You might have heard about last week's rat attack at a KFC/Taco Bell down in Greenwich village at 6th Ave. and 4th St. A Fox 5 TV news crew was in the area and saw a horde of rats scurrying around the fast food joint, picking up scraps on the floor and hanging out on the trashcans. For those that get nervous around the little furry creatures, the scene would have sent you running.

[Ed. note: Here's that video.]

What made the story even worse and subsequently gain more attention in the local and even national news (and YouTubed) was that the store was inspected by the health department the day before. The report gave the store good marks with no signs of vermin. The establishment had been cited previously, four times in the last three years but conditions show that there hasn't been much change here. Perhaps rats like the combination of pizza and tacos...but I have seen them eat far worse between the rails in the subway stations.

Crossposted from Joshing Politics

Advocates of universal health insurance gathered Thursday night (May 18) at SEIU Local 32B/J in Soho for wine, cheese, schmoozing, networking and strategizing. Sponsored by a pot pourri of left and labor groups, the organizers and speakers supported John Conyers’ proposal: HR 676 (which now has 68 co-sponsors. Does your Congress Member support the bill? See below.)

The speeches, by US Steelworkers president Leo Gerard and others were in memory of Sumner Rosen, a labor economist, progressive policy advisor and mentor to left activists over the last 40 years and more. There were ringing, but not very entertaining endorsements of the Conyers bill and of the hoped for chance of Democrats taking more control in Congress. The coordinating group in New York is an interesting think tank Rekindling Reform, -- http://www.rekindlingreform.org/ -- a coalition of labor and community groups led by many in the public health community who participated from the left in the last debate on health insurance (1992-4).

The gossip and schmooze focused on the differences between the Conyers proposal and the Working Families Party effort to enact its “Fair Share Bill” which would require retailers to provide health insurance to employees or pay into a state fund which would cover them. The WFP effort would cover 400,000 or so now uninsured workers and impose the costs of health insurance on Wal-Mart and other non-union businesses (which, not so by the way, would help their unionized competitors, compete.). The weaknesses of the Fair Share Bill are straightforward: many are not insured; employment-based insurance is not portable – lose your job, lose your coverage; costs are not controlled because it uses the existing health insurance scheme. The big strength of the Fair Share Bill according to the WFP is that it can be passed.

Similarly, the Conyers bill is straight forward: it provides universal, portable, affordable, quality health coverage for everyone. Its supporters speculate that large employers – like GM – staggering under the costs of their union health insurance plans, will jump at the chance shift to a universal, non-employer based scheme. The disadvantage is that the Bill seems to have no traction, and is not likely to get any so long as GOP control of Congress continues.

Lucky for us we do not have to pick one or the other. We can favor and take action for both the Fair Share Bill and the Conyers Bill.

The Fair Share Bill will be the subject of a legislative hearing in Albany on May 23, 2006. The Working Families Party and its supporters are organizing buses from NYC. Visit the WFP Fair Share website -- http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/WFP/petition.jsp?p... -- to reserve a spot on a bus and a place on the speakers list.

You can also write your legislators.

The Conyers Bill: HR 676 is the subject of City Council Resolution 75 introduced by G. Oliver Koppell on February 18, 2006. It calls for Congress to pass the Conyers Bill. The following Council members are listed as sponsors: Tony Avella, Gail Brewer, Louis Fidler, Helen Foster, Vincent Gentile, Alan J. Gerson, Anabelle Palmer, and James Sander, Jr.

Is your Council member missing in action? Call or write him/her. Ask him to sign on or tell you why not.

A number of Members of Congress have signed on to support the Conyers Bill including my own Elliot Engel. Several area Congress Members have not:

Among Democrats: Carolyn McCarthy and Nita Lowey have not yet signed on.

Among Republicans: Sue Kelly, Peter King, Vito Foscella and John Sweeney have not endorsed the Conyers Bill.

