Toothless the Survivor

J has a new pet/science experiment: a baby salamander.

Optimism

I didn't forget my meds this morning. I have book club tonight. I am going to be spending tomorrow cleaning my parents' house for some money. On Sunday I am making some stuff for our Etsy shop and hanging out with my family, and maybe having some people over. L still slept like crap last night (thanks to sinus congestion + teething).

Nothing major has changed, but I feel so much better today. Thank science for Zoloft, mood stabilizer extraordinaire.

Book Review: "The Seven Daughters of Eve" by Bryan Sykes

The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry by Bryan Sykes

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book was incredible. Exploring the mitochondrial heritage of humanity, Sykes delves into the mysteries of the seven women from whom Europeans are descended (as it turns out, globally there are more like 33 women) and the primary focus of the book. The lineages revealed by mitochondrial inheritance are sobering, and an interesting contrast to the patriarchal nature of most of human history. I really enjoyed the short pieces depicting the lives of the seven clan mothers: Xenia, Tara, Jasmine, Ursula, Katrine, Helena and Velda. I am definitely curious about which of them is my own progenitor. I feel more connected to the women in my personal history now, even those I've never known, and it comforts me to know that my daughter potentially will pass our mitochondrial DNA on to yet another generation.



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Book Review "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is (yet another) look at the history of science. This book is devastating and brutal in it's honesty about the history of the family to whom we owe a huge part of modern science: the HeLa cell line, and the Lacks family. As a scientist, I was not as outraged at some parts of this story as my husband (a non-scientist) but deeply saddened by what was once called "science" and the lack of ethics involved. It was great to get a look at the family behind HeLa, which was glossed over in my classes in college as having come from a "Helen Lane" and that was that. I hadn't realized the scope of the impact that the cell line had on science. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. There are parts that make you hate the doctors and the people who take advantage (intentionally or not) of the Lacks family, and parts that made me glad to be in my chosen profession. I definitely learned a lot about the history of ethics in research science, and how very new that role is.



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I have read 29 of my goal of 75 books for 2011.

Oh for the love of Pete...

One of the bump.com message boards I frequent had a post about vaccines. The woman posting seems to know what she's doing and asked for reasonable advice, and is just doing her research about vaccinating her preemies. Anyway, I responded that she should read Paul Offit's book Deadly Choices (I posted the review here). Someone else responded with a "I went to a seminar by the author of Vaccine Epidemic and I haven't read the book, though. I learned some really interesting stuff and I might ask my pediatrician about some of it and follow their advice." Really? REALLY?!  First of all, Offit is a DOCTOR, an MD, who knows the medical science behind vaccines and the diseases they prevent. Neither of the editors of Vaccine Epidemic has any scientific background (from what I can glean from their author bios); one has an MA and one is a lawyer. They are both human rights specialists. One would think that if they truly cared about humanity/human rights, they wouldn't spread such tripe and would instead try to help people understand why vaccines and modern medicine can HELP people have a better quality of life, rather than such bullshit. And no, I haven't read the book. I may read it just so I can better understand what the fuck these people have to say about something that saves lives.  It just seems, from an outside view, that it is unconscionable for human rights activists to basically say that vaccines are scary and the companies that make them just want to get money for them. Dammit. Now I have to read their fucking book. Oh, and a bonus? The amazon.com description basically says that their entire book is ANECDOTAL evidence. Not scientific evidence. Coincidence and even subsequence does not equal causality, dumbass editors.

Dear god. This is one of those moments when my faith in humanity slips a little bit. If you're going to write a book about why companies that make vaccines are evil, at least enlist someone credible with some science background. Oh wait, nobody fitting that description would be involved with such an endeavor. Gah.

