A “panel of experts” at the Food and Drug Administration voted 12-4 yesterday in favor of allowing AstraZeneca to market its cholesterol pill, Crestor, to patients with healthy cholesterol levels. In other words, we can expect to see a big push by AstraZeneca drug reps to convince physicians to prescribe even more statins to patients under the guise of promoting public health.
The most disturbing thing about this decision is that it has very little to do with public health and everything to do with creating an additional “market” for AstraZeneca. The UK-based drug maker is currently facing fierce potential competition from generic drug makers, and this initiative is largely about expanding its sales to stem the projected revenue losses once Crestor goes off-patent.
In fact, it’s quite compelling that the entire decision stems from a study that clearly implicates inflammation as being the key factor in coronary artery disease:
The company based its request on a much-heralded study published last year, showing a 44 percent reduction in heart problems even among patients with normal cholesterol levels. All the patients had elevated levels of the so-called C-reactive protein, however, a key indicator of inflammation that can lead to clogged arteries, causing heart attack or stroke. Scientists are still unsure whether the positive results were due to lower cholesterol or C-reactive protein, since Crestor reduces both [ed. emphasis mine] .
Until this issue gets addressed at a higher level, the FDA will continue to be overly influenced by Big Pharma when it comes to most issues of public health. In the meantime, remember that drug companies are businesses with profit motives – just like physician practices.
Check out yesterday’s Tribune piece, “State waging chemical war on Asian carp tonight.” In a last-ditch effort to prevent the fish from gaining access to the Great Lakes, Illinois Department of Natural Resources is using the pesticide rotenone.
(Tribune photo by William DeShazer / December 3, 2009)
Last week I attended the very thought provoking event called Water: The New Oil? The featured speaker was Debra Shore, a Commissioner at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Her presentation provided a very comprehensive overview of the unique geography of the Chicago metropolitan area. But what I found to be particularly fascinating was how one simple canal has substantially impacted Lake Michigan and our water supply.
I spoke with Debra briefly after the event, and she was kind enough to have her office forward some of the presentation graphics for this posting. So let’s take a look at the unique geography of Chicago and how the modification of this geography has affected what’s known as the Lake Michigan Watershed.
Around 15,000 years ago, the entire Great Lakes basin was covered in glacial ice more than a mile thick in some areas. As this massive ice shelf receded, it carved out countless fissures and valleys, redistributing vast amounts of soil in the process.
One of the local by products of this glacial retreat was the formation of the subcontinental divide, a ridge of raised earth that separated the Des Plaines river basin from the Chicago River and Calumet River basins. Modern day Harlem Avenue roughly runs over this raised section of terra firma.
Historically, the Des Plaines River drained westward into the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, eventually reaching the Gulf of Mexico. By contrast, the Chicago and Calumet rivers drained into Lake Michigan.
An important item to note here is that any rain that fell to the east of the subcontinental divide served as a significant source of fresh water replenishment for Lake Michigan.
Up until 1900, the Chicago River was the city’s defacto “sewage system.” With human and industrial waste being expelled directly into Lake Michigan, the mouth of the Chicago River was a literal cesspool. And the now prime real estate known as Streeterville was a disease-ridden squatters’ camp nicknamed “The Sands.” In fact, the Chicago lakefront was so polluted that the only way to effectively provide clean drinking water was to build the water intake cribs two or more miles out in the distance. But by the late 1800’s, even that wasn’t far enough away.
So the city planners at the time came up with a radical solution – namely, to reverse the flow of the Chicago River by creating a canal from the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River. And in 1900, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was completed:
In order to do this, however, they had to create a breach in the subcontinental divide and disrupt an ecosystem that had developed and existed for thousands of years.
Before the Canal
After the Canal
There are two things to note here:
1) Fresh water sources (i.e. rain water) that used to drain eastward into Lake Michigan via this watershed now instead flow westward
Here’s a graphic which illustrates the diverted portion of the watershed that now no longer replenishes Lake Michigan:
2) Lake Michigan itself is now draining into the Gulf of Mexico
Bottom line, since 1967, when more accurate measurements began, it is estimated that over 30 trillion gallons of fresh water have been taken away from Lake Michigan.
The key point here is that we’re witnessing Newton’s Law on a grand scale. Namely, to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When you radically alter an existing system in nature – even if it is for a seemingly noble purpose – you’re going to get a radical reaction somewhere down the line. And it may not be an instant and obvious one, either.
So keep all this in mind whenever you look out on Lake Michigan. And don’t let its vastness mislead you. Remember – it may be big, but that doesn’t mean it’s infallible.
There’s an article in today’s Tribune about how the Chicago Public Schools are offering a “free universal breakfast” to all of the students. The problem is that this free breakfast is – to put it mildly – junk.
Couched under the upbeat marketing moniker “MVP Breakfast,” this abomination is also known as a “Super Donut” by its manufacturer R Super Foods. R. Super Foods was started by former Pittsburgh Steeler great, Franco Harris.
This is a great example of how clever marketing is often used to disguise food items that are inherently unhealthy for humans. The logic in this case is that, since Franco Harris was such a tremendous athlete, anything produced by or endorsed by him MUST be good for you.
What the article doesn’t mention is that Franco Harris started his company based on a very flawed premises – namely, that you could convert bad food into good food just by artificially injecting it with nutrients. Per Franco:
Instead of demonizing the doughnut and eliminating it from our diet, why couldn’t we make one that gives you minerals, vitamins and protein?
