Carbon monoxide study delivers a surprise

This is absurd. He found a NON-effect twice as often as he found a positive effect. We are looking at a random walk. The study proves nothing. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health should be ashamed of publishing such rubbish

Mothers in areas moderately polluted by carbon monoxide gave birth to children who were an average 58g lighter, a West Australian study suggests. "There was a decrease in optimal birth weight of 0.49 per cent," Telethon Institute for Child Health Research Gavin Pereira said, based on an expected baby weight of 3.5kg.

International studies into foetal growth and pollution have had mixed results.

"Our study was done in an Australian context,'' Dr Pereira said yesterday. "The levels of traffic-related air pollution is quite low so to find an effect is quite surprising."

Dr Pereira said 58g was about half the effect of smoking during pregnancy. "So in that context, the weight difference is not that small, particularly as larger populations are exposed," he said.

The study looked at carbon monoxide levels in three metropolitan areas in WA. An association was found in only one area

Dr Pereira said they took the child's birth weight and then worked out their expected size under optimal conditions. A computer model, developed by the Victorian Environmental Protection Authority, worked out the concentration of pollution at the mother's address.

"We'd expect the effects might be greater among more vulnerable populations. Traffic emissions could simply tip them over the edge," he said.

Dr Pereira said to minimise the contribution of traffic emissions, "use public transport, ride your bike, walk more and drive less".

More than 3000 women were included in the research, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.

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NYC Mayor Bloomberg: 'Government’s Highest Duty' Is to Push 'Healthy' Foods

What an arrogant, self-important Fascist!

During a United Nations General Assembly summit on non-communicable diseases -- a discussion that included diet and eating habits -- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said “governments at all levels must make healthy solutions the default social option."

Speaking on the government's role in diet and health last week, Bloomberg told the UN General Assembly, “There are powers only governments can exercise, policies only governments can mandate and enforce and results only governments can achieve. To halt the worldwide epidemic of non-communicable diseases, governments at all levels must make healthy solutions the default social option. That is ultimately government’s highest duty.”

Earlier in his address Bloomberg lauded the past dietary efforts of NYC, “In 2009 we enacted the first restriction on cholesterol-free artificial trans fat in the city’s food service establishments. Our licensing of street green card producer/vendors has greatly increased the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables in neighborhoods with high rates of diet related diseases. And we’ve led a national salt reduction initiative and engaged 28 food manufacturers, supermarkets and restaurant chains to voluntarily commit to reducing excessive amounts of sodium in their products. ”

“Collaboration across borders among national and local governments and agencies is also critical. The challenges before us are too vast and complex for individual governments to overcome alone,” Bloomberg later added.

Shortly after the address, the UN adopted a political declaration on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.

Among the items included in the declaration are having governments intervene with the advertising of foods deemed unhealthy to “Promote the implementation of the WHO (World Health Organization) set of recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children, including foods that are high in saturated fats, trans-fatty acids, free sugars, or salt,” according to the document.

The political declaration also touches upon taxation of unhealthy food and intervening in it’s production itself to promote, “the development and initiate the implementation, as appropriate, of cost-effective interventions to reduce salt, sugar and saturated fats, and eliminate industrially produced trans-fats in foods, including through discouraging the production and marketing of foods that contribute to unhealthy diet.”

SOURCE