Book Review "Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All" by Paul A. Offit

Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All by Paul A. Offit

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was a fascinating and horrifying read. It addressed the history of vaccines, as well as the anti-vaccine movement, which started very shortly after the first vaccine (for smallpox, via cowpox) was developed. The amount of misinformation in the world that is used by anti-vaccine activists is truly saddening. Having taken a fair amount of immunology coursework in my educational path to my two degrees, I felt that I was well prepared to read this book; however, the book is written in such a way that even someone with no scientific background whatsoever can benefit from the information therein. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you have children, you should read it. Maybe it won't change the mind of anti-vaccine parents, but it will at least clarify some things for most people. I was also pleased to note that the last 50 or so pages of text are all references. The only thing I wasn't so keen on was the depiction of chiropractors; I feel that the author should have drawn a better distinction between chiropractors who believe that there are no germs and that everything wrong with your body can be fixed by an adjustment and those who believe that having a properly aligned back can help you live a pain free, and therefore healthier life. In the grand scheme of things, though, that doesn't really matter.



Overall, this book is amazing. I had no idea the extent of the anti-vaccine movement (although at least 2 of my sisters and possibly my older brother as well have not vaccinated their children, and my youngest brother is not vaccinated either) and the misconceptions spread by its members until I read this book. I only knew that people claimed that thimerosal caused autism (very, very well refuted by multiple studies). I didn't know that going back to my own childhood there were claims that vaccines caused mental and physical disabilities.



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Gigantic Storks and Hobbits. You can't make this stuff up.

Killer Storks Eat Human Babies (Perhaps)

Image from NPR article linked above. Apparently, on the same island as the Homo floresienses (3 foot tall "hobbit" people), there lived some freaking massive storks, about 6 feet tall. When this was first discovered a bunch of news sources reported that these storks ate the hobbit babies, but there is really no evidence to back this up. For all we know, they may have been eaten by the hobbits, or maybe worshiped by them, or (as I prefer to think, because it's funny) perhaps even tamed so that the hobbits could have rodeos. Nobody knows. Well worth a read, and this speaks to the importance of not claiming "facts" without actual evidence to back them up.

 

More like a Baby Every Day

Well, every few days, anyway. HP is now at Carnegie stage 14! (Have I mentioned that I love visembryo.com?!)

31- 35 days post-ovulation

---

Head and Neck
The brain and head grow rapidly. The mandibular and hyoid arches are noticeable. Ridges demarcate the three sections of the brain (midbrain, forebrain and hindbrain). The spinal cord wall at this stage contains three zones: the ventricular, the mantle and the marginal. The ventricular zone will form neurons, glial cells and ependymal cells, the intermediate mantle will form neuron clusters and the marginal zone will contain processes of neurons. Adenohypophyseal pouch, which will develop into the anterior pituitary, is defined.

Lens vesicle opens to the surface and is nestled within the opttic cup. Otic vesicle increases its size by approximately one-fourth and its endolymphatic appendage is more defined. Nasal plate can be detected by thickened ectoderm.

Thorax
Esophagus, the tube through which food is swallowed, forms from a groove of tissue that separates from the trachea, which is also visible.

Semilunar valves begin to form in the heart. Four major subdivisions of the heart (the trabeculated left and right ventricles, the conus cords and the truncus arteriosus) are clearly defined. Two sprouts, a ventral one from the aortic sac and a dorsal one from the aorta, form the pulmonary (sixth aortic) arch.

Right and left lung sacs lie on either side of the esophagus.

Abdomen and Pelvic Regions
Ureteric bud appear. Metanephros, which will eventually form the permanent kidney, is developing.

Limbs
Upper limbs elongate into cylindrically-shaped buds, tapering at tip to eventually form hand plate. Nerve distribution process, innervation, begins in the upper limbs. 

My Baby Looks Like a...Something.

Hush Puppy, you are now at Carnegie Stage 11. This means you have a tail your eyes are beginning to develop. Mommy knows LOTS about what your eyes are doing right now, she has a whole MS degree on it. You have a heart, and it's beating, and you have the beginnings of a brain. Your big brother probably won't think you look like an elephant anymore (though you very well may, from the back). Your little somites are growing, and you thoroughly resemble a vertebrate embryo, so yay! No arms or legs yet, but be patient. You'll get them.

Houston, We Have Neurulation!

