Kurt Vonnegut is in Heaven Now

K.V. died Wednesday, leaving a gaping hole in the American literary landscape. Like many of his 30- and 40-something fans, I discovered his novels at some point in high school, probably because I was a sci-fi junkie and had read Harrison Bergeron in junior high so recognized the name. Breakfast of Champions and Cat's Cradle quickly became part of my social circle's in jokes, and we were delighted when our band director had us play an oddball experimental piece called "The Purple-Roofed Ethical Suicide Parlor" that we of course immediately recognized as being based on his short story. The first email in my box today was a note from a high school friend, mourning the loss of one of our literary heroes. (Though K.V. thought him a fascist, the only previous death to his me this was was Robert Heinlein's when I was in college).

The obits and tributes are flowing around the net today, with none so surprising (and oddly heartwarming) as the discussion at fark.com, where the typically snarky attacks were replaced by the online equivalent of a group hug and a river of tears. KV clearly made his mark...perhaps the most poignant comment was something along the lines of "I've only cried at the deaths of two celebrities in my life: Mr. Rogers and Kurt Vonnegut.

So our favorite humanist has gone to be with god. We wish him well.

So it goes...

Pet food scare serves as warning

Here's my latest newspaper column. Media coverage of this issue has picked up since I wrote this Monday morning, but there have been few connections made to the human food supply despite the obvious dangers.


FDA Must Improve Inspections
St. Cloud (MN) Times

Published: April 04. 2007 12:30AM

Friday's release of a document called "Important Alert No. 99-26" by the Food and Drug Administration went largely unnoticed by the mainstream media.

Its primary purpose was to block the importation of wheat gluten produced by the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology company in Peixian, China.

But a bit of investigation suggests it should also raise frightening questions about globalization, government regulators and the safety of our food supply.

Pet food

The story behind the alert began in December with the decision by Toronto-based Menu Foods to buy low-cost wheat gluten from China for use in pet food.

Menu Foods then blended the gluten, which is used as a thickener, into at least 95 products for such well-known labels as Mighty Dog, Iams, Eukanuba, Ol' Roy and dozens of store brands sold nationwide.

By February, veterinarians began to receive calls from people whose dogs and cats appeared listless, were losing weight and were exhibiting other symptoms diagnosed as acute renal failure.

Late that month, Menu Foods fed its products to several dozen cats and dogs in a trial, and March 2 the first of those test animals died. Eight more soon followed.

Some reports claim Menu Foods had received complaints that its products were sickening pets as early as December, but by March it was clear: There was something toxic in the food.

Once the source of the kidney failure was linked to pet food, several labs set to work identifying the cause.

Eventually a urea-based product called melamine, a common ingredient in plastic resins, was found in samples of wheat gluten used in the pet food at concentrations as high as 6.6 percent — so high the crystals were visible to the naked eye.

How it got there is a mystery, but it has been traced to wheat gluten produced in China and imported by Menu Foods.

Vulnerable consumers

This might have remained a human interest story with an emphasis on grieving pet owners if not for three factors.

First, the contamination forced the recall of about 60 million cans of pet food valued as high as $35 million, affecting millions of pet owners.

Second, although the FDA has reported only 16 official animal deaths related to the food, they had received more than 8,000 consumer complaints by Friday, suggesting the real toll may be much higher. (Self-reports by owners on one Web site alone have already tallied almost 3,000 deaths.)

Third, and most frightening, was this statement from FDA spokesperson Stephen Sundlof last week: "There are really no differences in the regulation of animal food and the regulation of human food... The same people that inspect human food plants also inspect pet food plants."

If that system failed our pets, how long will it be before it fails us as well?

So a story about grieving pet owners has become a tale of the dangers of global markets, where tainted food from poorly regulated, low-cost foreign producers can end up on our tables.

It's also a story of our failed food inspection system, long known for being understaffed, underfunded and far too beholden to the companies it is intended to monitor.

