‘Nightline’ Mavericks — Edgy Comics, Nutritionists, Youth Leaders and a Family on the Road We Look Back at the People We’ve Profiled in the Past Year

Dec. 26, 2006 — – Among the people profiled on “Nightline” in 2006 were those who achieved notoriety and success, ignited controversy and garnered our attention. We’ve compiled the best of the bunch in our special “The Year of the Maverick,” airing tonight.

Ann Cooper of Berkeley, Calif., is an innovator among school lunch ladies. Cooper, whose official title is nutrition service director, tries to change the diet of American schoolchildren one school at a time. She challenges the daily student lunch menu and incorporates healthful food standards into daily meal service by working 10 hours a day trying to improve the daily nutrition of young Americans. (more…)

Go Ahead, Congress, Pick at Our Dinner

By KIM SEVERSON

EXPECT the hand of government to be messing around in America’s kitchens with vigor this year. A population panicked by two major food poisoning incidents this year will push for more frequent food safety inspections, healthier food at restaurants and schools, and greater accountability from growers and processors. With two produce-related outbreaks of E. coli fresh in the minds of constituents, members of Congress are dusting off legislation meant to get a tighter grasp on farms and produce processors, in particular. Leading the pack will be the Safe Food Act, introduced in 2005, which legislators have jumped on in the post-E. coli panic. Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York has said he will reintroduce the bill in January. It would create a single food safety agency, streamlining a system so bifurcated that the Department of Agriculture inspects frozen meat pizza while the Food and Drug Administration inspects cheese pizza. When it comes to fresh produce, implicated in the spinach outbreak in California in September and suspected in the outbreaks at Taco Bell restaurants this month, oversight is even weaker, spread among federal and state agencies. Fresh produce causes more food-borne illness than meat, which health officials attribute in part to tougher meat inspection and processing regulations that followed an E. coli outbreak traced to Jack in the Box hamburgers in 1993. Produce growers, hit with a drop in sales of spinach and other leafy greens after the outbreaks this year, say they hope that new standards and financing for farm inspections and the monitoring of soil and irrigation water might save the bagged-salad industry, which has $3 billion in annual sales. Local governments, too, are likely to play a role. Bolstered by New York’s ban on trans fat in food served in restaurants, city health departments in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and other cities are considering similar bans, and also looking into another New York law, which will require that chain restaurants post calorie counts next to prices on menus. Schools, too, will continue rethinking lunchroom menus, prompted in part by a federal regulation this year requiring districts to complete health and nutrition plans — “wellness” policies — if they wanted federal money. A study by the School Nutrition Association showed that almost all districts have chosen to focus on the quality of school lunches and most are trying to scrub junk food and sodas from vending machines. The march of science will make its strides into the kitchen, too. Last week, the F.D.A. moved a step closer to allowing the sale of meat and milk from cloned animals.

Head-Royce School working to be ‘green’

By Stephen Chao

THE MENACES of pollution, oil dependency, deforestation and global warming have dominated the news recently and raised public awareness all over the country. While efforts to improve our environment on a national and worldwide basis are important, for real progress to be made actions must first be taken at the local level.

“Think globally, act locally.” These were the words of David Brower, the founder of many vocal environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters.

In the wake of scores of warnings, including Al Gore’s popular documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” a call to action has sounded. Today, especially around the Bay Area, the facts supporting the threat of global warming seem incontrovertible. A recent study by NASA concluded that Earth’s temperature is at a 12,000-year high. The study also concluded that Earth has been warming at a rate of 0.36 degrees Fahrenheit every 10 years for the past three decades. NASA’s study is only one of the hundreds of its kind that warn of global warming’s effects. Such warming, if it was to continue, could spur the rapid melting of the polar ice caps, which would increase sea level by as much as 20 feet and displace millions of people to higher ground. In addition, the temperature change could affect the ecosystem and cause unforeseeable consequences to Earth’s wildlife. (more…)

And the government said DDT was safe as well. When we we ever learn??

F.D.A. Tentatively Declares Food From Cloned Animals to Be Safe
By ANDREW POLLACK and ANDREW MARTIN

After years of delay, the Food and Drug Administration tentatively concluded yesterday that milk and meat from some cloned farm animals are safe to eat. That finding could make the United States the first country to allow products from cloned livestock to be sold in grocery stores.

Even if the agency’s assessment is formally approved next year, consumers will not see many steaks or pork chops from cloned animals because the technology is still too expensive to be used widely.

But the F.D.A.’s draft policy touched off an immediate storm of criticism from consumer groups, as well as some concerns from meat and dairy companies worried about consumer reaction. (more…)

The Seeds of a Mission
By ANDREW MARTIN

DENISON, Iowa — With some restaurants and even the city of New York swearing off trans fat, Monsanto recently sent representatives here with a mission: persuade farmers to grow a special kind of soybean that produces a valuable alternative to frying oil laden with trans fat.

The company and its local soybean processor offered the farmers doughnuts and a simple pitch: an extra 35 cents a bushel to grow the special soybeans, instead of regular ones, and seemingly unlimited demand. The special soybeans contain less of the fatty linolenic acid than other soybeans.

Some liked the offer, but others were not so sure, given the extra work involved and the allure of planting high-priced corn instead to feed the ethanol boom. (more…)