  

Yay for neurulation and continuing gastrulation!! Grow, Hush Puppy, grow. Hush Puppy has earned this nickname for his or her constant wish for Mommy to consume greasy, salty, crunchy fried foods. Mmm, french fries and bacon. And spicy chicken sandwiches. And spicy stuff in general. I could so go for some spicy Pad Thai right now. Yes, I realize it isn't even 10:00 am yet. OMG and BBQ. I think we're having BBQ ribs for dinner. 

Also, cute big brother story! Last night J came up to me (I was sitting down) and he started poking my belly and saying "kiss! kiss!" so I stood up. All he wanted to do was kiss the baby. Awww. He loves Hush Puppy. Maybe we shouldn't tell him that Hush Puppy is the baby. He might want to name it that.

The joys of growing a ball!

Little one, you are now gastrulating. That's really the most important thing you'll ever do, because you won't be able to do anything else if you don't gastrulate. Your big brother calls you a ball baby and wants to squeeze you. He already loves you very much. Keep on growing little ball!

Also, if you could make me want something other than salty, crunchy fried food, I'd appreciate it. I'm a little sick of craving bacon and french fries.

Study: Lack of breastfeeding costs lives, billions of dollars (from CNN Health)

A new study in the journal Pediatrics indicates that breastfeeding for as little as the first 6 months of life could save about 1000 lives and billions of dollars every year. Very interesting. Linky here.

 

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Study urges infants be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life
• U.S. breastfeeding rates fall far below medical recommendations
• Biggest priority should be to improve maternity care practices, study's author says

(from CNN Health)

Very Interesting!

Onions Made Pre-Human Ancestors Cry Too, Study Suggests

LiveScience.com livescience Staff

livescience.com – Fri Mar 19, 4:43 pm ET

The sensors in your body that make you tear up when you're cutting onions have been around for 500 million years, a new study finds.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100319/sc_livescience/onionsmadeprehumanancestorscrytoostudysuggests

Smoking is bad for you, Mmmkay?

I went to one of the schools that the show South Park is based on. So I got the "drugs are bad" lecture from this guy (image courtesy of Comedy Central):


This unfortunate man does, in fact, exist, and his name has only one letter different from his South Park moniker. Anyway, he also gave my class the "smoking/tobacco is bad, mmkay?" lecture, which basically consisted of showing us lots of gross pictures of black and tarry lungs, and video of people who'd had cancer and therefore had parts of their faces and necks removed.

Well, I never smoked or chewed (ick!) but that's beside the point. All the nasty images in the world cannot prepare you for the reality. I sometimes come across samples from patients who claim not to smoke, when from examination of the white blood cells in their lungs I can tell that they are, in fact, BIG FAT LIARS. Or small skinny liars. Liars nonetheless. Today's sample takes the nasty tar and ash covered cake.
Can I just say EEW?! That, right there, is 14 million of the most tar- and smoke residue- filled cells I have ever seen. This person's lungs looked fairly normal on the grand scale, but when you get down to it, his or her poor little white blood cells may as well have been tarred and feathered.

Lets think about this for a moment. Your lungs have immune cells in them to keep you healthy. If you drown them in nasty tar, how the hell are they going to catch the bugs that make you sick?! Not very well, that's how.

I'll step down off my soapbox now.

Facts and Fiction about H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu)

In case you are totally clueless about H1N1, here's the CDC Fact Page.

I thought it would be a good idea to provide some information about the H1N1 flu, just because it's in the news, and unfortunately people are not always getting the right information. I'll do my best to debunk some of the myths and also to spread the knowledge. Most of this comes from a combination of my own background and what I've been told by immunologists and physicians at work, as well as some interviews I've heard on Science Friday, and also a lot from the CDC H1N1 page. I'll provide specific references in the form of links where I can.

Fiction: Hand sanitizer will keep you from getting the flu.

Fact: Influenza virus is not killed by alcohol-based sanitizers (according to Dr. J. Owen Hendley). The only surefire way to remove flu virus from your hands is to wash with soap and water, while rubbing hands together, for at least 20 seconds. Hand sanitizer will kill most bacteria and some other viruses, but not H1N1. Regular hand washing is the best defense.