If you want to join in the discussion about universal health insurance consider attending the Tuesday, May 30, 2006 meeting at New York City’s Community Church, 40 East 35th Street 7PM- free; 6PM Reception $; --(bet. Park and Madison) where Paul Krugman will address a meeting sponsored by the New York Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program – http://www.pnhpnyc.org/ rsvp is requested.

Britain's National Health Service comes in for its fair share of derision; anecdotes of crooked teeth and long waits for sex-change operations abound. This concern about long waits for gender-adjustment surgery is presumably why American reactionaries yelp about socialism whenever the question of universal healthcare is raised. The other party is the only reason this country does not have universal health care; despite the fact that President Clinton was elected with a mandate to implement it.

Now comes a new study that should properly humiliate all of us: the UK's NHS produces better outcomes, across the board, at all income and social levels, than does our gloriously capitalist and stunningly inefficient system. This for two reasons: Britons suffer less stress and have universal healthcare. One cause of the lowered stress in the UK versus the U.S. is that in the UK, incomes are rising, also across the board - while in America, of course, everyone but the top 1% has seen a drop in real income since 2001, when the oh-so-efficient MBA administration took power. For example, incomes rose 2.1% last year - while inflation was 3.4%, which translates to a 1.3% pay cut. Sorry, y'all.

*Please join
Dr. Darin Burdman when he presents to
The Manhattan Adult Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) Support Group

Chiropractic Treatment for People with ADD
+ Learn about effective Chiropractic treatments.
+ Discover how Chiropractic can help ADD.
+ Advocate for optimum symptom improvement.
Dr. Burdman has experienced fantastic results with Straight
Chiropractic adjustments and the simultaneous improvement
of ADD/HD symptoms. He will discuss Straight,
‘Pure’, Chiropractic methods and provide vital information
support group members need to advocate for and explore
additional care options for optimum ADD symptom improvement.
Straight Chiropractic can be used in combination and without
interrupting other medical treatments.
Please attend and bring your questions.
Date: Time: Doors open at 6:30
Thursday April 27, 2006 Presentation: 7:00 - 9:00 PM
Location: Information:
Congregation Ansche Chesed; www.maaddsg.org
Please use the entrance on 100th St.
* We request a $5.00 Donation to defray expenses

Bed bugs.

Yes. Bed bugs. From the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene website:

Bed bugs are small insects that feed on the blood of mammals and birds. Adult bed bugs are oval, wingless and rusty red colored, and have flat bodies, antennae and small eyes. They are visible to the naked eye, but often hide in cracks and crevices. When bed bugs feed, their bodies swell and become a brighter red. In homes, bed bugs feed primarily on the blood of humans, usually at night when people are sleeping.

Did you know that for at least a year NYC has been experiencing a bed bug infestation? I didn't. Not until a friend told my wife about their building's problem. Their entire building in the heart of Brooklyn, with considerably more than 100 units, is infested with bed bugs. Every apartment. Every piece of furniture including lamps are infested. My friends are having to spend thousands of dollars to battle this infestation, steam cleaning every item and every surface to kill the hearty pests.

Typically, the bite is painless and rarely awakens a sleeping person. However, it can produce large, itchy welts on the skin. Welts from bed bug bites do not have a red spot in the center – those welts are more characteristic of flea bites...

Although bed bugs may be a nuisance to people, they are not known to spread disease.

Feeling itchy yet? Keep reading!

Sex, Truth and…the Bible? The Religious Left Reclaims What is Right!

On Tuesday, March 7 from 7 pm-9 pm come join Planned Parenthood of New York City, Get the Facts NYY, Congregation Rodeph Sholom and and the Social Justice Commission of the Riverside Church at the Riverside Church (490 Riverside Drive between 120th and 122nd Street) to hear former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Shelby Knox (a young activist who challenged her church and her community to provide real sex education in the city of Lubbock, Texas) and others in the Pro-Choice Community!

