Greens N Grains

Payola for Prescriptions – Ethical or Not?

Julie Dixon writes…

Think there’s no such thing as a free lunch? Well, think again, my friends! That is, if you’re a physician or nurse practitioner.  And a pharmaceutical company wants to be your BFF.

It’s common practice in the pharmaceutical industry for companies to woo potential prescribers of their pills with free meals, gifts, free samples, etc.  And you know what? The practitioners are more than OK with it. Ninety percent of NP’s polled in a recent study said it was acceptable practice to attend meals sponsored by drug companies.  And very few (around one percent, to be precise) believe the freebies have a significant impact on their prescribing practices.  They’re downright outraged by the accusations, actually:

“I blame the pin-striped MBAs, who mistakenly believe that physicians are going to prescribe certain medicines because the company plies them with pens.” – anonymous doctor (source)

But the stats don’t lie.  Gifts — even small ones — have been shown to have an impact.  Is this ethical?  Would you want your doctor prescribing something for you based on the great (free!) dinner he or she was taken out to the week before? Does it really impact consumers (i.e. patients) at all?

One potential way that patients are harmed by these types of practices is in free samples.  A doctor is given samples to distribute.  Patients take the samples and then when they run out, fill a prescription for the same drug — without realizing there may be cheaper generic alternatives available.  The drug company makes more money, and all are happy — right?

Read the Full Article Here: http://freshsqueezeddaily.net/?p=1114

Big pharma has paid US doctors $150m already in 2011
by pmlive.com

A report by the Financial Times has claimed a group of pharmaceutical companies has paid doctors in the US almost $150m so far during 2011.

Prepared in conjunction with the data provider, PharmaShine, the figures show the money was paid by pharmaceutical firms, including Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca (AZ) and Pfizer, for doctors’ travel and entertainment expenses as well as education and consultancy fees.

Of those companies who have released data, Lilly is reported to have paid $48m and Pfizer to have paid $42m.

AZ, who recently launched a database containing payments made to doctors and institutions, said $24.7m was paid out in associated compensation for the second quarter of 2011, with $8.1m going to individual physicians and $16.6m going to institutions.

In a post on the company’s AZ Health Connections blog, US compliance officer, Marie Martino, gave reason as to why the company was releasing its data.

She said: “AstraZeneca believes it is important to be open about how we conduct our business, and this new reporting expands on a major initiative announced three years ago to provide greater public visibility into how we do business.”

Around 165,000 doctors have received related payments in 2011 so far, compared to 262,000 doctors who received payment in 2010.

The report comes at a time when US government agencies are preparing guidelines to make the publication of industry support for medical professionals compulsory by 2013.

This is part of ongoing US healthcare reforms as an attempt to allow better, more consistent understanding of the pharmaceutical industry’s relationship with healthcare professionals in the US.

In the UK, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) changed its code of practice at the beginning of 2011 to help increase transparency of working practices between the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare professionals to help increase trust.

Companies will have to declare payments to healthcare professionals for services including speaker fees, advisory boards and consultancy, and sponsorship for attendance at meetings on an annual basis. The first declaration will be made in 2013 for payments made in 2012.

Read the Full Article Here:  http://www.pmlive.com/find_an_article/allarticles/categories/General/2011/august_2011/news/big_pharma_pays_us_doctors_$150m_in_2011

Government regulation of genetically engineered crops, already weak, is increasingly non-existent. The latest example of this new hands-off policy is the commercialization of Monsanto’s first flagship product for the produce aisle: genetically engineered sweet corn, containing the Bt toxin and herbicide-resistant genes.

Monsanto’s new sweet corn produces Bt toxin, a genetically modified version of an insecticide from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. Until now, Monsanto’s Bt corn and cotton crops have mostly been used in animal feed and highly processed ingredients. Even with this limited exposure, Bt toxin has already been found in the blood of pregnant women and fetuses. No one knows what will happen to people who eat Monsanto’s new Bt sweet corn, but Bt crops have proven deadly for grazing animals from livestock to monarch butterflies.

Monsanto’s new sweet corn is also “RoundUp Ready,” meaning it can tolerate unlimited amounts of Monsanto’s herbicide RoundUp. Roundup causes endocrine disruption, damage to DNA, reproductive and developmental toxicity, neurotoxicity, and cancer, as well as birth defects. Many of these effects are found at very low doses, comparable to levels of pesticide residues found in food and the environment. Monsanto’s new sweet corn will have a lot more RoundUp on it than non-genetically engineered varieties.

This is outrageous! We’ve got to fight back against unregulated, unlabeled genetically engineered foods!