Fiction: Flu vaccine causes you to get the flu.

Fact: The flu vaccine cannot give you the flu, as it consists of pieces of a dead virus that only serves as "training" for your immune system so that your cells will recognize the strains against which the vaccine was developed, so that your body can more efficiently fight off the virus. You may experience soreness at the injection site (I do, anyway), and if you are allergic to eggs (albumin) you should not get the flu vaccine.

Fiction: I don't need to get the vaccine, I haven't gotten the flu in years.

Fact: In general, the flu shot is a good idea for people who take care of small children and the elderly, as well as individuals in both of those populations. However, as a novel virus, H1N1 is a cause for greater concern because most people don't have an immunity of any kind against it. This seems to be manifested best in the observation that people under 50 have presented more cases than those over 50. According to the CDC (via Science Friday), as of May 11: "the more recent illnesses and the reported death suggest that a pattern of more severe illness associated with this virus may be emerging in the U.S. Most people will not have immunity to this new virus and, as it continues to spread, more cases, more hospitalizations and more deaths are expected in the coming days and weeks."

Fiction: If I get the flu vaccine, I am protected against all kinds of flu virus.

Fact: The flu vaccine varies from year to year, and each year the developers of the vaccine target the predominant strains. This means that you are reasonably well protected, but you can still get a less common strain of the flu. This year, because of the H1N1 flu, there will be two separate vaccines. The first one, which is currently being shipped out and will be available very soon, is the one that comes out every year, geared toward the "old" flu viruses that make up the seasonal flu. The second vaccine is specifically for H1N1, and will not be available until later in the year and will come out sometime in October. The H1N1 vaccine will be given in two doses, about a month apart. If you have a small child, this is the same way that the regular flu vaccine is given the first time your child gets the vaccine. This is because the first shot may not provide complete immunity when your immune system has never seen the virus (dead or alive) before. The second shot gives your immune system a second chance to get things figured out so that you will be better protected. The only time you need to get the vaccine in two doses is the first year you get the vaccine.

Who should get the vaccine?

In the event of a limited vaccine supply, the following groups receive the vaccine before others: pregnant women, people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age, health care and emergency medical services personnel with direct patient contact, children 6 months through 4 years of age, and children 5 through 18 years of age who have chronic medical conditions. Once the demand for vaccine for these target groups has been met at the local level, programs and providers should begin vaccinating everyone from ages 25 through 64 years. (From the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/public/vaccination_qa_pub.htm)

Here is the email that was sent out at work, by the Infection Control Officer of the hospital:

As there is growing concern regarding the upcoming influenza season and the current novel influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, I wanted to provide a brief update on the situation.

∙ The influenza season in the southern hemisphere appears to be winding down, with most countries having past the peak level of influenza activity. Novel influenza A H1N1 was and is the dominant circulating influenza strain, supplanting seasonal influenza A. The disease spectrum appears to be similar to what has been seen in North America.

∙ In the US, influenza activity has been stable over the summer, with most states currently reporting local or sporadic activity. Novel influenza A (H1N1) is causing the majority of influenza in the United States, and is expected to be the predominant cause of influenza this fall and winter.

∙ In the United States, most of the persons affected have been younger than 50 years old. Symptoms have included fever, cough, and sore throat in the majority. About 25% of infected persons have presented with diarrhea or vomiting. Most disease continues to be mild and self-limited.

∙ The rapid influenza test is an insensitive test for novel influenza A (H1N1). A negative test does NOT rule out infection.

∙ H1N1 PCR testing (in Colorad0) from the state health department is only being done for hospitalized patients, in order to better understand the epidemiology of the virus, rather than as a diagnostic tool.

What this means:

∙ A person with sudden onset of fever, cough, sore throat and other flu-like symptoms such as muscle aches and headache should be considered to have novel influenza A (H1N1) if there is not another probable explanation.

