California Asthma Summit December 5-6: Putting Research into Practice

We thought SF Bay Area PSR members might be interested in this exciting Summit!

California Breathing, the asthma program of the California Department of Public Health, will be holding the department’s biennial asthma research summit on December 5-6 in San Francisco. The aim of the summit is to bring together leading experts in asthma and asthma-related topics, to connect, discuss new research, and develop future strategies for addressing the burden of asthma. The summit will highlight both research and how it is translated into interventions, clinical practice, and policy. Physicians, nurses, researchers, asthma advocates, health educators, policy makers, and environmental health advocates are all encouraged to attend (CME and CEU credits available).

This year’s summit will include many exciting speakers. Much of the first day will focus on outdoor air pollution – from new research on how pollutants affect asthma at the cellular level to the global effects of climate change. Other speakers will discuss local efforts to reduce air pollution, including both government and grassroots programs. The second day will cover the latest research on indoor air quality, as well as interventions that aim to improve housing conditions for people with asthma. In addition, there will be sessions focused on psychosocial stressors, clinical tools, genetics, work-related asthma, obesity, and even the hot topic of acetaminophen and asthma.

For more information, visit http://www.asthmaresearchsummit.org/.

Conference sponsors include the American Lung Association in California, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Children’s Hospital of Oakland, and RAMP.

Dr. Robert Gould’s Oregon Speaking Tour

Dr. Robert Gould, SF Bay Area PSR President, gave several talks in Oregon in November, part of a grant-supported effort allowing members of the National PSR board to travel to selected regions around the country to speak on nuclear weapons issues.  In his talks, Dr. Gould covered legacy issues of nuclear weapons dating back to the dropping of the bombs in Japan, including the public and environmental health impacts of nuclear weapons development on local communities, and the profound budgetary costs of the nuclear arms race to date. Dr. Gould also explored the contradiction between President Obama’s stated desire to rid the world of nuclear weapons and his Administration’s planned marked expansion of expenditures for the U.S. nuclear weapons program, as well as the problems for safety and proliferation posed by the Administration’s commitment to expand nuclear power worldwide. In this context, Dr. Gould explained how an unfolding U.S.-India nuclear deal would increase the nuclear arms race within South Asia and negatively impact the Administration’s stated goal to control the fissile materials that could lead to the proliferation of additional states’ nuclear weapons programs and increase the risk of nuclear terrorism. Dr. Gould also underscored the lesser-known global impacts of even a regional nuclear war between India and Pakistan that would directly kill millions of people, including recently published predictions of ensuing “global cooling” that could cause over 1 billion deaths due to worldwide malnutrition.

The three talks took place November 17^th and 18^th in Portland and Eugene, OR. His first talk in Portland at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) was entitled “Public and Environmental Health Impacts of Nuclear Weapons.” This Grand Rounds presentation was cosponsored by OHSU’s Global Health Center. Approximately 50 people were in attendance, the majority of whom were medical students, and 30 signed up to work with Oregon’s PSR chapter. The talk was well received and available as a simulcast webinar around the country, and helped to solidify the relationship between the Oregon PSR chapter and OHSU’s Global Health Center, which will aid in reaching future students on these important issues. Click here to hear listen to the talk and view the power point Dr. Gould shared.

That same night, Dr. Gould gave a talk to a small group of people in Portland at the home of Oregon PSR President Dr. John Pearson.  In addition to the topics mentioned above, Dr. Gould shared developments from the national Board meeting, including ongoing discussions regarding the challenges of reaching young physicians, health professionals and medical students on nuclear war issues.  He pointed to the fact that many younger professionals are apparently more focused on the types of social justice issues that are captured in the Occupy Wall Street movement around the country and less compelled by nuclear weapons concerns.

The following morning, Dr. Gould appeared as a call-in guest for an hour on Jefferson public radio, a station that reaches southern Oregon to northern California.  Dr. Gould spoke on the issues he covered at his previous talks and also answered listeners’ questions regarding a full range of nuclear weapons and nuclear power issues. Click here to hear his talk (begins at minute 5:52).

Later that night, Dr. Gould gave a talk entitled “Nuclear Weapons: The Ultimate Health Threat” at the First United Methodist Church in Eugene. This talk was sponsored by Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND) and Community Alliance of Lane County (CALC) and was attended by approximately 25 people. Beyond the rich discussion that underscored the imperative of nuclear abolition, a number of questions that came up focused on PSR’s position on nuclear power. Dr. Gould addressed the organization’s extensive work on opposing the nuclear “renaissance” that has accelerated since the disaster at Fukushima, including numerous media appearances by many National PSR members throughout the country.

