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San Diegans Tell KFC: Drop Chicken Raised on Routine Antibiotics

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By Jacqueline Salinas

On Tuesday, August 8th CALPIRG staff and volunteers will deliver petition signatures from thousands of San Diegans to a local KFC urging the fried chicken giant to stop serving meat raised with the routine use of antibiotics. Speakers will talk about the dangers of antibiotic resistance and how KFC can help stop it.

Antibiotic resistance is quickly becoming public enemy number one among health experts worldwide, especially true now with the recent emergence of a new “superbug” resistant to a last resort antibiotic, colistin. The majority of the antibiotics sold in the U.S. are for use on livestock and poultry, not in doctors’ offices, and often for animals that aren’t sick. Major restaurants like KFC can help stop that misuse of our life-saving medicines, as McDonald’s and Subway, and Chick-fil-A have all done.   [Read more…]

Will 4 Out of 5 Pediatricians Endorse Marijuana Gummy Bears?

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Back in the days when tobacco use was an accepted norm in society, cigarette companies regularly created ad campaigns featuring physicians attesting to the quality of their products.

Opponents of Proposition 64, the California initiative to legalize recreational pot, are being accused of trying to pull a fast one on general election voters by including language in official ballot arguments suggesting that TV ads making marijuana attractive to children are part of the measure.

The Yes on Proposition 64 committee filed suit in Sacramento County Superior Court yesterday, asking a judge to change or delete arguments in opposition to the measure they say include false or misleading language.   [Read more…]

San Diegans Voice Concerns to State Officials About Air Quality, Environmental Justice, and Climate Change

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By David Harris / San Diego 350

What do you get when you bring together 120 environmental activists and residents from environmental justice communities in a room with a dozen state regulators? If you’re lucky, dozens of ideas for incentivizing renewable energy, improving public transit, and protecting neighborhoods from toxic industrial fumes.

This is exactly what happened on July 14th when the California Air Resources Board (CARB) sponsored a workshop on climate change at the beautiful new Cesar Chavez campus in Barrio Logan. Local residents, whose voices are rarely heard by policy makers in Sacramento, came out in force to speak out about air pollution from local industry, the need for better transit options, and the impacts of climate change on communities already impacted by poor air quality.
  [Read more…]

Raising the Bar for Healthy Communities in National City

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Carolina Martinez / Environmental Health Coalition

Located in San Diego County’s second oldest city, Old Town National City remains a primarily low-income Latino neighborhood with evolving surroundings. Over the past 50 years, the community has changed from a mainly residential neighborhood to a mixture of auto-related businesses located around schools and homes. Auto-body shops in residential neighborhoods burden the health of the community by emitting toxic pollution into the air we breathe.

In 2005, our community decided to combat conflicting land use and bring health back to the community with a vision for a vibrant and toxic-free neighborhood. Our plans included affordable housing within walking distance of a transit center, construction that wouldn’t damage Paradise Creek and a healthy community park to replace polluted grounds.   [Read more…]

Tri-City’s Fired CEO Cleared Again of Wrongdoing

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When Tri-City Medical Center fired Larry Anderson three years ago, they wanted to save the $650,000 in severance pay his contract required if they fired him without cause.

They chose to rely on an anonymous telephone call, followed by a secret internal investigation conducted by hospital attorneys, to come up with a list of fourteen reasons to fire him for cause. He was accused of one or more of the following offenses: committing a felony, an illegal act involving moral turpitude, a willful and dishonest act, or a breach of duties and obligations.

Without telling him in advance what the charges were, the hospital offered Anderson thirty minutes to defend himself at a hastily arranged board meeting. When he refused to attend the board voted to fire him.   [Read more…]

Artificial Turf Wars in San Diego Schools

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Some parents at Silver Gate Elementary School in Point Loma are leading an uphill battle against artificial turf that is supposed to be installed on the school’s playing field next Fall. And other beach area activists have been fighting the artificial turf wars for a few years now.

Writer Ashly McGlone, in a fairly exhaustive piece in Voice of San Diego published June 27th, captured the highlights of one of those battles in describing efforts of some parents at Silver Gate.

