Month: February 2003

Damage to Shuttle Tiles on STS-87

Yesterday I linked to an analysis written by NASA engineer Gregory Katnik about damage sustained to the Shuttle’s heat shielding tiles following the use of a newly formulated, freon-free insulation. The New York Times has more this morning with a story about Katnik’s eventual report which foudn that over 300 tiles were damaged from the break away insulation after the launch of STS-87.

Moreover, according to the New York Times,

The Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., later concluded that the absence of Freon led to the detachment of the foam.

While the formulation was later improved, the episode revealed potentially dangerous new ways in which tiles could be damaged.

I suspect one of the questions that will be raised soon is just how improved that later reformulation was.

Source:

Engineer’s ’97 Report Warned of Damage to Tiles by Foam. James Glanz and Edward Wong, The New York Times, February 4, 2003.

Foodborne Illnesses from Fruits and Vegetables on the Rise

While foodborne illnesses such as E. coli are usually associated with meat eating, the American Phytopathological Society reports that the incidence of foodborne disease related to fruit and vegetable consumption is on the rise.

According to the plant pathologist J.W. Buck, the annual number of produce-related food disease outbreaks doubled between 1973-1987 and 1988-1992 and continue to rise. The outbreaks include,

Pathogen Product
Aeromonas alfalfa sprouts, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, lettuce, pepper, spinach
Bacillus cereus alfalfa sprouts, cress sprouts, cucumbers, mustard sprouts, soybean sprouts
Campylobacter jejuni green onions, lettuce, mushroom, potato, parsley, pepper, spinach
Clostridium botulinum cabbage, mushrooms, pepper
E. coli O157:H7 alfalfa sprouts, apple juice, cabbage, celery, cilantro, coriander, cress sprouts, lettuce
Listeria monocytogenes bean sprouts, cabbage, chicory, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, mushrooms, potatoes, radish, salad vegetables, tomato
Salmonella alfalfa sprouts, artichokes, beet leaves, celery, cabbage, cantaloupe, cauliflower,
chili, cilantro, eggplant, endive, fennel, green onions, lettuce, mungbean
sprouts, mustard cress, orange juice, parsley, pepper, salad greens,
spinach, strawberries, tomato, watermelon
Shigella celery, cantaloupe, lettuce, parsley, scallions
Staphylococcus alfalfa sprouts, carrot, lettuce, onions sprouts, parsley, radish
Vibrio cholerae cabbage, coconut milk, lettuce

Among the large outbreaks, an E. coli outbreak in Japan in 1996 affected 4,000 school children and killed four. The source of the outbreak was traced back to radishes. In the United States 1995-1998 saw nine separate outbreaks of Salmonella or E. coli traced back to contaminated sprouts.

Why the increase? Part of the reason is due to good news on the nutrition front — people are simply eating more fruits and vegetables. From 1988 to 1996, per capita consumption of fruits and vegetables in the United States increased by 20 pounds. With the increase in consumption, the amount of fruits and vegetables imported from abroad has increased while methods of storage and processing have changed as well.

Unfortunately, according to the American Phytopathological Society, while there is an apparatus in place to inspect meat and reduce the risk of foodborne pathogens, there is no parallel system in place for inspecting fruits and vegetables.

Sources:

More people are getting sick from eating fresh fruits. American Phytopathological Society, Press Release, January 27, 2003.

Recent Trends in Microbiological Safety of Fruits and Vegetables. J.W. Buck, R.R. Walcott, L. R. Beuchat, Plant Health Progress, Jan./Feb. 2003.

Charges Dropped Against Hunt Supporter

Back in November, I wrote briefly about the case of Daily Telegraph columnist and hunt supporter Robin Page. Page gave a speech saying, among other things, that the minority of rural folk in Great Britain should be accorded the same rights as Jews, Muslims and other minority groups.

The British government responded by arresting Page and charging him with stirring up racial hatred, even though the Prince of Wales himself had made a similar argument in a letter obtained by The Telegraph.

In January, police determined they had insufficient evidence to prosecute Page and dropped all charges against him. Page told The Daily Telegraph that he is exploring legal action against police for defamation and unlawful detention.

Source:

Race claim against Telegraph man dropped. Sally Pook, The Daily Telegraph, January 21, 2003.

EU Pig Toy Hoax Story

Reports recently circulated on the Internet and in some newspapers that British farmers would soon be required by the European Union to supply their pigs with toys or else face fines of up to 2,500 pounds. As reported by Reuters, for example, the EU directive supposedly required farmers to “put a football, metal chains or hay in their pigsties.”

Both British and EU officials deny the story, however, and report that nowhere in the EU directive is any mention made of footballs or any toys. The directive does require farmers to supply pigs with rooting materials such as straw, hay, wood, sawdust, compost or peat.

The misunderstanding seems to have started with the UK Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whose announcement of the new regulations related to pigs led some observers to believe that the directive required the use of toys. A spokesman for DEFRA was quoted in some news stories as saying,

While straw and hay would do, obviously the use of a football or a chain would also do. For many years now vets have been suggesting that you put a football or something to kick around into the stall with a horse if it is restless. Basically, the same is true for pigs. If you put in a football or you dangle a chain they could nose it around and play with it, it is helpful.