Kaiser Highlights Environmental Health Work

On November 8^th, Dr. Robert Gould spoke at Northern California Kaiser Permanente’s Environmental Stewardship meeting, which was attended by Kaiser Northern California regional administrators, as well as numerous doctors and other health professionals active on local green teams in their hospitals. Dr. Gould presented at an afternoon break-out session, speaking on the predicted health consequences of global warming, and the related work of mitigating impacts of climate change in the health care setting, as illustrated by the work of the Climate Change Literacy Consortium and Healthier Foods in Health Care campaign led by the partnership including PSR and Health Care Without Harm (HCWH).  A representative working on developing Kaiser’s commitment to alternative energy spoke at the same session, and indicated that Kaiser will announce its new energy plan as a system-wide imperative in the coming days. The break-out session discussion included all of the creative endeavors that Kaiser is currently engaged in through its leading role in the Healthy Hospitals Initiative, within which SF Bay Area PSR/HCWH projects such as Food Matters play an important role. On November 9, Kaiser’s News Center feature story highlighted Kaiser’s great strides on these issues, including coverage of its creative partnerships with PSR, HCWH and UCSF’s Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) regarding sustainable food guidelines and initiatives.

50th Anniversary Interview with Dr. Robert Gould!

What does the 50^th anniversary of PSR signify?

The anniversary marks the half-century of work that PSR has done to articulate the primary public health strategy of preventing nuclear war from ever happening. The physicians who founded PSR 50 years ago were part of a larger mass movement within the U.S. and worldwide that had developed in response to the twin explosions of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The founding of PSR signified a watershed event for physicians, in which they broke through the usual confines of dealing with patient health on a one-to-one basis, and recognized that the impact of a thermonuclear exchange would defy any ability for physicians and society to adequately deal with the consequences. Therefore, physicians had to step out of the traditional limitations of a doctor/patient relationship and take political positions to prevent any such exchange from happening. The founding of PSR marks the twin concepts of taking a primary public health approach and becoming politically involved to do so.

This anniversary highlights this important record of physician action against nuclear weapons. It also reminds us that we’re a long way from being able to abolish nuclear weapons, given many nations’ desires to possess them for political power. The 50^th anniversary allows us to celebrate what we’ve done up to this point and to challenge what’s ahead.

Can you talk about the founding of SF Bay Area PSR and what the chapter has accomplished since its inception?

SF Bay Area PSR was founded around 1980, after the nuclear disaster at Three Mile Island. Members of our chapter, like the newly revitalized national organization, initially focused on the dangers of nuclear power, but then we reconnected these issues with nuclear weapons, given the ascendancy of the “winnable nuclear war” strategies of the early Reagan Administration. SF Bay Area PSR has been one of the leading chapters over the years in maintaining a strong critique of U.S. foreign and military policies that have impeded our goal for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

As such, in general our chapter has placed the struggle against nuclear weapons within a framework that questions militarism overall, very much in line with the politics of the SF Bay Area. Our security work has not only focused on the details of U.S. foreign and military policy, but also the significant public and environmental health issues involved with the weapons, and the related budgetary impacts on our communities. We have focused on the health impacts of nuclear weapons at all phases; not only detonation, but issues related to production, storage, transport, and deployment. We’ve done a large amount of work in collaboration with partners such as TriValley Cares and Western States Legal Foundation to deal with nuclear weapons projects in our own back yard, particularly weapons development and related environmental issues at the Lawrence Livermore Lab. We’ve been very involved in challenging their plans to expand weapons work and highlighting potential health issues related to radioactive and other toxic releases from legacy lab operations

What have been some highlights of your involvement in PSR?

Starting in the early 1990s, the entire organization of PSR, national and chapters, recognized the significant dangers of impending climate change and toxic degradation of the environment. We began to develop a broad environmental and public health program that went beyond the environmental and health impacts of nuclear weapons. This more general environmental health work is probably at present the most prominent work of our chapter, in terms of the number of our projects and coalition partners. Addressing such environmental issues has given us renewed public prominence and also permitted us to raise nuclear weapons issues among our constituents in fresh and accessible ways. I think that over the last decade we’ve become well-respected partners on environmental health and security issues, and we cherish our real base in our community.

What are next steps you see for the chapter?
We are currently facing incredible challenges because of the political situation in Washington. I expect that much of our work, given the blockage at the national level, will be with local partners such as Health Care Without Harm around a variety of environmental issues that cross a lot of constituencies.

