UC Cooperative Extension program.
The director of UCCE for Contra Costa County, Shelley Murdock, said she and her staff greatly appreciate newspaper coverage of their work, but the piece in question contained some inaccuracies she wished to correct.
The article said the Contra Costa County 4-H program serves 150 youth
"In fact, last year we served 3,081 youth via clubs, afterschool, the Countywide Youth Commission, and our Farm to Fork programs," Murdock said. "Of these, 515 were club members."
The article quoted 4-H members and some adult volunteers as saying that if funding for the Contra Costa 4-H program is eliminated, they would join with Alameda County.
"This is incorrect. If funding for Contra Costa County Cooperative Extension is eliminated, then 4-H will not be offered to Contra Costa youth," Murdock said.
Shelley Murdock