∙ Every person suspected to have influenza should be treated as if they have influenza until proven otherwise, and be placed in the appropriate isolation precautions. If influenza testing is ordered, the person tested should be considered to have influenza until proven otherwise.

∙ Antiviral medications are available for treatment and chemoprophylaxis. However, most people with influenza do not require antiviral therapy. Antiviral prescription is appropriate for persons with severe illness and those at high-risk of complications of influenza (http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/recommendations.htm). If appropriate, antiviral therapy should be prescribed based on clinical suspicion, not on testing results. Healthcare providers with unintended, unprotected, close contact to a patient with influenza may be offered chemoprophylaxis to prevent infection.

I hope the email above was informative. Other random tips:

If you are coughing, cough into your elbow, not your hands. This applies whether you have the flu or not.

Wash your hands frequently with soap and water.

Don't spit on the ground if you cough up phlegm. This releases your personal "bugs" (viruses, bacteria, etc) into the environment around you and exposes your fellow citizens to your illness.

If you have the flu, stay home until you are well. It's best not to expose anyone else unnecessarily.

Use the sanitizing wipes on your grocery cart and hands before you start your shopping to minimize transmission of anything you may be carrying.

A Novella on The Fertility Awareness Method and the Female Reproductive Cycle

I realized that I have whined about my 10 day luteal phase (or LP), and never really said anything about what a luteal phase is (in case any of you reading this don't know), and why it would be bad to have one only last 10 days. Well, here is all you need to know, and then some.

First of all, there are some basic things about the female reproductive cycle that everyone with a uterus really should know, but most people don't because, well, where would they learn these things? You'd actually be surprised at how little your doctor may know about these things as well. I got the bare minimum in sex ed, but I have two degrees in biology so I thought I was well-versed in female reproduction. Until I read a wonderful book called Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler I had absolutely no idea how little I knew. Fertilityfriend.com also has a good tutorial, but I will summarize. One huge basic thing that not everyone realizes: a 28-day cycle isn't the norm! I have 32ish day cycles. Some women have 24 day cycles. Another thing is that many women assume that they have 28 day cycles, because they have been on the pill for a long time. If you are on the pill, you will always have 28 day cycles, but those are annovulatory (no ovulation= no babies, which is how pills work to keep you from getting pregnant). This is not necessarily so. Whatever length your cycle is, make no assumptions about when you ovulate. Online ovulation predictors are absolutely not accurate, do not use them! Most women do not ovulate on cycle day 14. You may ovulate on CD 20 and have an 8 day LP, which is problematic. Maybe you ovulate on CD12 and have a 16 day LP. Alternately, you may ovulate on CD 10 of a 24 day cycle, and if you waited to CD28 to take a HPT (home pregnancy test) you would already be 4 days "late." If you have a 32 day cycle, ovulated at CD 20, and took a HPT at CD 28, it would be too early to really get a reliable result. Without charting (using FAM) or otherwise tracking ovulation, there is really no way to know when or even if you ovulated in a given cycle.

On to the science! A menstrual cycle has essentially two parts: the follicular phase (FP) and the LP, which I mentioned earlier, and they add up to any number of cycle lengths. Here is a basic breakdown.

Follicular Phase:
This phase takes up the first part of your cycle, from the first day of red menstrual flow through the day you ovulate. Some women ovulate super early (like cycle day, or CD, 8) and some ovulate super late (anything after 25 days is generally considered late). During this phase, your uterus is chilling, making lining for a potential embryo to implant. Your ovaries are working on making your eggs mature so that they can be released at ovulation. Progesterone level is pretty much nil, and your estrogen is having it's own party. FAM (the Fertility Awareness Method) keeps track of this part of the cycle by having you take your temperature first thing every morning to establish a baseline, and also checking your cervical fluid and your cervical position. Yes, this does mean sticking your (clean) fingers in your vagina, get over it. It isn't any ickier than picking your nose, and honestly I think it's cleaner than that. Your basal body temperature (BBT) is at the lowest during this part of your cycle. During the early part of your FP, your cervix will be low in the vagina and firm to the touch, like your nose. Cervical fluid may be non-noticeable, or sticky, or lotiony. In the days leading up to ovulation your cervix moves higher up and becomes very soft (like your lips). Cervical fluid takes on watery or eggwhite characteristics. If you notice in the graph below there are two hormones that peak just before ovulation. These are Lutenizing Hormone (LH) and Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH). Their job is to spike 24-48 hours before ovulation, which tells your ovaries that they'd better get their butts in gear and spit out an egg (ovum), which is ovulation. This same spike also causes estrogen (or estrodiol) to cease and desist. Sometimes there is a slight temperature drop on the day of ovulation, but this is not a reliable indicator of impending ovulation. Anyway, once ovulation happens, we move on to the Luteal Phase!