Given the significant challenges in our country with regard to unemployment and budget cuts for basic health and social needs, I personally think that more of our work needs to be integrated into a larger social justice framework, both due to the merits of the social justice issues themselves and also to be able to reach and connect with people who are deeply involved in struggling to survive and support their families. We need to meet people where they are. We have to talk about the hundreds of billions of dollars going to subsidize nuclear power, and to support conventional and nuclear weapons programs, that are not going to essential services or to addressing climate change in any fundamental way, particularly in a manner that could provide good, “green” jobs.

What can supporters do? 

We invite people to work with us by joining our speakers bureau; volunteering to bring our work with Health Care Without Harm to their hospitals; participating in visits to local Congressional representatives and state legislators, as well as important hearings on our issues in Sacramento; and submitting Op-Eds and letters to Editors. And we continue to appreciate the very generous financial support we’ve had from our membership, and hope they can step up at times like this.

Can you share some words about Dr. Victor Sidel, who is coming to celebrate PSR’s 50^th anniversary with our local chapter?

Vic Sidel, as well as his colleagues who founded PSR, including Bernard Lown, Jack Geiger, Sid Alexander and Herb Abrams, represent to me some of the most inspiring people I’ve had the good fortune to meet. Vic has in many ways been a real mentor to me, in terms of highlighting the importance of being knowledgeable about the science that underscores our work, and, above all, having the courage to speak out on all of the health and environmental issues that face us. He remains a model to me and it’s been a profound privilege to work with him all these years, within the Peace Caucus of the American Public Health Association, IPPNW and PSR.

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Livermore Actions Commemorating Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Fukushima

On August 6^th, close to 100 people attended “From Hiroshima to Fukushima to Livermore: Confronting the Two-Headed Dragon of Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Power” at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. At the event, co-sponsored by SF Bay Area PSR, Dr. Robert Gould spoke on the public health and environmental health impacts of nuclear weapons and nuclear power, and how money for these programs deplete resources for urgent needs. The event included music, speakers, and activities. Dr. Gould incorporated remarks by Dr. Masao Tomonaga, President of Japanese Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War on the connection between nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Dr. Tmonaga said, “We human beings, by ourselves, invented the theory and technology to create nuclear weapons and nuclear plants. For 66 years the nuclear age has continued. Now, however, we see the beginning of its slow demise, because nuclear bombs and nuclear power plants have failed to bring safety and peace to global human society. We physicians should help them cease as early as possible.” Dr. Gould further explained that last month, Hidankyo, a group representing the 10,000 still-living survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, appealed for the first time for Japan to eliminate civilian nuclear power.  The group, which has been a vocal advocate of abolishing nuclear weapons since its founding in 1956, had not voiced concern about nuclear power until now (read NYT article on opposition). Dr. Gould concluded with a call for a primary prevention approach that eliminates the massive dangers to our collective health, illustrated by both nuclear weapons and by climate change, from continued reliance on fossil fuels and dangerous “solutions” posed by nuclear power. “We need to end the massive subsidies to the nuclear power industry and instead invest in climate-friendly sustainable technologies, creating new green jobs in the process.” Dr. Gould said a major highlight of the event was when the attendees walked over to the Livermore Lab from the park where the event was held: they were able to communicate directly with a Japanese nuclear bomb survivor through a Skype connection projecting his image on a sheet hung on the fence on the property line of the weapons lab, and allowed our Japanese colleagues to view the audience holding candles in memorial for the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Anti-Nuclear Events on the Peninsula

Crosby Stills, and Nash; Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt; Sweet Honey in the Rock; and other musicians performed at the Shoreline Ampitheater in Mountain View on August 7^th as a benefit for Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE). Proceeds supported Japan disaster relief efforts and organizations worldwide working to promote safe, alternative, non­nuclear energy. The concert was intended to re-energize the excitement of the first MUSE no-nukes concert in 1979, attended by 200,000 people following the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster, and spur a new wave of anti-nuclear organizing. SF Bay Area PSR Steering Committee member Dr. Tom Newman attended and said of the event, “Besides the great music, it was great to see so many people there unified in their opposition to nuclear power.  They had a whole ‘Safe and Clean Energy Village’ with booths for antinuclear groups from all over the country, including our friends from Tri-Valley CARES.  And the whole concert was powered by solar panels and biodiesel!  I felt safely and cleanly re-energized!” See below for quotes from musicians on the importance of the event.

