While You Were Sleeping: February 2010

The gist of what you may have missed

by Siobhan McBride, January 26, 2010

Tight budgets are forcing states to rethink prison policies. In 2008, 1.6 million prisoners were in state and federal prisons, following steadily rising prison populations since the 1970s (each prisoner costs on average $30,000 a year). According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 739,000 people were imprisoned last year, only 3,500 more than were released. The result was the lowest annual growth of prison population this decade—0.8 percent. (The average annual growth rate of prison populations during the 1990s was 6.5 percent.) For drug-related crimes, nationwide studies show significant savings through drug rehabilitation over imprisonment. California has ordered the release of 40,000 inmates due to overcrowding, even as crime rates continue to drop.
Source: Los Angeles Times

In the UK, supermarkets have been accused of encouraging binge drinking by selling beer cheaper than water. Campaigners claim retailers are irresponsible, ignoring warnings from senior health figures that cheap prices lead to more drinking. Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson has suggested a minimum price for alcohol—approximately $8.60 for an average six-pack of beer. He claims raising the price would save 3,400 lives a year and cut hospital admissions by 100,000. Plans to force laws requiring warning labels on alcohol are planned after several brand-name labels ignored a voluntary code agreement with the government. Supermarkets deny they are promoting excessive drinking, saying their customers expect a wide range of good value.
Source: Sunday Times (UK)

Food stamp use is at an all-time record high with about six million Americans with no other form of income. Both states and federal government audits verify that the recession has caused millions to live at the barest of minimums. Food stamps have taken on a greater role in the safety net since they minimize abuse over cash aid, gaining more government support. Food stamp numbers had been rising previous to the recession due to tougher welfare laws and are said to continue. Over the past two years, food stamp programs have doubled in size in New York and grown nearly 90 percent in Minnesota and Utah. The range of people seeking assistance spans the demographic spectrum. Growth rates have been steepest among whites during the recession.
Source: New York Times

Abstinence-only sex education programs aimed at teenagers received more than $150 million per year in federal funding during the Bush administration. Clinic-based studies have shown the abstinence approach unsuccessful in preventing teen pregnancy. President Obama proposed $110 million for a new “teenage pregnancy prevention” initiative which would only fund sex education techniques that have “proven effective through rigorous evaluation,” effectively eliminating abstinence programs. It would include $25 million for new, innovative programs that could include those encouraging abstinence, but with no earmark for it. Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association estimates that more than 130 programs will lose funding by September if the initiative goes through. Another proposal by Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) would provide $50 million to states for abstinence programs, but it is still unclear what will happen once the bills are reconciled.
Source: Washington Post

There are 84,000 chemicals commercially used in the US (from flame retardants to household cleaners); 20 percent of which are secret, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Companies claim that secrecy is “essential for ensuring the long-term competitiveness of US industry.” In mandatory notices to the government, more than half of the 65 chemicals reported in March 2009 as posing “substantial risk” were secret chemicals. According to the EPA, 151 secret chemicals are made in quantities of more than 1 million tons a year and 10 are used specifically in children’s products. Despite the chemical’s health and environmental risks, the handful of EPA employees who know their identities are legally barred from sharing that information under the 1976 Toxic Substance Control Act. The Obama administration wants to reduce secrecy by allowing federal officials to share confidential information with state regulators and health officials who could better determine their effects. Congress is set to rewrite chemical regulations this year.
Source: Washington Post