Take action…

Witness for Peace, Upper Midwest is hosting a Fair Trade Fair at the Settlement Shops on Saturday, August 20 from 11 am – 4 pm.

Witness for Peace Upper Midwest Fair Trade Fair

Come to support local businesses and organizations that sell fairly traded products, and learn about the differences between Fair Trade and Free Trade. Purchase beautiful, fairly traded crafts, gifts, foods and beverages from around the world. Support artisans by ensuring a living wage and just working conditions. Support Witness for Peace’s continued work for peace and justice in the Americas.

Join us on Saturday, August 20 from 11 am to 4 pm at the Settlement Shops Courtyard, 9106-9116 Highway 42, just south of Fish Creek.

Witness for Peace (WFP) is a politically independent, grassroots organization. We are people committed to nonviolence and led by faith and conscience. Our mission is to support peace, justice, and sustainable economies in the Americas by changing US policies and corporate practices that contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America and the Caribbean. We stand with people who seek justice.

Featuring fair trade booths from local stores and organizations, including:

• Anderson House
• Brilliant Stranger
• Eco Tique
• The Getaway Car
• Greens N Grains Natural Foods and Deli
• Red Sock Yarns
• Regla De Oro Gallery
• Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church

Sidebar feature in the May Flyer provides details on how to “Protect Your Skin from Outside & Within.”

Not only are there specials on everything from organic virgin olive oil to tofu, but with summer sunshine just waiting on the horizon, you can learn some great ways to protect your skin and preserve good health by making sure that antioxidants are included in your diet. The article also calls attention to the benefits of vitamin E and alpha lipoic acid, which appears to reduce fine wrinkles.

Stock up on Amy’s Burritos in assorted flavors for $2.19 in May. There are also lots of picnic item specials that include meat -free hot dogs, pretzels, potato chips, rice burgers and hamburger buns.

Click to download the multi-page May specials in PDF format.

Natural News asks, “How would you like a big, juicy burger loaded with onions, mustard, ketchup – and a big helping of drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), a bacteria linked to a wide range of human diseases?”

If you find that dish stomach-churning instead of appetizing, then maybe you should think twice before eating not only meat, but chicken and turkey too, at least in the U.S..

According to a nationwide study just released by the Flagstaff, Arizona-based Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen),meat and poultry from U.S.grocery stores have an unexpectedly high rate of dangerous disease-causing bacteria, including antibiotic resistant superbugs. In fact, almost half (47 percent) of all meat and poultry samples tests were contaminated with S. aureus.

What’s more, 52 percent of these contaminated meats contained superbugs, meaning the bacteria were resistant to multiple classes of antibiotics.That adds up to multi-antibiotic resistant Staph germs being present in about one out of every 4 samples of meat, chicken or turkey.

“For the first time, we know how much of our meat and poultry is contaminated with antibiotic-resistant Staph, and it is substantial,” Lance B. Price, Ph.D., senior author of the study and Director of TGen’s Center for Food Microbiology and Environmental Health, said in a statement to the media.

The research, published today in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, is the first national investigation of antibiotic resistant S. aureus in the U.S. food supply. The scientists collected and analyzed 136 samples of beef, chicken, pork and turkey sold under 80 brands in 26 retail grocery stores in Los Angeles, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Flagstaff and Washington, D.C..

So where does this downright nauseating contamination come from? The TGen researchers reported that DNA testing shows the food the animals themselves were fed is likely the major source of contamination.

“The fact that drug-resistant S. aureus was so prevalent, and likely came from the food animals themselves, is troubling, and demands attention to how antibiotics are used in food-animal production today,” Dr. Price adds.

The dirty truth many Americans – especially meat eaters – don’t want to face is that conditions on so-called industrial farms are not only often inhumane but downright sickening. Animals raised for slaughter are packed together densely and steadily fed low doses of antibiotics in their food. The new report concludes these industrial farms are the ideal breeding grounds for drug-resistant bacteria that can move from animals to the human population.

“The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria – including Staph — remains a major challenge in clinical medicine,” Paul S. Keim, Ph.D., Director of TGen’s Pathogen Genomics Division and Director of the Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics at Northern Arizona University (NAU), emphasized in a media statement.

“This study shows that much of our meat and poultry is contaminated with multidrug-resistant Staph. Now we need to determine what this means in terms of risk to the consumer,” Dr. Keim, a co-author of the paper, added.

But doesn’t the U.S. government routinely survey retail meat and poultry for drug-resistant bacteria? The study points out the feds only check for four types of superbugs — but S. aureus is not among them. The paper urges a more comprehensive inspection program and points out S. aureus can cause devastating health problems.