WHY? Because all of us are obliged to ensure that our children have the education they need to lead healthy lives. Because it is unjust, and it is immoral to withhold such information or to permit our children to be mislead or misinformed. Because New York has amongst the highest rates in the nation of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Because New York State spends $12 million on harmful and innaccurate abstinence-only-until marriage programs that are prohibited from mentioning contraception except for their failure rates AND no money on proven comprehensive sex ed.

And because the radical religious right has staked a very flawed claim on morality and justice and it is time that we take it back.

http://www.ppnyc.org/media/Convocation.pdf

On Tuesday, March 7 from 7 pm-9 pm come join Planned Parenthood of New York City, Get the Facts NYY, Congregation Rodeph Sholom and and the Social Justice Commission of the Riverside Church at the Riverside Church (490 Riverside Drive between 120th and 122nd Street) to hear former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Shelby Knox (a young activist who challenged her church and her community to provide real sex education in the city of Lubbock, Texas) and others in the Pro-Choice Community!

WHY? Because all of us are obliged to ensure that our children have the education they need to lead healthy lives. Because it is unjust, and it is immoral to withhold such information or to permit our children to be mislead or misinformed. Because New York has amongst the highest rates in the nation of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Because New York State spends $12 million on harmful and innaccurate abstinence-only-until marriage programs that are prohibited from mentioning contraception except for their failure rates AND no money on proven comprehensive sex ed.

And because the radical religious right has staked a very flawed claim on morality and justice and it is time that we take it back.

http://www.ppnyc.org/media/Convocation.pdf

The Drum Major Institute and AM New York have come out with an article outlining class discrepancies in asthma rates. Asthma is an under-recognized, national problem which had been increasing in prevalence. Since 2002 there may be evidence of a plateauing of this increase, but it remains a problem for many Americans. Some facts from the American Lung Assn for context:

In 2003 it was estimated that 20 million Americans currently have asthma. Of these, 11million Americans (4 million children under 18) had an asthma attack.

Current asthma prevalence in adults ranged from 5.6% in Georgia to 9.9% in Maine and Massachusetts.

After a long period of steady increase, evidence suggests that asthma mortality and morbidity rates continue to plateau and/or decrease. In 2002, there were 4,261 deaths attributed to asthma -- an age-adjusted rate of 1.5 per 100,000.

Close to 1.9 million emergency room visits were attributed to asthma in 2002.

In 2003, asthma accounted for an estimated 24.5 million lost work days in adults.

The annual direct health care cost of asthma is approximately $11.5 billion; indirect costs (e.g. lost productivity) add another $4.6 billion, for a total of $16.1 billion dollars. Prescription drugs represented the largest single indirect cost, at $5 billion. The value of lost productivity due to death represented the largest single indirect cost at $1.7 billion.

Lung function declines faster than average in people with asthma, particularly in people who smoke and in those with excessive mucus production (an indicator of poor treatment control).

The Drum Major institute and AM New York's article shows that children in poor, minority areas of NYC are FAR more affected by asthma than children in richer, whiter areas of the city. Here are some excerpts:

Sadly, tens of thousands of children in New York City with asthma choke for air every day, in all five boroughs, and our elected officials are doing far too little to help them.

While asthma affects New Yorkers in every neighborhood, it affects many more people in low-income communities of color. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Health has found that asthma rates in Bushwick and Williamsburg are 400% what they are in the city as a whole...

Among the primary findings of the report is that most New Yorkers who suffer from asthma live in unhealthy housing. Of the 300 asthmatics who were interviewed, an astounding 69% reported living in cockroach-infested apartments. Sixty-seven percent said they had excessive dust in their apartments, and 47% had rat or mouse infestation problems. One out of three asthmatics reported mold in their apartments.

