Health
Homegrown Flavor from an Indoor Garden
By Melinda Myers
Add some homegrown flavor to your winter meals. From microgreens to tomatoes, it is possible to grow produce indoors.
Microgreens are a quick and easy way to add some flavor and crunch to your plate. Just plant seeds labeled for sprouting or microgreens in a shallow container filled with a sterile potting or seed starting mix. Within two weeks you will be harvesting nutritious mini vegetable and herb leaves for salads, sandwiches or snacking.
Take it one step further and grow a few of your favorite herbs on a warm sunny windowsill. Select a container with drainage holes and set on the appropriate size saucer to protect your woodwork. Fill the container with well-drained potting mix and plant seeds or transplants. Purchase basil, chives, parsley, oregano and rosemary plants from your local garden center or the produce department.
Greens, like lettuce and spinach, will also grow in a sunny window or better yet under artificial lights. Grow them in a container filled with a well-drained potting mix similar to your windowsill herb garden. Plant seeds according to the seed packet. Continually harvest the outer leaves when they are four to six inches tall.
Those that like a bit of a challenge may want to try growing a compact tomato, pepper or eggplant. You’ll get the best production with a combination of natural and artificial light or full spectrum lights.
Natural sunlight and full spectrum lights contain the variety of light plants need to grow, flower and fruit. Blue light promotes leaf and stem growth, while red combined with blue promotes flowering. Consider investing in energy efficient and long lasting high intensity grow lights for the greatest yields when growing tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and other fruiting plants indoors.
Leave lights on for 14, but no more than 16 hours each day. Plants need a dark period as well as bright light each day to grow and thrive. Use a timer to ensure the plants receive the right duration of light.
Most flowering and fruiting plants need a high intensity of light, so keep the lights six to twelve inches above your plants. Use reflective surfaces under and around the plants to bounce light back into larger plants.
Increase your indoor growing space by going vertical. Shelf units with built-in light fixtures like the Stack-n-Grow Light System (gardeners.com) provide multiple layers of growing space.
And once your tomatoes, peppers and eggplants start flowering, you will need to shake things up a bit. Gently shake the plants several times a week, better yet daily, to move the pollen from the female to the male parts of the flower so fruit will develop. A gentle breeze from a fan or vibrations from a battery-operated toothbrush work well.
Indoor gardening won’t yield the same results as a sunny outdoor garden, but the flavor can’t be beat when gardening outdoors is not an option.
Gardening expert, TV/radio host, author & columnist Melinda Myers has more than 30 years of horticulture experience and has written over 20 gardening books. Her site, www.melindamyers.com, offers gardening videos and tips.
Business
Banning Menthol Cigarettes: California-Based Advocacy Group Joins Suit Against Federal Govt.
A California based non-governmental organization, The African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (AATCLC), has joined two other public health advocacy groups in a second lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the agency’s inaction on issuing a final rule banning menthol cigarettes.
By Edward Henderson, California Black Media
A California based non-governmental organization, The African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (AATCLC), has joined two other public health advocacy groups in a second lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the agency’s inaction on issuing a final rule banning menthol cigarettes.
The suit, filed by Christopher Leung of Leung Law, PLLC on behalf of the AATCLC, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and the National Medical Association (NMA) comes more than seven months after the FDA’s established date for finalizing a new rule against menthol cigarettes.
“We are a group of Californians, although we have expanded now. We were formed in 2008 to inform and direct the activities of commercial tobacco control and prevention as they affect African Americans and African immigrants in this country,” said Carol McGruder, co-chair of the AATCLC.
McGruder was speaking during a press briefing April 2 organized to announce the lawsuit. with representatives from the ASH, NMA and other organizations.
“Menthol cigarettes have had a devastating and disproportionate impact on the health of Black Americans,” said Yolanda Lawson, President of the NMA. “Smoking related diseases are the number one cause of death in the Black community.”
The lawsuit also follows the FDA’s 15-year delay in creating national policy that would ban cigarettes made with compound menthol, a minty substance that cigarette makers infuse into their tobacco products, making them more addictive and harmful.
Despite significant reductions in overall smoking rates in the US, smoking among poor, less educated and marginalized groups remains high. Every year, 45,000 Black Americans prematurely die from tobacco-caused diseases. An estimated 85% of them smoked menthol cigarettes.
“This disproportionate use of menthol cigarettes among Black Americans is not a coincidence,” Dr. Yerger continued. “I was one of the first tobacco documents researchers out of UCSF who exposed the tobacco industry’s systematic, predatory marketing schemes to dump highly concentrated menthol cigarette marketing into urban inner-city areas.”
In 2011, the FDA’s own scientific advisory committee concluded that the “Removal of menthol cigarettes from the marketplace would benefit public health in the United States.”
If the sale of menthol-flavored cigarettes is indeed banned, the FDA projects a 15.1% drop in smoking within 40 years, which would help save between 324,000 to 654,000 lives.
As a result of the Plaintiffs’ first lawsuit, the FDA made the landmark determination to add menthol to the list of banned characterizing flavors in cigarettes.
On the contrary, tobacco-aligned groups in the past have argued that banning menthol cigarettes would be impact federal and state budgets with the loss of nearly $6.6 billion in cigarette sales taxes. Menthol cigarettes account for over one-third of the U.S. cigarette market.
Other arguments from tobacco-backed groups include unintended consequences of a ban such as increased policing in Black and Brown communities due to contraband cigarettes. However, health advocates have dismissed this claim stating the ban would apply to companies that make or sell menthol cigarettes, not individual smokers.