The following day, Dr. Robert Gould, SF Bay Area PSR President, attended a statewide meeting on nuclear power hosted by the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) in San Mateo. The event was intended to provide a forum for anti-nuclear groups to share organizing ideas, on the heels of the MUSE concert and events commemorating the 1945 U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A key topic of the statewide meeting included efforts to stop the relicensing of nuclear reactors at Diablo Canyon and San Onofre, and the goal of shutting them down completely. Approximately 50-60 people attended the meeting, representing a variety of organizations with roots in longstanding anti-nuclear work in CA. This meeting was the first time this many people and organizations got together to coordinate efforts to end nuclear power in California for decades.

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From the MUSE concert press release:

“The disaster in Fukushima is not only a disaster for Japan. It is a global disaster. We come together now across cultural boundaries, political and generational boundaries, to call for changes in the way we use energy, and in the ways we conduct the search for solutions to the problems facing humanity,” says Jackson Browne. “We join with the people of Japan, and people everywhere who believe in a non‐nuclear future.”

“The MUSE concert will not only be a great show, it will hopefully entice the public to become better informed of the tremendous dangers of nuclear power,” says Graham Nash. “We have to keep real and true information flowing so that people can act on it.”

Pat Simmons, of The Doobie Brothers, who performed at the original MUSE shows adds, “We are so proud to be reuniting with so many of our talented friends, who share our concern for the safety, and sustainable future of our fragile planet. Current events have brought us to a turning point in our human existence. It’s time to consider alternatives to the present course of energy production that have been forced upon us by an aggressive corporate power structure. We join together to generate funds to help our Japanese friends, as they recover from the devastation that they have had to endure, due to man’s careless use of nuclear energy, and nature’s unpredictability. Through these efforts we also hope to raise public awareness of the challenges we are faced with, and the important responsibilities we share in moving us towards a safer, nuclear free future.”

Dr. Jeffrey Ritterman speaks at Urban Agriculture Summit June 3rd

Dr. Jeffrey Ritterman also spoke at the West County Urban Agriculture Summit on June 3^rd in Richmond, attended by more than 100 people. LaDonna Redmond, Senior Program Associate at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, delivered the keynote address, as she did at the Physical Activity and Nutrition Forum the day before. The goal of the event was for people to learn about the role of urban agriculture in environmental sustainability, community health, and economic development. Presenters shared innovative practices and urban agriculture models. Participants had the opportunity to network with other urban agriculture supporters, access helpful resources, and help grow urban agriculture in Richmond and in West County. In reflecting on the event a few weeks later, Dr. Ritterman noted the large urban agriculture movement in the East Bay and in Richmond in particular. He talked about the real challenge involved for a city like Richmond, which has so much economic difficulty, to help green Richmond, including finding a way to capture the food dollar locally, turning empty lots into urban farms, providing green produce to eat, and building the local economy with green dollars. Dr. Ritterman said the Forum was the first time those involved in Urban Agriculture in Richmond had had the opportunity to all meet together, and with local officials as well.

California’s Clean Air Ambassador: Interview with Dr. Harry Wang, President of Sacramento’s PSR chapter, By Emily Galpern

Dr. Harry Wang, Senator Barbara Boxer and Sarah Bucic, RN, Clean Air Ambassador from Delaware

Click here for PSR’s national coverage on Harry’s visit

What was the purpose of your visit to Washington, D.C.?

This was an unusual coalition that Earthjustice put together because it involved a variety of groups: health professionals, faith community, environmental community and other community leaders. The coalition was co-sponsored by national PSR, the American Nurses Association, the Hip Hop Caucus, and the National Council of Churches. Earthjustice’s goal was to have a representative, which they called a “Clean Air Ambassador,” from all 50 states. I was the representative for California. The main message was to tell Congress and the White House to “let the EPA do their job.”  We were also there to encourage the EPA to set long-overdue standards, which were legislated in 1990. The Clean Air Act was passed in 1970 and there were major amendments in 1990. These standards are over 20 years coming.

In the last year, the EPA did propose mercury and air toxics standards, but it will be a struggle because Congress is trying to undermine the EPA’s authority. They’re concerned about companies that would be affected by their rules. The EPA has already backed down on rules for boiler factories. This summer a rule on ozone is due. The hearing was January 2010, and we’re still waiting to hear from the EPA.  A big concern is that they won’t set an aggressive enough standard for ozone.

Did you accomplish what you wanted to?

