BiG TeA PaRtY

Your Lifestyle, Your Genes and Cancer

NEW RESEARCH EXPLORES THE COMPLEX INTERACTIONS THAT CAUSE OUR MOST DREADED DISEASE

~ A look into steps you can take to reduce your risk ~

by Robert A. Weinberg, Ph.D., and Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D. (Posted by VaLerie K)
NEWSWEEK

We’ve known for a long time that a high-fat diet, obesity and lack of exercise can increase the risk of developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes, two conditions that affect millions of Americans. What we are finding out now is that those same lifestyle factors also play an important role in cancer. That’s the bad news. The good news is that you can do something about your lifestyle. If we grew thinner, exercised regularly, avoided diets rich in red meat (substituting poultry, fish or vegetable sources of protein) and ate diets rich in fruits and vegetables, and stopped using tobacco, we would prevent 70 percent of all cancers.

The strongest evidence of the importance of lifestyle in cancer is that most common cancers arise at dramatically different rates in different parts of the globe. Several cancers that are extremely common in the United States—colon, prostate and breast cancer—are relatively rare in other parts of the world, occurring only 1/10th or 1/20th as often. Equally striking, when people migrate from other parts of the world to the United States, within a generation their cancer rates approach those of us whose families have lived in this country for a long time. Even if people in other parts of the world stay put, but adopt a U.S. lifestyle, their risk of cancer rises; as Japanese have embraced Western habits, their rates of colon, breast and prostate cancer have skyrocketed.

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posted by: VaLerie K

How to Keep Your Feet Happy

by Allison Aubrey, NPR

If you’ve ever had heel pain when you first put your bare feet on the floor after waking up in the morning, it’s very likely the beginnings of a common condition known as plantar fasciitis. And shoes can contribute to the problem.

Walking Down a Painful Path

Elizabeth Kinkel has never had heel pain or heard much about plantar fasciitis.

But a quick inspection of the 24-year-old architect’s work shoes of choice do not make podiatrist Steve Pribut happy.

When we approached her on the street in Washington, D.C., she was on her way to work and wearing flip-flops.

“They’re pretty comfortable,” she says, adding that they keep her feet cool. “I just wear them walking back and forth to work, and then put on heels once I get into office.”

Pribut, who is not a fan of flip-flops, interrupts her, “I notice a Band-Aid on that foot. Is that from a heel?”

“Yeah,” says Kinkel, “they’re from some really cute wedge sandals. But they dig in because they’re new.”

Kneeling down for a quick examination, Pribut explains that both of Kinkel’s workday shoe choices — the flip-flops and the backless sandals — pose the same potential problem and could lead to plantar fasciitis.

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If The Meat On Your Plate Was From a Cloned Animal, Would You Eat It?

Cloned animals and their offspring have been declared safe to eat; how soon will their meat be on sale in the US?

by Ed Pilkington
The Guardian
April 21 2008

Posted by: VaLerie K

It is an absurdly pretty setting. A row of conifers borders snowbound fields that stretch for miles to a low horizon. Birds are nesting. Magnificent Angus cattle meander under a metallic blue sky, with the sweet smell of silage hanging over everything.

A sign nailed to one of the cattle pens provides the first clue that this picture postcard view is not as quaintly old-fashioned as it looks: “For Biosecurity: Authorised Personnel Only.” The second clue comes in the form of two young red Holstein heifers, identified by eartags as numbers 306 and 307, sitting quietly on a bed of straw. By their perfect bone structure and proportions, a breeder could tell that these are very fine animals; to me they are just absurdly pretty, like their surroundings. Their fluffy rust-red-and-white coats and pink wet noses are programmed to make you smile involuntarily. Then you notice that they are the spitting image of each other, the same white blazes running down their foreheads and the same doe-like eyes.

These are not twins, though they do have identical genetic makeup. They were created from separate embryos containing the DNA extracted from a prize-winning red Holstein cow, Miss Leader Red Rose. In short, 306 and 307 are clones.

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GREEN FASHION written by VaLerie K

BiG TeA PaRtY supports a local student who promotes RECYCLING & REUSING in an exhibit on the visual merchandising of fashion trends.

Style Tribes v6.0*
International House - Lobby Gallery
37th & Chestnut, Philadelphia

Opening: June 11, 2008: 6-9pm

Regular viewing: 8AM-10PM daily

Show closes August 22nd

Each year, students from the Visual Merchandising class that is part of Drexel University’s Design & Merchandising department create an exhibit called “Style Tribes”, which explores the formation of “tribes” based on fashion, music, and identity within specific sub-cultures.