What’s even more scary about this “super donut” is that it’s “available in school cafeterias in all 50 states, plus nursing homes, hospitals and health-care facilities across the country and at military bases around the world.”
I admire Franco Harris. He’s a fantastic athlete who has accomplished some amazing feats. But he’s pushing junk food on kids, soldiers, and senior citizens.
Every so often cities such as Chicago, Evanston, and Wilmette will close down their beaches due to higher than normal bacterial counts. Have you ever wondered why that happens?
In this podcast, we speak with Todd Connor who is a candidate for Commissioner for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. Be sure to listen in as we talk about the history of the district, how it operates, and why we should be concerned about who’s watching over Lake Michigan.
What I found to be rather significant, though, was this part of the report:
Earlier this summer, two deaths occurred during triathlons in the state. In June, Julie Silletti died while participating in the Elkhart Lake triathlon. Silletti, 54, made it to the point where she could stand up in the 400-yard swim course when she collapsed. The following month, Daniel J. Murray, 33, died during the Pewaukee triathlon a few minutes after the start of a quarter-mile swim.
We have three relatively young endurance athletes who all experienced fatal consequences during the swim course. One of them wasn’t even in the water that long when he collapsed.
We’ve gone beyond this being an incident or a series – we now have an established pattern. I personally think it’s high time the endurance sports community recognizes this potential risk and addresses it during both training and events. In other words, we need to look more at how we’re preparing people to manage both open water swimming conditions as well as the high stress/anxiety scenarios inherent with triathlons.
The top five beaches in Cook County that exceeded the national standard for E. coli levels in water in 2008 were: Winnetka Elder Park Beach, Evanston South Beach, Northwestern University Beach, followed by Montrose Beach and Rainbow Beach, both in Chicago.
If you swim at Ohio Street Beach, chances are you have had to postpone some of your recent workouts due to elevated levels of E. coli bacteria. I’ve always thought that this was due to the warmer temperatures and stagnant water conditions at that particular beach. And I was partly right. These factors do contribute towards higher E. coli levels. However, the real causes of E. coli contamination may surprise many of you.
So let’s take a closer look…
What exactly is E. coli?
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a common bacterium that lives in the lower intestinal tract of warm-blooded animals such as humans, mammals, and birds. Most of the hundreds of strains of E. coli are harmless. But they can cause mild to moderate illnesses in humans if consumed in exceedingly high numbers.
How does E. coli enter Lake Michigan?
E. coli can enter Lake Michigan instantaneously from organisms (think seagulls, beach dogs) who void their feces directly into the water. It can also enter the lake indirectly through sewage treatment plant effluent and stormwater runoff.
So there is raw sewage being pumped into the lake right now?
Not usually. Although at one time this was quite a common occurrence. To effectively answer this question, a little history lesson is in order.
Prior to 1975, the majority of the municipalities in Cook County had combined sewer systems that carried both both sanitary sewage and stormwater. During heavy storms and wet-weather periods, these combined systems would often exceed capacity due to the increased amounts of stormwater. The result would be a discharge of sewage directly into Lake Michigan (bad), or a discharge of sewage directly into the neighborhood streets via the manholes (worse).
The design and construction of the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (a.k.a. “Deep Tunnel”) brought a reprieve from these unpleasantries. There are now 109 miles of tunnels underneath the Chicago metro area that collect the sewage and stormwater flows and route them to surface reservoirs such as quarries for storage until they can be safely treated and discharged.
So how do Chicago’s beaches get contaminated with E. coli?
As noted previously, E.coli enters the lake from direct animal fecal discharge as well as from sewage/stormwater spillovers. The problem is that both of these sources increase significantly during the summer months. For one thing, there are more wild and domestic animals “releasing their payloads” into the lake during the warmer times of the year. Second, there are more wet-weather periods that, on occasion, will produce precipitation levels that simply overwhelm the current capacity of the Deep Tunnel system.
When this happens, the excess stormwater flows back into the Chicago River which can become so swollen with runoff that its water level exceeds that of the lake. Under these circumstances, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District will open one or more “locks” to prevent flooding. This allows the sewage/stormwater overflow to pour into the lake, thus raising the overall E. coli levels.
What is it about Ohio Street Beach that makes it more prone to higher levels of E. coli?
There are a number of factors that can contribute to elevated E. coli levels at that particular site. First, the area is mostly enclosed by a breakwater that’s designed to keep the water calmer for boats and beach goers. However, it also reduces overall water circulation which can result in more stagnant water conditions.
Second, despite being a smaller beach, Ohio Street Beach gets a lot of visitors of all types. Besides the swimmers and beachgoers, you have the spillover crowds from Navy Pier. Plus you have the masses of anchored boats that hang out in the “Playpen” area not too far offshore. And bigger crowds typically generate more garbage – and more fecal contamination (see comments for yucky details).
Third, Ohio Street Beach is quite isolated compared with other Chicago beaches. Instead of being an open air beach with lots of direct sunlight, it’s mostly surrounded by a number of tall buildings that block out the sunlight for much of the day.
And sunlight is very important for regulating E. coli levels.
Of these factors, incoming solar radiation (insolation) is arguably the most potent in the inactivation or killing of E. coli and enterococci in water .
And finally, the Chicago Harbor Lock – one of the aforementioned locks that occasionally empties contaminated water into the lake – is located just on the other side of Navy Pier at the mouth of the Chicago River.
