San Francisco News Blog

flickr/Big Kohuna

No, really. We like to drink.

​When it came to our attention that Men's Health magazine had named Fresno the drunkest city in the U.S. in their annual ranking of cities by sobriety, we immediately wondered, wither S.F.? After all, we like a drink as much as the next person, even if it is an herbal digestif.

The answer will probably drive you to drink.

Out of the 100 cities ranked, San Francisco clocked in at a paltry 86th. Oakland landed the 75th spot. Berkeley didn't even make the list. Although if Men's Health had taken into account all the alcohol-tinged kambucha's chugged in that locale, the city probably would have made an impressive showing. (To be fair, the first article that greeted us when we visited the Men's Health' Web site was "5 Ways to Leave Her Begging For More", which made us immediately suspect of all other articles.)

Helping Haiti doesn't have to only pump your pocketbook. Use your breasts.

A slew of human breast milk associations (yes, there are many) are imploring women with a generous heart and lactating bosoms to donate their milk to the closest milk bank -- which, in our case, is in San Jose. The first shipment of human milk will be sent this week to the U.S. Navy Ship Comfort, where Haitian babies are receiving care at a neonatal intensive care unit. The organizations will be shipping more milk for older infants on land as soon as the infrastructure is in place.

Win some, lose some

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A victory for medical marijuana here, a defeat there. While the California Supreme Court this morning struck down limits on the amount of medical marijuana a licensed user can posses or cultivate, it seems Los Angeles users will soon have a smaller selection of places to get their pot at all.

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council gave initial approval to an ordinance that would close hundreds of dispensaries and impose harsh rules on those remaining, including prohibiting customers from smoking inside. Since the 11-3 vote wasn't the unanimous agreement needed to pass a statute on the first reading, the council will vote on the measure again next Tuesday, according to the L.A. Times.

The council has proposed to allow the clubs that were opened before a 2007 city moratorium to stay in business, meaning the city could have about 150 clubs, according to the report. (The moratorium was struck down as invalid by a judge in October.) 

A survey of thousands of women nationwide indicates that, among elderly women with dementia, the percentage receiving a screening mammogram more than doubles when the women are married and well-off. That people with someone to care for them and money in the bank receive more health treatment than the poor, lonely, and helpless shouldn't come as a surprise. But the UCSF study's second claim may: More treatment is not a good thing.

The study's lead author, Dr. Kala Mehta, told SF Weekly that for women aged 70 or more and suffering from dementia, a screening mammogram will likely do more harm than good.

Obviously, that leaves lots of room for improvement -- and San Francisco is a city that bristles at the description "average." And yet, improvement may only come via giving the government the ability to intrude in your life to a degree many might feel is downright creepy.

At this point, we should note that writing about municipal tobacco policies isn't easy. It'd be hard to find people more well-meaning than the American Lung Association -- and, conversely, you won't find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than Big Tobacco. And yet, when you advocate that people be forbidden from lighting up a cigarette even within their own homes -- as the American Lung Association does -- you're crossing into uncomfortable territory.

via flickr by the badastronomer

Swine Flu San Francisco style

​ A recent survey found that despite all fears over swine flu, majority of San Franciscans aren't convinced it's all that scary, and that the risks of H1N1 have been"overhyped" in the news media.

A team of professors and graduate students from San Francisco State University surveyed 330 adults in San Francisco between Oct. 31 and Nov. 9 and found that 75 percent of those surveyed had no plans to get the H1N1 vaccine or hadn't decided whether to get the vaccine. Roughly 38 percent said they heard conflicting information about swine flu, according to the survey.

It seems that San Franciscans stand alone on this one. The study showed that we were more skeptical of the swine flu than people in other places.

But why?

"We are sophisticated media consumers," says Sanjit Sengupta, a marketing professor who led the study. "We only believe it if we hear it from NPR."

But it seems our instincts about swine flu were spot on. Even before the CDC reported that swine flu cases are declining, new data was released suggesting that maybe the swine flu was more of a panic than a pandemic.

Thanks to us, there should be more vaccines to go around.

Shag on...

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An out-of-towner recently asked SF Weekly, why does even BART have carpeting?

Good question.

According to Linton Johnson, chief spokesman for BART, carpeting and padded seats were promised to riders back when the trains were built in the 1960s. At that time BART ridership was just a trickle, and so the agency was justified in delivering a luxury like carpet on a train.

Of course you know, this means war

​In anticipation over today's pending battle at the Board of Supervisors meeting over whether or not to spend $8 million to save 40, 100, or 500 SEIU jobs at the Department of Public Health, the union has sent out a glossy, campaign-style mailer. And Gavin Newsom is the cover boy.

But the SEIU's goal isn't to praise Newsom, but bury him -- in phone calls and e-mails.