While it’s true Staph germs can usually be killed with proper cooking, the scientists pointed out Staph still poses a substantial health risk through improper food handling and cross-contamination in the kitchen. Infections with S. aureus can cause a range of illnesses from minor skininfectionsto life-threatening diseases, such as pneumonia, endocarditis (inflammation of the heart) and sepsis (infection in the bloodstream).

And should you get one of these antibiotic-resistant strains from meat or poultry, treatment can be difficult.

“Antibiotics are the most important drugs that we have to treat Staph infections; but when Staph are resistant to three, four, five or even nine different antibiotics – like we saw in this study – that leaves physicians few options,” Dr. Price states.

Learn more at Natural News…

With the help of the community, we will soon have a dog park in Egg Harbor!

We are thrilled to announce that a conditional use permit has been issued by the Village of Egg Harbor for a dog park to be located in Village View Park on Church St, south of the Peg Egan Performing Arts Center. The park will have two, fenced sections; one for small dogs and a more spacious area for large dogs. Having a place where dogs can run freely and play with other dogs is a valuable asset to both dog owners and our community.

The Village of Egg Harbor has granted use of the land, but in order for our dogs to be safe, the area must be fenced and that’s where all of us come in. We need to come up with the funds to build the fence, provide benches and after that, add a weather shelter for the human visitors. The fallow area within Village View Park that has been designated for our new dog park lies along Church Street from the driveway to Harbor School Road. The area is approximately 100’ x 375,’ with an elevation change and shade trees that will make this park distinctive from those in Sister Bay and Sturgeon Bay.

As is the best practice in dog park design, we will need a 6’ fence with double entrance gates, plus a  gate between the two sections within the park. To accomplish the purchase of the fence, installation, benches, picnics tables and a shelter, we must raise $20,000.

For a $200 donation, you may become the sponsor of a 10’ fence section. Each 10’ section will have a metal plaque giving the donor’s name or memorial dedication. A $500 donation will buy a picnic table with, of course, a plaque acknowledging your gift. A donation in the amount of $1000 will provide the weather shelter. A donation of any amount will be acknowledged with a listing on our donors’ register and earn a bag of dog treats, courtesy of Greens N’ Grains.

This is not a 501 c 3 donation and therefore not tax deductible. If you would like to be a part of this exciting new amenity in Egg Harbor, please make out a check to “Harbor Hounds” and include your mailing address, email address and send your donation to:

Harbor Hounds
5110 Alpen Lane
Egg Harbor, WI 54209

You will receive an email confirmation and regular updates on our progress towards building Harbor Hounds Dog Park in 2011!

Thanks very much!
Kathy Navis 920.868.9999 and Nancy Fisher 920.868.1693

Like the Harbor Hounds on Facebook.

Greens-N-Grains staff member Elise Roberts has recently been hired as the Upper Midwest Regional Organizer for Witness for Peace (WFP).

WFP’s mission is to support peace, justice and sustainable economies in the Americas by changing U.S. policies and corporate practices which contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Midwestern branch is sending a delegation to Colombia in April with a focus on “Women Leading the Way to Justice and Peace.”  Please, consider joining this Witness for Peace delegation! Check out the link below and then look over all the great reasons for deciding in the affirmative. Feel free to contact Elise at 920.421.2269 with questions.

Colombia: Women Leading the Way to Justice and Peace
April 10, 2011 through April 20, 2011

Ten Top Reasons to Join a Witness for Peace Delegation:

10. Support a worthy organization and and participate in socially responsible
travel
9.  Make new friends from all over the US and beyond
8.  Join old friends who share your concerns and passion for justice
7.  Immerse yourself into another culture– the food, customs, language,
8.  Find out the truth beyond the media spin
5.  See the U.S. through the eyes of people who live south of the border
4.  Expand you horizons and stretch your mind around new ways of living and
thinking
3.  Build solidarity with those who are working for justice and peace
throughout the Americas
2.  Share your experiences and learnings with your family, friends,
co-workers and community
1.  Help build a better world—because a better world is possible!

Spring’s coming and it’s time to get those veggies started indoors.

Linda Cockburn, Door County’s organic and heirloom gardening maven, will help you do just that on Wednesday, March 16  and 23 at 2 pm.

She will teach you how to:

• organize your planting schedule,
• start your garden in just one flat and
• understand the ins and outs of transplanting.

Gardening questions are welcomed and organic practices will be discussed.

“There aren’t any ‘dumb’questions,” says Linda. “Learning is what we all do well together.”

Linda would love to learn from your experiences as well. Let’s get our hands dirty and feed our souls.
cost $5

Nominated for an Oscar as Best Documentary in the 77th Academy Awards, The Story of the Weeping Camel is better described as a “docudrama.”