But in the end it's a story about our vulnerability as consumers, forced to accept the word of corporate mouthpieces and government regulators that someone, somewhere, is looking out for us.

Back in the days when food came from local farms any outbreak of disease or case of contamination would necessarily be limited and easy to trace.

But today's processed foods include dozens of ingredients, often from far-away factories and spread among hundreds of products.

It's the FDA's job to make sure that system is safe, but if it took months of mystery and thousands of animal deaths to discover the tainted pet food, how well is the system working?

While most of us ignore the vague terrorism alerts that occasionally raise us to "threat level orange," Important Alert No. 99-26 should have more people seeing red.

Climate Jury In-- Time for Action Has Arrived

Here's my latest column from the St. Cloud Times...
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Climate report must inspire action
By Derek Larson

St. Cloud (MN) Times

Published: February 07. 2007 12:30AM

Have you heard the one about the priest, the rabbi and the ostrich who walk into a bar across from the United Nations? No?

Well perhaps you've heard the one about the 600 scientists from 40 countries who wrote a report on climate change that was reviewed by 620 more experts and 113 governments before it was released Friday?

If not, you should have.

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may well represent the tipping point in the world's response to the threat of global warming. Six years in the making, the IPCC study has laid to rest the idea that the jury is still out on climate change (most scientists have been decided for years) and, with luck, the report will spur action.

The report comes when signs of awakening are coming from all sectors of society.

Evangelical Christians have organized to address the issue. Business leaders have called for new regulations on carbon emissions. Recently under new management, Congress is holding hearings on climate change and investigating charges Bush administration officials muzzled federal scientists and punished researchers for revealing results of climate-related work.

And while the president's Iraq policy rightly drew the most attention during last month's State of the Union address, the fact that he uttered "global climate change" prompted headlines nationwide.

Slow to change

Have you wondered why most of the world has accepted what credible scientists have been saying about climate change for years, while here in the United States our president tells us that "the issue needs more study?" The answer is really quite simple: politics.

Back in 2003, Republican strategists realized they were losing the environmental debate. That spring, Republican consultant Frank Luntz wrote a memo to party strategists arguing that "voters believe that there is no consensus about global warming within the scientific community. Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly... Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate."

That's exactly what the president and his allies in the oil, gas, coal and electric power industries did. Exxon-Mobil spent $16 million from 1998-2005 creating organizations to foster the impression that scientists were still debating climate issues.

A nation awakens

Oddly enough, this scenario has played out before. In 1962, an unassuming marine biologist named Rachel Carson published "Silent Spring," a damning indictment of the pesticide industry. The unabated and unnecessary use of pesticides, she argued, would culminate in a world devoid of birds and a spring without birdsong. More pressingly, the same products that industry claimed brought "better living through chemistry" were already sowing cancers and other horrors in humans.

Carson was savagely attacked by the chemical industry, accused of being a hysterical woman, a lesbian, a Communist and an unqualified spinster. Carson died of breast cancer less than two years after her book was published and did not live to see the environmental movement she helped give birth to flourish.

But "Silent Spring" was translated into 35 languages and sold millions of copies worldwide, changing history not because it offered radically new ideas, but because average people read it and finally began to question the industry's claims that pesticides' convenience came without side effects.

It is possible the IPCC report could become the "Silent Spring" of the 21st century. Now that its findings have been released, any remaining debate about whether climate change deserves our attention should be limited to the reactionary fringe. What remains for the rest of us is much more important. Deciding what to do about it, how quickly and at what cost will be the defining tasks of this generation of world leaders, and they need our help. Hopefully they won't pass the job on to the next generation unfinished.

RIP Molly Ivins

Molly Ivins has lost her battle with breast cancer. An appreciation and several old interviews can be found on the NPR web page. Her brave and witty voice will be missed.

You can learn more about breast cancer and help support research for a cure with these organizations.

Give 'em hell Molly!

-Dr. DRL