Graph Credit

Luteal Phase:
Ovaries are made up of numerous follicles (hence, follicular phase) and each of these contains an ovum. Once the ovum is released, the follicle actually swells up and takes on a yellowish hue, and becomes a Corpus Luteum- a "Yellow Body", hence, Luteal Phase. This corpus luteum is very important to fertility. It produces progesterone, which is essential to sustaining an early pregnancy. Within 24 hours of ovulation, this progesterone spike causes your body temperature to increase by several tenths of a degree. This is how ovulation can be confirmed. By the time you can confirm ovulation based on temperatures, however, the fertile window has passed, so this is not an appropriate way to time conception sex. However, if you are trying to avoid conception, 3 days after ovulation is perfectly safe to have unprotected sex, because your little eggie has shriveled up and died. The progesterone that floods your system during the LP causes your cervical fluid (CF, or CM for cervical mucus) to dry up again, and your cervix will come back down and become more firm once more. Most of the time, the corpus luteum hangs out and does its thing long enough to create a 12-14 day LP. Variations within a day of this are perfectly normal, but if you get under 10 days for a LP, fertility issues arise. If there were sperm waiting for your happy little ovum, then there may be an embryo developing that is waiting to implant. Implantation happens about 7-10 days post ovulation, during which time your little embie is floating down your fallopian tube. If your LP is only 8 or 9 days, there is not sufficient time for the embryo to implant before your menstrual flow begins. The corpus luteum degrades at the end of your LP, which is evidenced by a plummet in BBT and the onslaught of AF (Aunt Flo, every womans *favorite* visitor) within 24 hours of the temperature drop, and you begin your next cycle. As an example of what a chart looks like, here is my prettiest one ever (click for a bigger view of it):

Ah, a normal fertile period, a 16 day LP, ovulation on CD 18...

I hope that made sense, I tried to keep it at about an introductory biology level, but please ask for clarification if something doesn't make sense!

Now, on to me personally. Since I have been having 10 day LPs, this presents a potential problem for when C and I are TTC (trying to conceive) in the not-super-distant future. We have plenty of time to address any issues, but we still need to address them. I did some googling around, and found out that there is a link between breastfeeding (the only info I found was from women still nursing their toddlers, just like me!) and cycles like mine: extended fertile periods, short LPs, like my chart from last cycle (I had to add the crosshairs manually because Fertility Friend wouldn't do it):

Prolactin, which is involved in milk production, can apparently interfere with the happy cycle depicted in the first graph above. If I had to guess, I would say that it causes the estrogen dropoff to be more gradual and therefore keep fertile CF around longer, and also causes the corpus luteum to be underdeveloped, generating less progesterone and degrading more quickly than in the absence of prolactin. That is my educated guess, I could very well be wrong.

My options are pretty much to wean J before TTC, which I planned to do anyway, but perhaps a couple cycles before TTC rather than the same cycle we planned to start TTC. I can also take vitamin B6 supplements before TTC to see if that makes a difference. If that doesn't work, I may be prescribed to take progesterone supplements. I strongly suspect that simply weaning J will solve my problem, since I had no issues whatsoever before having him.

I hope this was informative to anyone curious about FAM and/or how the female reproductive cycle works!

Wine and Dine

Apparently there's some evidence that "wine and dine" actually works for males who want to get some loving. Well, for chimps, anyway. Amusing article.