By law, the United States has two months to respond to the lawsuit. The feds can respond to it or file a motion to dismiss.
If the suit is successful, the FDA would have 90 days to make a final ruling.
California Black Media
Commentary: Support Early Detection Technology to Save the Lives of Black Cancer Patients
In 2008, I received news no one ever wants to hear. I was diagnosed with Stage I breast cancer, with an ER/PR positive tumor type. The road to recovery was tough, taking more than a physical toll on my body. I grappled with the emotional and mental strain of navigating a health care system that too often fails to address the unique needs of Black women. There was no manual to guide me through this journey, no prescription to ease the burden, and no roadmap to help me navigate the challenges ahead.
By Rhonda Smith, Special to California Black Media Partners
In 2008, I received news no one ever wants to hear. I was diagnosed with Stage I breast cancer, with an ER/PR positive tumor type.
The road to recovery was tough, taking more than a physical toll on my body. I grappled with the emotional and mental strain of navigating a health care system that too often fails to address the unique needs of Black women. There was no manual to guide me through this journey, no prescription to ease the burden, and no roadmap to help me navigate the challenges ahead.
The stark reality that Black women are 41% more likely to die from breast cancer than White women is a grim reminder of the systemic inequities that pervade our health care system. According to the American Cancer Society, Black Americans have the highest death rate and shortest survival rate of any racial or ethnic group in the country. This disparity extends beyond breast cancer, impacting colorectal, prostate, and lung cancers, among others.
To help overcome these inequities, we need to attack cancer at its roots; we must catch it early, and we must ensure the means to catch cancer early are accessible to the communities most at risk. I consider myself fortunate to have received a Stage 1 diagnosis. Yet, it pains me to know that for many others, their breast cancer is often detected in later, more advanced stages.
Fortunately, there is hope on the horizon. Some California congressmembers — particularly U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA-25) — are taking decisive action. Ruiz is a lead sponsor of a bill to dramatically expand access to cutting-edge early detection tools for Medicare beneficiaries, including millions of Black Americans in underserved communities. With bipartisan support, this bill is closer than ever to passage.
Named in honor of Nancy Gardner Sewell, a civil rights leader and passionate advocate for health justice, the Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act would ensure Medicare has the latitude it needs to cover an exciting new class of cancer detection tests as soon as they’re cleared by the FDA.
These tests utilize the latest scientific achievements to identify cancer signals in a patient’s blood stream. They can pinpoint many different types of cancer from a single blood draw, dramatically improving doctors’ ability to detect cancers early and at stages where they are most treatable.
The next phase of our fight against cancer – and the disproportionate toll it takes on Black Americans – starts by urging Congress to pass the Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act and ensuring the benefits of this legislation reach all corners of our communities.
I don’t advocate for change for myself, but for every Black woman who has faced, or will face, a similar battle.
Together, we can rewrite the narrative of health care, catch and treat cancer early, and ensure that every woman has the opportunity to thrive, regardless of her race or background.
About the Author
Rhonda Smith, Executive Director of the California Black Health Network, leads initiatives to advance health equity for Black Californians, leveraging her expertise from roles including consulting and spearheading health disparities initiatives for BIPOC communities. With an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech, Rhonda has led transformative projects like the LiveHealthy OC Initiative and the Susan G. Komen® Circle of Promise California Initiative to address health disparities and promote whole person care approaches.
Bay Area
California Makes Strides in Fight Against Fentanyl
California National Guard’s Counterdrug Task Force has seized over 7,000 pounds of fentanyl including 3.4 million pills since the state launched a multi-agency operation in January 2024. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state’s progress on May 7, National Fentanyl Awareness Day. The Governor said he deployed the state’s highway patrol and National Guard personnel last year as part of a public safety operation in partnership with local government officials and law enforcement.
By California Black Media
California National Guard’s Counterdrug Task Force has seized over 7,000 pounds of fentanyl including 3.4 million pills since the state launched a multi-agency operation in January 2024.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state’s progress on May 7, National Fentanyl Awareness Day.
The Governor said he deployed the state’s highway patrol and National Guard personnel last year as part of a public safety operation in partnership with local government officials and law enforcement.
“As we recognize the serious dangers of illegal fentanyl, California is continuing to tackle this issue head-on. Our efforts are getting this poison off our streets and out of our communities as we continue to support people struggling with substance use.” Newsom said.
CalGuard Major General Matthew Beevers said that the state’s unprecedented investment in the Counterdrug Task Force has immobilized operations and revenue channels of transnational criminal organizations.
“The CalGuard is committed to supporting our state, federal, local and tribal law enforcement partners to eliminate the scourge of fentanyl,” Beevers said.
In the past five years, California has invested $1.1 billion in operations and initiatives to fight crime, support local law enforcement, and improve public safety. The Newsom administration has implemented a comprehensive approach as part of the governor’s Master Plan to tackle the fentanyl and opioid crisis.
The Newsom administration has expanded efforts to improve public safety across the state where operations occurred in cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, and Bakersfield.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed acknowledged that joint operation was a step in the right direction toward curbing illegal activity and improving public safety.
“Our coordinated work to shut down drug markets in San Francisco is making a difference, but we have more work to do,” Breed said.
“Together we are sending a message at all levels of government that anyone selling fentanyl in this city will be arrested and prosecuted,” she said.
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