"Gavin Newsom's Universal Health Care Plan..." reads the cover caption alongside a campaigning Newsom. Within, the pamphlet queries: "His legacy? Or a missed opportunity?" In SEIU purple-and-yellow, the mailer features photos and testimonials from, among others, General Hospital's former chief of staff, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano -- the real father of Healthy San Francisco -- and Senators Mark Leno and Leland Yee. All of them question the mayor's wisdom in moving ahead with job reassignments and layoffs and imply that the Healthy San Francisco plan will be jeopardized. And those agreeing with them are encouraged to call the mayor or supes at the conveniently listed phone numbers.

The November Coalition

Drug War protester at Huntington Beach, Calif.

Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office

D.A. Steve Cooley (left) and City Attorney Carmen Trutanich: They'll keep busting dispensaries no matter what the City Council says!

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Photo by Shay Sowden, Wikimedia Commons

L.A.'s dispensaries remain open, for now.

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Photo by LiveBloid, Wikimedia Commons

Watching you?

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Even when compared with fellow combat veterans -- not pencil pushers -- soldiers who reported taking others' lives had higher incidences of post-traumatic stress disorder, violent behavior, troubles with daily functioning, and myriad other psychological problems. And these problems have persisted for years.

"Killing, in a variety of ways, turns out to have a wide range of mental health and functioning impacts," said the study's lead author Dr. Shira Maugen, a staff psychologist at the San Francisco VA. The study was published in a recent edition of The Journal of Traumatic Stress. "We knew [killing] would be important, but we were surprised at the extent to which the effects of being in combat faded in comparison."

Here's the study's methodology:

Photo by Coaster 420, Wikimedia Commons

Coming to a dispensary near you

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A study published in this month's edition of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine finds that children from low-income communities who regularly attend PE classes have a lower body mass index and greater cardiovascular fitness than their more sedentary peers.

The analysis of 9,268 seventh- and ninth-grade students at 19 high schools in low-income communities found the following:

In an April cover story, we looked at the dilemma facing the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state agency created through Proposition 71 to fund stem-cell research: Should the landmark agency direct the remainder of its $3 billion in research funds towards "adult" stem cells -- which are closer to clinical applications, albeit for less serious ailments -- or to embryonic stem cells, which offer hope to intractable degenerative diseases such as juvenile diabetes and multiple sclerosis?

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CIRM board member Jeff Sheehy told SF Weekly back in April that this was "an identity issue" for the agency, particularly since it was founded in response to Bush Administration restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research.

"If we are going to say that we're going to work with adult stem cells, we can be in the translational phase and the clinic now," said Sheehy, who is also communications director for UCSF's AIDS Research Institute. "While they're going to be of benefit to a great many people in California, these adult-stem-cell approaches are probably not going to have a big impact on these severe degenerative diseases that really motivated a great number of people to support Prop. 71, like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, spinal-cord injuries."

This morning, Kellogg's released a statement that they are discontinuing the immunity statements on all of their Rice Krispies cereal boxes because of the recent public attention on the swine flu. But never fear, they also write that their cereal will still be fortified with antioxidants. Most importantly though, it will still be 40 percent sugar by weight, which is the reason most people buy the cereal anyhow.

A spokeswoman for the company, Susan Norwitz, wrote in an e-mail that the company started their immunity marketing in May 2009 -- well before the swine flu became an issue. Norwitz said it's coincidental that the package made it to the shelves at the same time that H1N1 fears blew up.

Photo: Coaster420, Wikimedia Commons

Medical marijuana: Legal as long as you don't actually buy it anywhere?

​It's a classic case of disconnect between public policy and public opinion. As District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis continues with her medical marijuana dispensary crackdown in San Diego, a new poll indicates that a hefty majority of city residents favor leaving the pot shops open and regulating them.

Due to the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Gonzales v. Raich, the government has the discretion to enforce federal marijuana laws even in medical marijuana states. The Raich ruling also allows federal prosecutors to conveniently exclude evidence of medical use or state law compliance in federal trials, all but guaranteeing convictions of medical marijuana patients and providers.

Last week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder formalized a departure from Bush Administration policy when he issued new guidelines to federal prosecutors discouraging them from prosecuting cases in which patients and providers are "in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws."

Unfortunately, the new DOJ guidelines neither direct U.S. Attorneys to abandon the more than two-dozen pending federal medical marijuana cases, nor allow defendants the ability to use medical evidence to exonerate themselves.

Everyone knows ex-boxer Tony Danza played an ex-boxer namd Tony on Taxi. Not everyone knows that lawyer William Berg's tipsy taxi promotion won't allow you to go from San Francisco to the East Bay

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We'll get you all the details, but we'll also do what most news providers do not -- and that is spell out, explicitly, that you cannot take a cab from San Francisco to the East Bay on Bill Berg's dime. So if you're hoping to drink like Peter O'Toole in the city and then glide home, gratis, in a cab -- you'll have to come up with some other ingenious plan.

"In San Francisco you can go from any bar or restaurant to your own residence within city limts," says Berg. "You cannot go to another party or bar. And, unfortunately, our budget doesn't allow you to travel outside of San Francisco."

Of course, interestingly, if San Franciscans want to booze it up in the East Bay and then take a cab home courtesy of Berg -- he says you can do that.

