Video

Intended Audience: Pediatricians, Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, Nurses, Office Managers, Office Staff Objectives — At the conclusion of the activity, participants should be able to:

• Describe the impact of low-dose, long-term exposure of children to pesticides on the developing nervous system.
• Discuss the importance of integrated pest management in preventing pesticide exposure in children.
• Describe the difference between organic and conventional foods in terms of pesticide exposure in produce and drug resistant bacteria in meats.
• Describe the factors that contribute to the larger environmental impact of conventional farming on pollution, global climate change, and sustainability.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint sponsorship of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine designates this live educational activity for a maximum of one (1.0) AMA PRA Category 1 Credits TM. Each physician should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Other health care professionals are awarded (0.1) continuing education units (CEU's) which are equivalent to 1.0 contact hours. Presenters for this program have been requested to identify significant financial or other relationships with manufacturer(s) of any commercial product(s) or with provider(s) of any commercial service(s) which, in the context of their topics, could be perceived as real or apparent conflicts of interest.

Disclosures: Dr. Paulson, Dr. Forman and Dr. Wallinga have no disclosures to report. This program is funded by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

We encourage participation by all individuals. Advance notification of any special needs will help us better serve you. Please notify us of your needs at least two weeks in advance of the program.

Speaker handouts for webinar/teleconference: Handouts will be posted on the PA AAP website (www.paaap.org) by February 1. If you are participating by webinar, handouts will be presented live.

With 6-8 million cases per year, urinary tract infections (UTIs) primarily impact women. As many as 85 percent of UTIs are caused by E. coli bacteria, most often a specific form of E. coli known as ExPEC. ExPEC are believed to cause up to 40,000 deaths from bloodstream infections each year. As they get more resistant to antibiotics, ExPEC infections and resulting deaths will rise. It's a troubling trend, given that these infections are already becoming more antibiotic resistant. This webinar focuses on the new, compelling science showing that women are contracting ExPEC infections from eating contaminated chicken. What's more, we are now finding that chickens raised in environments where antibiotics are routinely added to chicken feed for growth promotion has helped create this problem.

Our speakers include Dr. Lance Price, a microbiologist doing cutting-edge research on how food, agriculture and resistant infections are linked and Susan Vaughn Grooters, MPH of STOP Foodborne Illness who will talk about the experiences of victims of drug-resistant UTIs, including an announcement of a new patient-based registry for resistant pediatric UTIs.

Co-sponsors: 

American Holistic Medical Association 
Washington State Nurses Association

Presentations:

• Jennifer Billig's slides (file will open on another website)
• Mark Muller's slides
• Don Bustos' slides

Named one of “Nine Innovative Food Websites You Can't Live Without” by Forbes, IATP’s What’s at Stake Series takes a fresh look at seven key issues for the 2012 Farm Bill. 

• View Dr. Martha Herbert's presentation slides
• View Prof. Renee Dufault's presentation slides

Send us your feedback  Conditions affecting children’s behavior and brain development, like autism and ADHD, are exploding in prevalence. The CDC estimates autism now is diagnosed in 1-in-88 children, a more than 70 percent increase over just six years. These increases leave many parents, and clinicians, with questions about what’s causing autism and how we can work to prevent it. 

This webinar focuses on new science that’s revolutionary in what it uncovers about the contribution of environment, toxic chemicals and food to these problems. Clinicians and parents often struggle how to best make use of this new information.  What’s exciting is that if public policy can address some of the environmental causes, it may help us manage existing autism and ADHD and perhaps prevent future increases.

Join us on June 11 where we’ll hear from Martha Herbert, MD, PhD, a Harvard pediatric neurologist with a brand new book, The Autism Revolution: Whole body strategies for making life all it can be, which discusses food, toxins and personal strategies for avoiding toxins while improving diet to reduce "total load" of stressors and improve function. Renee Dufault, a retired FDA toxicologist and former officer in the US Public Health Service, has coauthored three recent peer-reviewed studies, the latest of which has been published in the Journal of Clinical Epigenetics. The study models how certain dietary factors like vitamin deficiencies or high fructose corn syrup consumption could impact complex metabolic functions governing the body’s ability to eliminate toxic chemicals, including mercury and pesticides, indirectly contributing to autism and other disorders of brain function and behavior. Kathleen Schuler of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy moderates.

