Comparing Apples to Twinkies
by Craig Mosbaek, CHP Contributor We’ve all heard the admonishment “comparing apples to oranges.” What about comparing apples to Twinkies? CALPIRG and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund just released a report, Apples to Twinkies: Comparing Federal Subsidies of Fresh Produce and Junk Food. The research looked at the U.S. government agricultural subsidies from 1995-2010. The subsidies for four food additives used in many low-nutrition, high-calorie foods - corn syrup, high fructose ...
NY Times Addresses Environmental Causes of Obesity
The New York Times has now reported on how we perceive obesity now as environmentally affected, and not just about personal responsibility and education. While the public health community has known this for a long time, this piece, including research from the Lancet out of the UK, provides some good information about how we got here and what it might take to get us out of this mess. “As has happened with smoking,” Jane Brody writes, “it will take many years, a slew of different ...
Contagion: Public Health Goes to the Movies
By Craig Mosbaek, CHP Contributor The theater lights dimmed, and the contrasting health messages began: “No smoking in the theater,” “Buy candy,” and “Buy Coke.” Then Contagion begins. The first part contains good information about the investigation of epidemics, including concepts such as incubation period and case fatality ratio. As a public health person, I was entertained by the depictions of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The deputy director ...
Lessons in Communications
By Craig Mosbaek, CHP Contributor I had the opportunity to attend the mid-year meeting of the American Public Health Association earlier this summer, where communications was topic of strong emphasis, particularly in a presentation by Rob Gould. Gould is managing director for Brodeur Shift Positive. With a doctorate in social psychology and years of communications experience, Gould talked about the big lessons he has learned in the field. For example: While public health’s ...
Friday Funnies
By Craig Mosbaek, CHP Contributor Public health is serious business. But, sometimes we need a good laugh. New York City has been a leader with many public health policies, including menu labeling, eliminating trans fats, and banning smoking in various venues. With this in mind, The Week magazine held a contest for readers to predict the headline for the next city’s decree. The winner entry: NYC Shuts Down Early to Make Sure Residents Get 8 Hours of Sleep Other ones that ...
Do Bad Habits Happen to Good People?
By Craig Mosbaek, CHP Contributor When my daughter was in first grade, she came home and told me about a kid who misbehaved. I said something like, “that’s a bad kid.” She immediately came back with, “He’s not a bad kid. What he did was wrong.” They are teaching this important lesson in elementary school: Focus on the behavior that can be corrected, not on the kid. We in public health should apply this lesson too. Today, a facebook post by one of my favorite ...
Fox News Picks Up on Corn Subsidy Issue
Recently, Joshua Viertel, Slow Food USA’s President, appeared on Fox Business News to discuss the connection between U.S. government corn subsidies and the American obesity epidemic. “When you take $20 billion of taxpayer money and you pump it into a program that’s propping up production of corn syrup,” Viertel argued, “you’re creating a market where the things that are worse for us are falsely inexpensive, and you get into a situation where its easier to feed your kids fruit ...
Oregon’s Healthcare Transformation Work Continues
By Craig Mosbaek, CHP Contributor Governing Magazine just published an interview with Mike Bonetto, Governor Kitzhaber’s top health adviser. In the interview, Bonetto explains some of the concepts and values behind HB 3650 and the state’s transformation of healthcare delivery. The State of Oregon provides health insurance to almost one million people, including Medicaid participants, state public employees, and educators. One of the reasons Bonetto entered the policy arena was ...
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