How can we ensure food safety without threatening small organic farmers?

On the next Your Call, we'll look at just what "food safety" means to Congress and the FDA. Senate Bill 510 would create stricter and more extensively enforced rules for produce growers. How would that bill affect small family farms and organic growers? Join us live at 11 or send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. The period for public comment on the bill ends in July. How do you want your food grown and handled? It's Your Call, with Sandip Roy and you.

Guest:
Dale Coke--organic farmer, Coke Farms
Jo Ann Baumgartner--director of the Wild Farm Alliance
Ken Kimes--organic farmer, New Natives Organic Sprouts

Click to Listen: How can we ensure food safety without threatening small organic farmers?

Your Call 031909 How do drug companies market medication?

How do drug companies market medication? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with Melody Petersen, author of Our Daily Meds. Every day drug companies subject us to barrage of advertisements. Nearly 65% of Americans are taking prescription drugs. Why are we prescribed so many pills? Join the conversation by email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. How does the FDA regulate drug companies? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guest:
Melody Petersen, author of Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves Into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription

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Your Call 021609 Is the FDA looking out for us?

What will it take to ensure the Food and Drug Administration adequately regulates our food system? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the FDA's food regulatory policies. The recent salmonella outbreak tied to the Peanut Corporation has killed eight and sickened more than 500 people across the country. How safe is our food system? What is the FDA doing to protect us? Is the agency on our side, or is it too close to food corporations? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Jaydee Hanson, a policy analyst on cloning with Center for Food Safety

William Hubbard, former Associate Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration

Click to Listen: Is the FDA looking out for us?

Your Call 043008 The Vitamin Quandary

Are the vitamins you’re taking helping or hurting? On the next Your Call we’ll talk about recent nutritional research that has shown limited benefits to taking dietary supplements and vitamins. With the FDA not testing the health claims of the manufacturers and peer reviewed studies casting doubt on their efficacy, what do we know about vitamin and mineral supplements? What can they do? Are they ever necessary for people who eat a relatively healthy diet? It’s Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:
Dr. Stephen Barrett in Chapel Hill
Retired psychiatrist and co-author and editor of 50 books including the textbook Consumer Health: A Guide to Intelligent Choices. He is the founder and editor of quackwatch.org.
 
Dr. Lisa Bero in San Francisco
Professor of Clinical Pharmacy at UCSF and Co-Director of the United States San Francisco Cochrane Center. Dr. Bero is a pharmacologist with primary interests in how clinical and basic sciences are translated into clinical practice and health policy.

Click to Listen: The Vitamin Quandary