Enjoy this funny little video from Parent Earth about why advocacy on the Farm Bill matters.

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Food systems are big and controlled by powerful interests. To overcome inertia and realize a healthier, more just food system will take the strength of numbers. Professional asociations can bring numbers and the resources of their staff and combined membership.

IATP's Dr. David Wallinga provides a big-picture perspective on "talking food systems" with health professional organizations like the American Public Health Association and the American Medical Association. He discusses their increasing involvement in food systems issues, such as the Farm Bill and the use of antibiotics.

Angie Tagtow, a registered dietitian and environmental nutritionist, shares her experiences, strategies and successes for cultivating sustainable and accessible food and water systems concepts and competencies within the 72,000-strong Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

IATP Food and Community Fellow Cheryl Danley of the Center for Regional Food Systems at Michigan State shares her experience engaging young scholars of color in Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS), a national association with 72 chapters at grant universities from 38 states and one of the most diverse organizations of its kind.

Join our panelists for a discussion on the important role of professional associations in creating food systems change. This webinar is brought to you by Healthy Food Action and IATP's Food and Community Fellows Program.

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Global diets are increasingly facing the dual challenge of undernourishment and obesity. UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier de Schutter, calls for a reassessment of unhealthy food systems in both rich and poor countries, both increasingly characterized by an abundance of low nutrition, high calorie, processed foods. David Wallinga, MD reports on a new IATP study examining the role U.S. agriculture and trade policies play in contributing to the rise in obesity, with a spotlight on Mexico. Karen Hansen-Kuhn moderates.

View presentation slides.

Give us your feedback.

What can we tell patients or our families about arsenic in the food supply? A new Dartmouth study finds high levels of arsenic in rice, particularly brown rice syrup--a sugar substitute used in formula, cereal bars and other kids' food.

Levels in organic formula were 20 times higher than in non-organic varieties.

Previous IATP study found arsenic in chicken meat as well. In addition, an estimated 53 million Americans drink water from systems legally contaminated with arsenic at levels thought to confer a lifetime risk of dying from cancer caused by arsenic of between 1-in-500 and 1-in-5,000.

Where does all this arsenic come from? What can we do about it?

Learn more about the study and its findings on arsenic in food products with study author Dr. Brian Jackson, IATP's David Wallinga, M.D., and Dr. Keeve Nachman from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. This webinar has been cosponsored by IATP's Healthy Food Action and the Collaborative on Health and the Environment.

View presentation slides.

Compelling science now suggests synthetic food dyes and caramel colorings often added to candy – as well as junk food and other kids’ foods – can affect their learning and behavior, and may increase cancer risk. This science forced the adoption of safer alternatives to food dyes in the UK; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been petitioned to do the same. An FDA science advisory committee reviewed the new science in April 2011. Developmental brain toxins are also found as additives to other children’s products, like toys and lunch boxes. Child advocates are pushing for policy reforms addressing these risks as well.

Speakers Karen Bowman, MN, RN, COHN-S, Michael Jacobson, PhD, Lawrence Rosen, MD, and David Wallinga, MD, will discuss the latest science and policy reforms now being debated.

Give us your feedback.

A clip of Dr. Lance B. Price, microbiologist from the Translational Genomics Research Institute, excerpted from the film RESISTANCE (currently in production) which "explores the emerging pandemic of antibiotic-resistant infection – what's causing it, why it’s a problem, and what's being done to combat it."

Healthy Food Action launches the 2012 Healthy Food, Healthy Farms webinar series. With an eye toward envisioning a Farm Bill that promotes health, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s Jennifer Billig will provide an overview of the Farm Bill and its intersections with public health, including the kinds of farming and eating the bill currently supports. Give us your feedback.

Farm subsidies for commodity crops such as corn and soybeans have long been decried by many in the public health community as the reason for the low cost of junk food relative to fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains. But are federal commodity crop payments (i.e. subsidies) really the culprit? Would ending them create a healthier American food environment and put products like high fructose corn syrup on the sidelines?  Presentation Slides.  Give us your feedback.

Raise More Voices for Effective Farm Policy - Now!

The projected course of action regarding the Farm Bill changed dramatically over the past two weeks. The general expectation was a spring 2012 Farm Bill, with the possibility that Presidential election politics would push things back to potentially 2013. Now it seems that the odds-on favorite is to have a Farm Bill introduced any day now as part of the super committee budget reduction process.