Members of “Style Tribes” step outside their normal defining groups based on gender, race, religion or geography and form social groups with other people drawn to the same style, unencumbered by more traditional boundaries.

VaLerie K & Mary Peeler at Style Tribes 6.0 opening, 6/11/08

Now in its 6th year, the 2008 edition - Style Tribes v 6.0 - is trying something new: each student is working with a metal “paper doll” form which is “dressed” to reflect the student’s vision of his/her chosen tribe. Also, the students design branding and promotional marketing materials for the Style Tribes show, mount the exhibit and stage an opening reception.

One of the students, Mary Peeler, depicts “Thrift Swappers” - a tribe whose fashion sense is based on REusing and REcycling fashion. Her presentation highlights practices like trading clothes among friends and clothing rehab - taking something old and turning it into something new, such as transforming a pair of pants into a skirt, or changing an apron into a summer top. Peeler has put together a video collage which incorporates clips from a video by reigning sustainable lifestyle collective BiG TeA PaRtY called “All Girls Clothes Swap“.

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FRIGHTENING STEP BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGARDING CHEMICAL RISK ASSESSMENT - 2 Articles

EPA OPENS CHEMICAL RISK ASSESSMENT TO CORPORATE LOBBYING — New Process Marginalizes Government Scientists and Promotes Industry Influence
Publication Date: April 14, 2008
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)

Washington, DC — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has unveiled a new process for assessing the health risks of new chemicals that allows chemical manufacturers and other industries to play key roles. As a result, it will be much easier to inject corporate influence into public health determinations that should be purely scientific, according Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

The overhaul of the EPA “Integrated Risk Information System” became effective on April 10, 2008, the day it was announced. EPA said the changes “created several important opportunities” for affected interests to weigh in “at key points throughout the nomination and assessment” of new environmental contaminants. One hallmark of the changes is pushing government research to the side in favor of outside research which is largely industry-funded. As a consequence -

Affected corporations will be intimately involved in each step of EPA’s risk assessment and will be able to know what staff are assigned to which work, making the agency “research plan” vulnerable to political manipulation through the appropriations process; The Defense and Energy Departments will have a formal role on how pollutants, such as the chemical perchlorate, are evaluated. [to find out more about perchlorate, check out an earlier BiG TeA PaRtY post about this toxic contaminant - CLICK HERE] In addition, these agencies could declare a particular chemical to be “mission critical” that would allow them to control how “data gaps” are to be filled. All intra-and inter-agency communications on risk assessments are deemed “deliberative” and thus confidential; The White House Office of Management and Budget would control both the substance and timing of final decisions on chemical risk assessments. “Under this system, every chemical risk assessment is a special interest scrum,” stated New England PEER Director Kyla Bennett, a former EPA scientists and attorney. “Had this process been in place, the tobacco industry would have stopped EPA from declaring secondhand smoke a lung cancer risk.”

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By Gina Kolata
New York Times, May 13, 2008

DR. PAUL D. THOMPSON, a 60-year-old marathon runner and chief of cardiology at Hartford Hospital, stood in front of a medical audience recently and began his talk with a story about himself.

“I’ve been lifting weights since I was 12 years old and look at me,” he said. Dr. Thompson is small and wiry with not a bulging muscle on him. He speculated that he must have a genetic inability to build muscles, no matter how hard he works at it.

But are his muscles healthy?

It is not the kind of question most people ask themselves. But muscle researchers say it is important because muscle health is emerging as an important part of overall health. And, they say, when it comes to muscles, bulk does not matter. How big they can become depends on your sex as well as genetics. What matters for health is whether, like Dr. Thompson, you use them.

Healthy muscles, researchers say, are those that have been worked, stressed and pushed to their limit so that they have enough power and strength to get you through life, especially as you grow older. And keeping muscles fit takes effort, which means regular training with weight lifting and cardiovascular exercise even if the results are not a sculptured look, these experts add.

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“Join [Organic Consumers Association] in celebrating Fair Trade on May 10, 2008!

Fair Trade means a fair price for farmers and artisans, a better future for our planet, and a tastier, higher quality product for you.

On Saturday, May 10, Organic Consumers Association will join with people from 70 countries worldwide to celebrate World Fair Trade Day and highlight the importance and benefits of Fair Trade.

Fair Trade enthusiasts worldwide will host Fair Trade food tastings, house parties, speakers, festivals, concerts, and fashion shows.

We’re trying to set the World Record for the World’s Largest Fair Trade Coffee Break: At 3pm Eastern/Noon Pacific, Fair Trade supporters around the world will take a break to enjoy a cup of Fair Trade coffee.

Go to your Organic Consumers Association state events page to find Fair Trade events near you.” (Presented by VaLerie K)

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