Seafood safety
Summer is the season that Mainers and visitors enjoy delicious, locally-harvested shellfish, such as clams, oysters and mussels.
Ensuring that everyone can enjoy these Maine delicacies in good health is the responsibility of the Maine Department of Marine Resources Public Health Bureau. Following is some important information for folks who buy Maine shellfish to enjoy at home, or who head to a nearby shore to harvest their own.
To carefully manage Maine’s shellfish resources, such as clams, mussels and oysters, Department of Marine Resources has a rigorous monitoring program that ensures public health and safety. Thousands of samples of shellfish are collected each year from the entire Maine coast and tested at FDA approved labs.
The Department of Marine Resources conducts a dealer inspection program that ensures that all licensed wholesale shellfish dealers meet the thorough standards outlined by the National Shellfish Sanitation Program. By making sure wholesale shellfish dealers meet these standards, the Department ensures the safety and wholesomeness of Maine shellfish throughout the distribution chain.
Recreational harvesters should always check the status of an area where they plan to take shellfish immediately before they harvest. The Department of Marine Resources’ website, local marine patrol officer or local municipal office will have the latest information on areas open for harvesting.
And if Mainers want to harvest clams or mussels, never soak or store them off a dock or boat. Keep shellfish refrigerated until they are eaten. That way they will remain safe, fresh and delicious.
Kohl Kanwit
Director of Bureau of Public Health
Department of Marine Resources
Boothbay Harbor
‘Rednewables’
Gov. Paul LePage’s distaste for financial incentives to wind- and solar-power companies in Maine got me thinking about what’s happening in other red states. Here are some surprising results from states with traditionally conservative electorates and legislatures:
Texas: First in wind turbine installations in 2014. The Lone Star State has nearly doubled its wind energy-generating capacity since 2009. Wind energy now supplies nearly 10 percent of the electricity produced in Texas.
Oklahoma: Second in wind turbine installations in 2014. The Sooner State capitalized on the cost savings of wind over natural gas. Nationally, Oklahoma ranks fourth for total electricity produced from wind power in 2013. That’s nearly 15 percent of all electricity generated in the state — enough to meet the typical needs of 1 million homes.
North Carolina: Second in solar for 2014. More solar systems were installed in North Carolina last year than in any other state, except California. The Tar Heel State can now generate enough electricity to power almost 100,000 households. On top of that, Apple Inc. plans to put a 200-acre solar farm in the western part of the state to power its new iCloud data center.
These advances in renewable energy are reported in the summer 2015 issue of “ Earthwise,” a newsletter from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Being politically conservative or business-friendly doesn’t mean someone is anti-renewable energy. So let’s continue to invest in these alternatives and provide the incentives needed to make them grow strong in the great state of Maine.
Andrew Stevenson
Belfast
Prescription drug prices
I have had the sad and difficult task of listening to the stories of too many patients, with potentially crippling arthritis, who have had to discontinue treatments they can no longer afford. I am dismayed by my inability to treat these patients as cost-effectively as should be possible.
Pharmaceutical companies have engaged in shameful tactics that border on price gouging — unexplained price hikes and artificial shortages. In the field of rheumatology, hydroxychloroquine, colchicine and methotrexate come to mind.
The United States is the only country that allows these egregious practices. There are a number of ways our government could reign in the pharmaceutical companies, including criminal action against price-gouging, but the quickest and simplest way would be to drop federal restrictions against the importation of medications from other reliable countries, such as Canada.
Perhaps there might be some small risk for patients in allowing such importation, but that risk is far outweighed by the risk of allowing patients to go untreated for serious diseases. In the long run, the costs of chronic undertreated disease are borne by us all — not just by patients.
Given the power of the pharmaceutical industry lobby, without strong pressure from the public, it is naive to think that Congress would pass legislation to allow the importation of medications. A campaign of letters, emails and telephone calls to our representatives and senators, along with pointed questions in person when possible, may make a difference.
It is worth a try, otherwise the cost of prescription medications will only continue to rise.
Sidney R. Block, MD
Belfast