STANDING UP, STANDING TOGETHER

I am posting this here to spread the word about the importance of science in everyday life, with permission from the author.

Written for THE DAILY RECORD, Ellensburg, WA

Jim Huckabay

Column Title: “INSIDE THE OUTDOORS”

STANDING UP, STANDING TOGETHER

I hate it when I see a representative of one group of outdoor users taking shots at other groups of outdoor users. It reminds me of something Shari Fraker used to say. When I was executive director of the United Sportsmen Council of Colorado—some fifty different organizations—a few decades back, she was representing one of the bow hunting outfits. Over and over, as trappers and target shooters and trout fishermen and duck hunters and big game hunters haggled over an appropriate position to take on some proposed rule or regulation, she would remind us that we got together to support each other. “Together,” she might say, “we can ensure the future of our various outdoor enterprises for our descendants. Alone, fighting only for our own specific perspectives, we end up eating our young—and tomorrow won’t matter.”

In Tuesday’s paper, you probably read Ted Williams’ “Writers on the Range” piece about lead shot and bullets. He raised a number of points about lead poisoning in various critters, probable causes and the changes which have come about as a result of a variety of studies. His story was initially about improving conditions for condors as lead is phased out in condor range. Unfortunately, Mr. Williams, who is conservation editor of a fly fishing mag, was unable to resist the urge to slam Safari Club International over its “Sportsmen Against Hunger” program (whereby hunters donate some of their game meat to food pantries), even suggesting that the donated game meat was poisoning the poor who received it.

You may recall the reports late last year about the findings of Peregrine Fund board member William Cornatzer, a dermatologist, who collected a hundred one-pound packages of ground venison from food pantries in North Dakota, and used CT scans on the meat to find lead fragments. North Dakota did more testing at the University of Iowa, apparently finding that about sixty percent of the meat contained some quantity of lead. Cornatzer's sampling was not random, and a number of questions have been raised about its validity.

Obviously, lead is a concern for anyone—especially with regard to levels in kids. Still, I’ve been on the planet and playing science long enough that I know how often things are taken out of context and blown out of proportion. This is one of those cases, I think. I did a bit of a search.

The most food- and additive-conscious people with which I have played are the Europeans. Start googling “lead in game meat studies” and you quickly find a 2002 article in the European Food Research and Technology Journal, “Intake of lead from game meat - a risk to consumers' health?” Here’s the gist of the abstract: “…The effect of frequent game meat consumption on the blood lead levels of hunters, who are a high-risk lead exposure group, was studied. Blood lead levels of hunters and control subjects were measured using isotope dilution ICP-MS. …individual blood lead concentrations of the hunters did not correlate with the number of their weekly game meat meals. The blood lead levels were compared with a control group…of voluntary blood donors from the same region. …it was concluded that frequent consumption of wild game meat has no significant effect on blood lead levels. (Check out http://www.springerlink.com/content/bfpm6clj036w3vkw/.)

After the food bank flap, the North Dakota Department of Public Health studied 738 North Dakota residents. Eighty percent consumed wild game shot with lead, including deer and birds.

They found that participants who consumed wild game averaged .30 micrograms/dl more lead in their blood than those who did not. Those who ate game within a month of the study had higher lead blood levels than those who had not consumed it within a month. Here’s the kicker: all participants were well below the 25 micrograms/dl “level of intervention” for adults. And the participant average lead levels of 1.17 micrograms/dl were below the average American’s lead level of 1.60. Give me a break.

Instead of looking for ways to attack those who don’t “recreate” in the ways we like best or use tools we like, we need to be thinking ahead—and holistically—about how all of us are needed to create a future with real outdoor opportunity.

I often think about this poem, attributed to Pastor Martin Niemoeller, about the intellectuals’ lack of protest about the rise of Nazi power.

“First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out--because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out--because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out--I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

[Copyright James L. Huckabay, 2009]

Jim Huckabay chairs the Department of Geography at Central and is the author of "WILD WINDS and Other Tales of Growing Up in the Outdoor West."