Photo by Rotbuche, Wikimedia Commons

Let my people grow.

​In a stunning bit of role reversal, law enforcement officials in dispensary-heavy Los Angeles County are gearing up for a massive mobilization against hundreds of pot shops even while the Obama administration backs away from the federal government's traditional role as marijuana enforcer in the states where medical pot is legal.

​Say it's lunchtime and you're at the local gas station trying to choose between the chili cheese dog withering away under the heat lamp or the pre-packaged chicken salad sandwich -- which is going to be healthier? Your instincts might say: Sterile-looking, triangle-shaped sandwich. But the Department of Justice says: If it's a REL's sandwich, go with the cheese dog.

The DOJ filed a federal suit yesterday in San Francisco District Court against Oakland-based REL's Food, Inc. -- which makes the pre-packaged sandwiches one might find at a gas station or convenience store --  claiming the company has repeatedly ignored federal warnings about health violations and sold "adulterated" food to customers. Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller told SF Weekly that the sandwiches had been distributed to stores throughout California -- including San Francisco and other Bay Area cities. Ron Owens, the spokesman for the state Department of Public Health confirmed that the state enacted an "embargo" on REL's sandwiches nearly three weeks ago, so you shouldn't find them on any shelves near you.

Here's why the feds think that's a good thing: REL's hasn't exactly had a clean bill of health for a while now. In roughly the past three years, harmful bacteria has been discovered everywhere in the REL's production area according to the suit: from broom bristles to the in-feed belt of the packaging machinery to the production tables to the tuna scoops to the meat slicer. The lab that conducted the tests also found that bacteria enjoy the finished product -- the bugs have shown up in the roast beef, ham and cheese, tuna, turkey and cheese, and chicken salad sandwiches. In the court docs, the feds identify the company's cleaning methods -- specifically the use of a high-pressure water hose -- as being especially problematic because some of the bacteria colonize in moist environments. The company was inspected and sanctioned no fewer than 10 times since 2002.

policeone.com

We got their Zig Zags, too!

Fine. So they don't kill bacteria.

​When we first learned that the  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was suing The North Face parent company, VF Outdoor Inc., for supposedly making false claims about their shoes preventing bacteria, it sounded a little strange.

The EPA seemed to be suggesting there might be something unsafe about the shoes, which it called "unregistered pesticides," but it turns out that everything about the shoe, and its bacteria-inhibiting insert, was registered with the EPA. The only problem was an overstatement in VF Outdoor Inc.'s marketing materials (which resulted in the EPA reclassifying the shoes as "unregistered pesticides").

The North Face was claiming that an AgION antigmicrobial silver agent in the shoe would inhibit the grown of disease-causing bacteria. Although it's unclear how this is an overstatement (AgION is registered with the EPA as a pesticide), it apparently is, and the EPA is apparently going after VF Outdoor for a cool million, even though it has gone soft on similiar, relatively insignificant violations in the past.

Anna McCarthy

Tom Ammiano (left) poses with NORML's founder, R. Keith Stroup

​Pot enthusiasts started off day two of NORML's 38th Annual Conference with a "Marijuana Mitzvah," which the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws' executive director, Allen St. Pierre, described as a pot blessing ("Mitzvah" translates, roughly, as "good deed" from Hebrew; St. Pierre also threw in a mitzvah shout-out to Bob Marley).

But most conference attendees didn't pull themselves out of bed before 9 a.m. to hear the pot mitzvah. They came to hear the pot luminary -- San Francisco Assemblyman, Tom Ammiano. Ammiano recently introduced the Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act" (AB 390), which would legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana in California. So it goes without saying that this crowd gave Ammiano a rousing standing ovation before he even took to the mic.

In his talk this morning, Ammiano emphasized his hope that with a sea change in the body politic and its stance on marijuana, both the public and the politicians will start to take the issue more seriously. He added that he believes the vehicle of legislation gives the issue the kind of gravitas it deserves. "This is a public policy issue, in my mind ... I'm looking for this perfect storm," he said, adding that the tone in legislature these days is much more "user-friendly" than it was before.

dea.gov

Leave that weed alone, officer!

Does this shoe fight germs or not?

​ ​If you're selling a shoe you say fights germs, you better be able to back it up. The North Face's parent company, VF Outdoor, Inc., learned that lesson the hard way recently when the Environmental Protection Agency accused it of selling and distributing unregistered pesticides (in the form of bacteria-fighting shoes). VF could face up to $1 million in federal fines.

"At issue were more than 70 styles of footwear that incorporated an AgION silver treated footbed," said an EPA press release, which also listed several public health claims that the company made online and on its packaging about the footwear's ability to inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacterial and fungal growth. 

The EPA collected its evidence against the North Face both online and at The North Face store on Post Street in San Francisco. When the federal agency notified The North Face of the violation, the company stopped claiming that their footwear protected against germs. All the claims were subsequently yanked from the company's Web site, and the product packaging was revised, according to the EPA.