The nation's attention is riveted on school food these days. Are the days of tater tots and chocolate milk on school lunch trays numbered? A movement to improve the food kids get at school is underway, but is it working?  View presentation slides.  Give us your feedback.

Recently first lady Michelle Obama announced a partnership with Wal-Mart, Supervalu and Walgreens to combat the issue of food access in communities called food deserts—usually in urban communities and characterized by a lack of access to healthy food options and an over-abundance of fast food.  View presentation slides.  Give us your feedback.

Exposure to environmental hormones, called “hormone or endocrine disruptors,” is contributing increasingly to chronic conditions like cancer, diabetes and infertility that manifest throughout our patients’ lives. Patients are exposed to hormone disruptors in large part via a contaminated food chain. Food contaminants include certain pesticides, PCBs and dioxins, arsenic, steroid hormones, and compounds like bisphenol A, originating from food packaging. Give us your feedback on this webinar.

Increasing access to healthy food is one key mechanism for stemming the tide of obesity and diabetes sweeping America’s young and old. But, what does it take to grow healthy food? Give us your feedback.

Today’s predominant, industrialized farm animal production facilities raise huge numbers of livestock in small geographic areas, producing enormous concentrations of waste that pollutes air and water.  Give us Your Feedback

The recent and exploding epidemic of child obesity is upon us. Obesity among teens is more than three and a half times more prevalent than three decades ago. The solution is multifaceted, but local government action is essential according to an Institute of Medicine Committee convened in 2008 to focus on preventative actions for local governments.  Slides   Give us Your Feedback

Last month, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a plan to seek federal permission to bar  the city's 1.7 million recipients of food stamp (now known as SNAP) benefits from purchasing sugar-sweetened beverages. The proposed ban would be for two years, with assessment to determine whether it should be made permanent. New York City's SNAP recipients spend an estimated $75 million to $135 million of their $2.7 billion in food stamps annually on soda, though this figure is contested by some advocates.

The controversial plan has surfaced differences in perspective between anti-hunger groups who believe food stamp recipients deserve the freedom to spend their benefits as they see fit, and public health advocates concerned about obesity, who see an opportunity to discourage consumption of high-calorie beverages that contribute to that problem

Both anti-hunger and public health groups want to see Americans - especially lower income Americans -- eat more and healthier food. Can common ground be found to achieve that broader goal?  Does the New York City proposal present a hurdle to the health and hunger communities building a united front against a food system that has left many Americans both obese and undernourished? Can reasoned discussion create this united movement as Congress moves to reauthorize both the Child Nutrition Act and the next Farm Bill (which provides the authorization for SNAP)?

Presenters:  Dr. Kelly Brownell, Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale will be articulating a public health perspective on the issue; Joel Berg, Executive Director of the NYC Coalition against Hunger will provide an "on the ground" perspective in New York, and Ed Cooney, Executive Director of the Congressional Hunger Center will be giving a big picture view about how this municipal legislation could be a precursor to forthcoming Farm Bill debates.

Obesity and other diet-related diseases are driving costly health care. Increasingly, we find ourselves with a Cadillac health care system and a Ding Dong food system. Both are plagued by exploding costs and unequal benefits to the American public.

The long, painful process of health reform is wrapping up while the debate about the next $300 billion, five-year Farm Bill is about to begin. What role can health professionals play in bringing about a healthier Farm Bill, and a healthier food system?

In this webinar, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas Medical Director and IATP Food and Society Fellow alumnus Eduardo Sanchez, MD, MPH, will explore the parallels between health reform and the Farm Bill. Anne Haddix, Ph.D., senior policy advisor with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will discuss the agency’s interest in the linkages between food systems and health, the burden of disease and potential policy strategies. Finally, David Wallinga, MD of The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy will reflect on the health community’s advocacy for the 2008 Farm Bill, and opportunities for healthy food and healthier farming in the new bill.

SLIDES:

• Eduardo Sanchez
• Anne Haddix
• David Wallinga

The new scientific consensus is that routine, unnecessary use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry contributes significantly to a costly epidemic of antibiotic resistance. One result is the emergence of new infections with farm links, including Salmonella resistant to multiple drugs (including the critical cephalosporins), resistant E coli, and MRSA.  PDF of Slides    Additional Resources