It was unique that we were able to speak to environmental staff of the White House and to the head of the EPA, Administrator Lisa Jackson. We met with her for 30 minutes, and I was one of the speakers on the health effects of mercury. Mercury is a neurotoxin that gets into our water and fish, and can adversely effect the brain development of fetuses and can cause loss of cognitive functioning in infants and children. The EPA’s proposed power plant rule would reduce mercury emissions by 91%.

During our day on Capitol Hill, a wide range of ambassadors from all over the country met with Senator Boxer’s staff, because she chairs the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works. I also met staff of Congresswoman Doris Matsui from the Sacramento area, where I’m from, and staff of Delaware’s Congressman John Carney.

Most people gave us a favorable response. No one would commit to what would happen, though. The frustration is not knowing how the politics will play out. It’s  maddening that the politics carry more weight than the health consequences.

Because the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, the EPA is required by law to show what the benefits have been. The EPA has done studies that show by the year 2020, the Clean Air Act will prevent 230,000 premature deaths each year, 200,000 heart attacks, and over 2 million asthma attacks. In 2020, it will cost $65 billion a year to clean up the air. By 2020, the economic benefits will be almost $2 trillion a year in health savings and work productivity savings. That means we will get a return of $30 for every dollar we spend on reducing pollution. That’s huge economic and health benefits. Air pollution is now linked to 6 of the 7 top causes of death for Americans. The country needs to go to safer and greener forms of energy.

How did your visit to DC relate to SF Bay’s PSR’s work?

SF Bay PSR members are already concerned about factory and air pollution. There are factories in our communities; the oil refineries in Richmond, for example. A lot of our patients have asthma. All of us have patients with heart disease, lung disease, strokes, and cancer; these conditions all have some connection to air pollution. And despite improvements since the passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970, 8 of the top 10 US cities with the worst ozone pollution are in CA.

What were the highlights of the visit for you?

I realized there’s a real window of opportunity right now in next 12 months for EPA to set some rigorous standards for air quality. Nothing has really happened in the last decade. The change in Administration is an opportunity to set the most science-based standards for ozone, mercury, cement plants, and power plants.

It was an inspirational visit. Some of the other health ambassadors shared what other communities are dealing with.  Here in California we think about cars and trucks and worry about ozone and particulate matter. But the first person I met on the shuttle from the airport was Alex Allred, from Midlothian, TX: her town is the cement capital of the US. They have so many health issues in their community and can’t get anyone to do anything because everyone with power is connected to these factories. Their only hope is that the EPA will do something. One of the factories has a quarry 500 feet from an elementary school.  That school is rated in the top 1% of most toxic elementary school sites in the US.  She told me about a lawsuit Earthjustice filed in 2004 to get EPA to take action on mercury and other air pollution from cement kilns. I got a broader picture of air pollution issues across the country from all the ambassadors.

What are next steps to influence the EPA?

The EPA is accepting comments on their mercury and air toxics standards until August 4, 2011.  We also need to talk to our Representatives (CA Senators are already on board), make sure they understand the health and economic issues involved, and oppose any legislation that would undermine the authority of the EPA.

How can PSR members get more information on these issues?

National PSR has a new report on the Clean Air Act.

The American Lung Association also has a great annual report on clean air quality.

Climate Change Webinar for Health Care

SF Bay Area PSR invites you to a free Webinar on Climate Change and Public Health in celebration of Earth Day activities!

New this year, our partner Health Care without Harm and Practice Greenhealth are hosting two free Climate Literacy webinars titled Climate Change and the Role of the Health Care Clinician: Education, Mitigation and Adaptation; one is intended for administrator use and one for clinical use. The webinars will feature a new PowerPoint presentation, which focuses on the health effects of climate change and the role of the health care sector.

The webinars are scheduled for 10am PST (1pm EST) on April 12th (for Administrators) and April 14th (for Clinicians), the week before Earth Day. Dr. Bob Gould, SF Bay Area PSR Chapter President, will be speaking on the April 14th seminar and David McCombs from Practice Greenhealth will present on the April 12th seminar. Both webinars will also be recorded and available for your use anytime during Earth Week.

These Webinars will provide continuing education for Physicians, Nurses, and Health Care Executives.

