July 27, 2011
Newsmakers
UNBEATBLE?: Former George W. Bush aide Scott Stanzel is thinking about running against Sen. Maria Cantwell in 2012, but Matt Barreto, UW associate professor of political science, says his status as a newcomer to the state will make the run much harder. CNN quoted Barreto in the July 21 article saying, “I cant think of anybody in my entire imagination that could beat Cantwell in Washington State. Its an extremely Democratic state regardless of what people think.” Read the story.
SPERM STUDY: Dr. John K. Amory, UW professor of general internal medicine, was quoted in a July 23 New York Times article about possible advances coming in male contraception. The story said Amory is studying a drug first used for worm infections, that blocks an acid needed for sperm production. The downside so far is that it acts like one curbing alcoholism, so consuming alcohol while taking it would make people sick, but Amory is working on a safer version.
“The joke,” he said, “is if it werent for alcohol, no one would need contraception.” Read the story.
HEALTHY MEALS: CBS.coms Health Pop column reported July 26 on the decision by McDonalds to add apple slices to Happy Meals, and quoted Adam Drewnowski, UW professor of epidemiology and medicine and director of the Nutritional Science Program. Drewnowski said in a statement, “These types of incremental improvements in popular meals can have a broad impact on public health. Better to improve the diets of many than to seek perfection for the few.”. Read the story.
Drewnowski, often quoted in matters of public nutrition, also was the author of a July 24 opinion piece about calorie counts in The New York Times that ran under the headline, “Calorie Counts Wont Cure Obesity.” He wrote that the important label for low-income consumers is the price tag. “To pay more for less you have to have enough money not to care. Not everyone does. To say that the American consumer does not care about food prices, you have to be a well-paid academic at an elite college. Not everyone is. Middle-class nutrition experts want everyone to make the same food choices they do but, of course, without their money. Those conceits do not detract from the basic consumer right to know what is on their plate. But calorie counts won’t solve the obesity epidemic.” Read the story.