Asthma rates in these two neighborhoods are four times the city average!! That is a BIG hint that there is a major health problem in those neighborhoods. SOMETHING has to be causing those hot spots of asthma. To me it sounds like an environmental health problem in addition to a class problem. If it was ONLY a class issue, one could correlate asthma rates with income levels. Are other equally poor neighborhoods also afflicted by higher than average asthma rates or is this unique to those two neighborhoods. That is an issue that needs to be clarified. There is no question that poverty is a major issue in terms of availability of health care, and that includes asthma. But to me such a geograpgical spike of asthma rates suggests an environmental effect as well. What is it about the air in those neighborhoods that triggers asthma?

The article gives some hints, indicating a correlation with sub-standard housing, but again, it needs to be clarified whether the asthma hot spots correspond to such sub-standard housing citywide or primarily in those two neighborhoods. Regardless, the article continues, showing that neglect by the city of housing codes is a part of the problem:

All of these housing conditions are clear violations of New York City's housing code. Nonetheless, the City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is renowned for failing to get slumlords to fix housing code violations, even the most serious ones.

A study by the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development showed that tenants have to wait an average of one year before landlords fix housing code violations that the law requires be fixed within 24 hours. Similarly, a recent study by the tenant advocacy coalition, Housing Here and Now, showed that of the 1,533 buildings that were on HPD's Major Problem Building List in 2003, almost a third had even more "immediately hazardous" violations in 2005 than in 2003.

Unfortunately, HPD's failure to enforce the housing code means that tens of thousands of New Yorkers who suffer from asthma, and other respiratory ailments, live in apartments that are riddled with asthma triggers. According to Bushwick resident Veronica Acosta, "We are forced to live in unhealthy homes because irresponsible landlords refuse to fumigate and make necessary repairs to our old buildings. Even after taking our landlord to court four times, he still refuses to repair our apartment."

The inability or unwillingness of the city to enforce housing codes is something that people I know have encountered. It is not restricted only to poor neighborhoods. But it clearly will affect poor neighborhoods the most. Landlord neglect is treated overly leniently and complaints often ignored. One wonders why the city is so unwilling or unable to enforce its own laws. Perhaps better leadership might help?

The article continues, indicating that lack of health information and available preventative care is also an issue for these neighborhoods:

The report also shows that a great majority of asthmatics in Bushwick improperly treat their asthma. An alarming 59% of Bushwick residents do not use any preventative medicine to control their asthma.

In addition, the study shows that 48% of asthmatics treat their asthma attacks in the emergency room, and that one out of four asthmatics does not understand how to use their asthma medications correctly. This confusion can have dreadful consequences.

Treating asthma in the emergency room is the least cost-effective and least reasonable way to do it. Yet our health care systems do not recognize preventative care as desirable. So for the poorest, preventative care is unavailable and hence they are forced to deal with their condition through the emergency room, the least efficient way of treating a chronic condition. The inefficient way our health care system deals with chronic illnesses creates a greater cost to all of us.

This DMI/AM New York article illustrates three things: the effect that poor enforcement of housing codes have on the health of poor New Yorkers, the inefficiency of our health care system, and the fact that hot spots of illness--regions where an unusually high incidence of a disease--are alarms that are frequently ignored in our society. The questions need to be asked: What is causing those hot spots? Why isn't the city enforcing its own laws? And, why do we tolerate a health care system that is neither cost-effective nor effective in maintaining our health?

NY State drinking water is the 7th most contaminated in the nation. That’s right, go to your tap and get a drink of water. That glass is (on average) the 7th most contaminated glass of drinking water in the nation. And people who drink bottled water, you may not escape this since many bottled waters are simply tap water that may or may not be filtered to some degree. Not all of these contaminants are going to be eliminated in all bottled water.

Some time ago I wrote about what seems to be a Republican plot to poison America. Sounds dramatic? Maybe I should say a Republican apathy towards poisoning Americans. The consequences of deregulation may well be a poisoning of America. I saw this on