McGlone focused on Point Loma resident Erika Lundeen, who became concerned to hear that the school her kids attend, Silver Gate, was getting a new artificial turf field called “crumb rubber”. It’s a type of artificial turf made up of particles from crushed-up car tires which act as a cushion and is used as a filler between blades of artificial grass. And this FieldTurf is what San Diego Unified uses – and plans to use on dozens of playing fields around the District.

Lundeen had seen local kids covered in little black specks on their clothes and bodies after rolling around in the turf at a field at Loma Portal Elementary School, with some kids playing with the black stuff.   [Read more…]

Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Targeted Regulation of Abortion Provider Law

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The Supreme Court’s 5-3 ruling in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt will affect millions of women in several states. The case, arising from a Texas law, is the most important abortion rights case in a generation.

Justice Steven Breyer penned the majority opinion, which said in essence:

Both the admitting privileges and surgical center requirements place a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a previability abortion, constitute an undue burden on abortion access, and thus violate the Constitution.

  [Read more…]

Dear Mayor Faulconer: We Need Equity in San Diego’s Climate Action Plan

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By Monique G. López / Environmental Health Coalition

While pollution affects all of us, it hits low-income communities first and worst.

The City of San Diego has unveiled a plan to reduce our city’s pollution over the next 50 years and in the spring of 2016, Mayor Kevin Faulconer released a strategy for meeting the plan’s goals.

The proposed plan lacks a strong focus on social equity – protecting our neighborhoods that already suffer disproportionately more than other neighborhoods.

That’s why Policy Advocate Monique López delivered this letter to Mayor Faulconer on the importance of equity in San Diego’s climate action plan …   [Read more…]

Nailed It! 4 Texts That Get it Right About Invisible Disabilities

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By Linda Williams, Ph.D. & Monica Slabaugh / Invisible Disability Project

1. Canceling Plans

It happens. Invisible disabilities may be unseen, but they aren’t unfelt or unreal. They are, however, unpredictable. One moment, our body tell us game on; and the next, it’s curled up on the sofa, and it’s not going anywhere today. Bodily and neurodiversity need flexible structures, allies, and partnerships. Go with the flow.

2. Accessibility? That’s a Thing Now

Asking about accessibility may not always have been front and center on our minds. But now, it is. And if it’s not on yours, it should be. It is part of the everyday language we use, and exists in the social world around us. It’s not a formality. It’s not about following a rule. It’s equitable, and it’s the right thing to do. Public and social spaces may not be built for all bodies and all people. But all bodies and all people have a right to exist in the world as they are. So check in about accommodations often, ok?   [Read more…]

Of Dentistry in Tijuana and Cross Border Friendship

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I have been writing about my friend Dr. Luis Garcia for almost 10 years. That’s how long he has been doing my dental work in Tijuana at the Baja Oral Center. Over the course of those years, Dr. Garcia has become much more than my dentist; he has become my friend. Way back in 2007 I had broken my front tooth off by biting into an English muffin that was hard as a rock.   [Read more…]

City of San Diego Ballot Proposals Promote Police Transparency, Human Services

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Women Occupy San Diego address Citizens Review Board on Policy Practices inadequacies (again); Democratic Woman’s Club advocacy for City of San Diego Department of Public Health and Social Welfare

Keep an eye on some of the new ballot proposals that have been filed recently with the San Diego City Clerk. These proposals reflect focused citizen participation that offer correctives to the city’s Citizen Review Board on Police Practices (CRB) and the county’s meager health and human services. These small “d” democratic efforts also happen to be spearheaded by women.   [Read more…]

Direct Action Journal: The Wound of Perpetual Guilt

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If fear is the mind killer, guilt is the heart killer. Experiencing guilt creates a wound. The wound is healed when the behavior producing the guilt is rectified. The scar that forms over the wound serves as a reminder to guide future behavior.

Living in a state of perpetual guilt, however, prevents the wound from ever healing. The wound festers. The guilt swells until it becomes an infection of empathy. The infected person devotes all her energy to coping with the constant pain of guilt. She spends all her time hunched over the wound, seeking to alleviate the pain. Focused on the wound like this, she cannot look beyond herself. A cycle develops. The guilt grows and becomes ever more painful. The pain strangles the infected’s capacity for empathy. Eventually, the infected loses her ability to act from a genuine concern for others and only acts to avoid the pain of more guilt.   [Read more…]

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