The film was written and directed by two student filmmakers, Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni about a family of nomadic shepherds in the Gobi Desert, South Mongolia.

The Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday reports, “As a student at the Munich Film School in Germany, Byambasuren Davaa knew she wanted to make a film set in her native Mongolia. She told a fellow student, Luigi Falorni, about a story she heard while growing up, about mother camels rejecting their young and being coaxed into nurturing them through a nomadic singing ritual. Together they worked on a proposal for a documentary about the practice, which a German television station agreed to finance along with the university.”

To restore harmony between the mother and calf, the nomadic family call upon the services of group of lamas who perform a ritual with bread or dough ‘effigies’ (Tibetan: torma) of the mother, the calf and the individual members of the family. The rite opens with the sound of a sacred conch shell horn followed by bells in the hands of lamas, some of whom wield ‘vajra’ (Sanskrit).

The film is a blend of classic documentary film making created with “reality actors” under the direction of two young filmmakers on a mission to deliver a glimpse of the history, art, magic and spiritual dimensions of a distant and remote culture. They had to overcome tremendous natural and geographic obstacles to make the film, and when they eventually arrived quite late in the calving season, something truly magical took place.

“The birth, the rejection and the ensuing attachment ritual all happened while Falorni filmed them,” Hornaday explains. “Only the film’s connecting story, which features a family of four generations living together in three beautifully appointed yurts, was written by the filmmakers.”

After the last Green Door Film Society screening it was agreed upon that the next film would be one that is spiritually uplifting. Critics agree that The Story of the Weeping Camel is such a film, and the group invites everyone to enjoy it with them on Thursday, March 10 at 7 pm.

Greens N Grains Deli hosts a natural and organic dinner special each evening before the Film Society screening. Enjoy a delicious soup specialty, salad, a fresh baked roll and a cup of tea for $7.50, available from 6 pm on. The Film Society screenings take place at 7 pm and there is no charge for membership but seating at screenings is limited to 30 people. Dinner and film reservations are requested.

Greens N Grains Natural Foods and Deli is open daily from 10 am – 5 pm – except on movie nights when they will remain open until 9 pm – in downtown Egg Harbor at 7821 Hwy 42, and can be reached at 920.868.9999 or by email at info@greens-n-grains.com. The store’s Website features news and special monthly discount flyers at Greens-N-Grains.com.

Greens N Grains will be screening Josh Fox’s film, Gasland, a 2011 Oscar-nominated documentary about hydraulic fracturing that is enraging the fossil-fuel lobby and has Hollywood spinning.

On Thursday, February 24 at 7 pm you can learn all about hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” the process by which natural gas and oil is extracted from the ground. Josh Fox set out to examine the harmful effects of natural-gas drilling, from poisoned water resources to kitchen sink taps that burst into flame to unhealthy animals and people.

The natural gas industry claims to have a viable alternative to our dwindling energy resources and they have registered a complaint with the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences claiming that a wealth of errors should render the film ineligible for best documentary feature.

“The filmmaker alternates between misstating and outright ignoring basic and verifiable facts related to the impact of these activities on the health and welfare of humans, wildlife and the environment,” wrote Lee Fuller, executive director for Energy in Depth (EID), a front group for a coalition of trade associations for the oil and gas industry that include the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA).

National Wildlife Federation reporter Megan Blevins says, “Last time I checked, people’s tap water lighting on fire greatly impacts the health and welfare of humans, wildlife and environment. Why is this so hard for some to believe?”

The film is blurring the boundaries between cinema and a social movement, having launched a wave of social media response on Twitter, Facebook, online petitions, blogs and Websites. Visit the official site: GaslandTheMovie.com to learn more. You will be encouraged to act… and “retweet” the following to automatically sign the film board petition:

RT @wildlifeaction petition @TheAcademy to Support the truth on #fracking in @Gasland, not industry PR http://act.ly/31a RT to sign

Just Google “Gasland” to see thousands of search engine responses.

Greens N Grains Deli hosts a natural and organic dinner special each evening before the Film Society screening. Enjoy a delicious soup specialty, salad, a fresh baked roll and a cup of tea for $7.50, available from 6 pm on. The Film Society screenings take place at 7 pm and there is no charge for membership but seating at screenings is limited to 30 people. Dinner and film reservations are requested.

Greens N Grains Natural Foods and Deli is open daily from 10 am – 5 pm – except on movie nights when they will remain open until 9 pm – in downtown Egg Harbor at 7821 Hwy 42, and can be reached at 920.868.9999 or by email at info@greens-n-grains.com. The store’s Website features news and special monthly discount flyers at Greens-N-Grains.com.