For more information and to register, please visit the Practice Greenhealth webpage at: http://www.practicegreenhealth.org/earthday

Hospitals Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Taking a “Less Meat, Better Meat” Approach to Foodservice: First-ever Evaluation Finds Reduced-meat Menus in US Hospitals Exceeds Expectations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  April 20, 2010

Contact: Lena Brook, MES, 415.601.0504, lena@sfbaypsr.org

(San Francisco, CA) San Francisco Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, part of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, have released “Balanced Menus: A Pilot Evaluation of Implementation in Four San Francisco Bay Area Hospitals,” the first US examination of the impact that reduced-meat menus in hospital food service have on climate change. The report concludes that a pilot implementation of the Balanced Menus program across four participating hospitals yielded greenhouse gas emissions that exceeded the initial 20 percent reduction goal and substantial cost savings.

“One of the most compelling aspects of this evaluation is the greenhouse gas emissions reductions,” says co-author of the report, Roni Neff, PhD, MS, Research and Policy Director at the Center for a Livable Future and a faculty member at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. “If the four included hospitals continued what they were doing for a year, they would collectively cut over 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions from meat purchases.  That’s like saving over 100,000 gallons of gasoline or growing over 23,000 trees for 10 years.”  Neff and doctoral student Lisa Lagasse, MHS, compared greenhouse gas emissions results using three different approaches, and all yielded similar results.  They note that in this pilot study, they did not have adequate data to characterize net impacts after accounting for replacement foods.

Since implementation of Balanced Menus in January 2009, the four pilot hospitals—Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital; the San Francisco VA Medical Center; the John Muir Health Medical Center; and one anonymous facility—have reduced meat offerings in their cafeterias and/or patient meal programs.   These four San Francisco Bay Area hospitals have collectively reduced their meat purchasing by 28 percent and reduced the steep procurement costs associated with a high meat diet.

“Balanced Menus is designed as a flexible approach that prioritizes reduced-meat menus in hospitals and encourages purchasing the healthiest, most sustainably produced meat available,” stated Lena Brook, coordinator of the national Balanced Menus project, and senior program associate, San Francisco Bay chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Nationally launched in September 2009, the Balanced Menus Challenge grew from concerns about the negative health and environmental impacts of industrialized meat production and a desire to support sustainable and grass-fed meat producers in California and throughout the United States. Currently, 32 hospitals from across the country are committed to permanently reduce their meat purchasing by 20 percent in a year. Information on the Balanced Menus Program is available at http://www.noharm.org/us_canada/issues/food/menus.php.

Encouraging a reduced and sustainable meat diet is part of a primary prevention agenda to reduce the nation’s skyrocketing rates of diet-related disease, including diabetes, obesity, and certain cancers. Shifting meat consumption patterns would also contribute to larger climate mitigation efforts; promote cleaner air and water; and help protect the effectiveness of antibiotics. According to USDA statistics, there is about 50 percent more meat in the US food supply than would be appropriate to consume based on dietary guidelines. The vast majority of meat in the US is produced in industrialized settings, which contributes to a variety of environmental and public health problems. The American Dietetic Association’s Hunger and Environment Practice Group actively supports the Balanced Menus project and has created several resources to help dietetic professionals advocate for nutritious, sustainable health care food. This joint effort is an example of a larger movement within the health care sector to redefine food service operations through an ecological framework.

“The Balanced Menus Challenge was a natural next step to take after our initial year of setting up local vendors for produce, meats and poultry,” said Linda Hansen, Director of Nutrition Services for Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital in Sonoma County, CA and an early adopter of the Balanced Menus campaign. “We need to continue to find ways to reduce our carbon footprint as a healthcare organization, to continue to support our local economies, and provide the healthiest food possible for our staff, patients, and visitors.”

In addition to reducing meat as part of the Balanced Menus approach, hospitals throughout the Bay Area are working with Physicians for Social Responsibility to bring healthier, fresher food to hospitals. They negotiate with suppliers for more locally produced foods and foods raised without pesticides, non-therapeutic antibiotics, growth hormones or genetic modification as part of their commitment to a broad range of food-related sustainability practices, and demonstrate their leadership in the larger marketplace to shift demand toward sustainable food procurement.

Download the Johns Hopkins Balanced Menus Report.

Download the Executive Summary.

Physicians for Social Responsibility is a non-profit advocacy organization that combines the power of community activism with the knowledge and credibility of physicians and other health professionals to promote public policies that support human health.  The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of PSR (SF PSR), founded in 1979, was the first to be organized in the country and remains one of the largest of the 31 US chapters, with over 2000 members. SF PSR is the preeminent medical and public health voice in our region on a broad range of critical social and environmental health issues. To learn more about SFPSR, visit www.sfbaypsr.org.

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