This interpretation of the EU directive seems to rest solely with DEFRA.

Sources:

Pig toy tale ‘anti-Europe rubbish’. CNN, January 29, 2003.

Pigs can go hog wild with new toys. Reuters, February 1, 2003.

CDC Reports on Two Vegan Children Who Suffered from B-12 Deficiencies

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in January on the case of two infants who suffer from brain abnormalities due to a B-12 deficiency in the diets of their vegan mothers.

The main source of B-12 for most people is meat, dairy products and eggs. Vegan and vegetarian diets tend to be deficient in B-12 and most responsible vegan and vegetarian literature notes this fact and offers guidance on how to ensure and adequate supply of this important nutrient.

The CDC’s Dr. Maria Elena Jefferds reported on the two infants in the January 31st issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Jefferds describes the first case,

During August 2001, a girl aged 15 months was hospitalized for lethargy and failure to thrive. She was born after a full-term pregnancy complicated by prolonged nausea and vomiting. She was breastfed for 8 months, but the extent (exclusivity) of breast milk consumed relative to other food was unknown. Her mother reported following a vegan diet during the preceding 7 years and took nutritional and vitamin supplements. The cobalamin content of the supplements was unknown. When the child was aged approximately 8 months, organic whole-grain cereals and fruit shakes were introduced, but she had a poor appetite and vomited regularly. Her parents became concerned about her growth and development, and she was evaluated by a pediatrician at age 15 months. The pediatrician diagnosed failure to thrive, developmental delay, and severe macrocytic anemia. The child was hospitalized, and cobalamin deficiency was diagnosed (marked elevation [not quantified] of urine methylmalonic acid; serum B12:100 pg/mL.

And the second case,

During March 2001, a boy aged 30 months with failure to thrive and mild global developmental delays was taken to a genetics clinic. He was born after a full-term pregnancy and breastfed exclusively until age 9 months. The mother reported following a vegetarian diet during the preceding 20 years, with negligible amounts of meat, fish, and dairy products. She reported intermittent intake of a vitamin supplement (TwinLab® Stress B Complex Caps, containing 250 mcg of “cobalamin concentrate,” according to the label). When the boy was age 9 months, the health-care provider and his parents became concerned about the child’s growth and development (Table 1). His diet was supplemented with fruit and dry cereals to improve growth. When this was unsuccessful, he underwent a frenectomy at age 11 months to free tongue movements and improve coordination of swallowing and chewing. Despite this intervention, growth was inadequate. His diet was supplemented with soy- and cow’s milk–based formulas. He tolerated neither and started a multigrain nondairy formula (Multigrain Milk®) in addition to fruit, vegetables, chicken, an unknown vitamin supplement, and a product called Greens Plus® (no cobalamin content listed on label). Because of poor motor and speech development at age 11 months, the child was evaluated by a developmental pediatrician, who ordered genetic and metabolic studies and prescribed speech, occupational, and physical therapies. The child had persistent elevation of urine methylmalonic acid on three occasions but received no treatment for cobalamin deficiency until after the third measurement, which was ordered for a genetics clinic evaluation.

The CDC report noted that the prevalence of B-12 deficiency in children under 4 is not known and, “No clinical practice guidelines exist for diagnosing cobalamin deficiency in young children” since said deficiency results in a number of nonspecific symptoms such as lethargy and deficient growth.

The CDC recommended that,

Health-care providers should be vigilant about the potential for cobalamin deficiency in breastfed children of vegetarian mothers. Potential cobalamin deficiency should be included in the differential diagnosis when assessing young children of vegetarian mothers who have symptoms consistent with cobalamin deficiency, including failure to thrive, developmental delay, neurologic/psychiatric manifestations, and hematologic abnormalities (4).

Health-care providers who care for mothers in the preconceptional, prenatal, and postpartum periods and their young children should ask pregnant and lactating mothers about their diets to identify those who are vegetarians. Pregnant and lactating women should eat foods rich in cobalamin or take a daily supplement containing at least the recommended dietary intake of cobalamin (Table 2). For those eating no or very limited food of animal origin or a known cobalamin source, a cobalamin assessment is indicated. If lactating mothers are cobalamin deficient, their infants should be evaluated for cobalamin deficiency and treated appropriately.

Of course more research into pregnant vegan and vegetarian women might also be helpful, but such research is often attacked as little more than an attempt to undermine vegan and vegetarian diets (such as Jeff Nelson’s tirade against the very thought of funding research to examine choline deficiencies in pregnant vegetarian and vegan women).

Sources:

Babies’ mental delay tied to moms’ vegan diet. Alison McCook, Reuters, January 30, 2003.

Neurologic Impairment in Children Associated with Maternal Dietary Deficiency of Cobalamin — Georgia, 2001. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control, 52(04);61-64.