A new study released by University of Washington School of Medicine researchers has bad news for fans of spam.

Foxnews.com posted a Rueters Health story reporting that Native Americans who ate the processed meat were two times as likely to develop diabetes.

Two thousand Native Americans from several states and tribes were a part of the study. None had diabetes when it began.

After five years, a follow-up survey found that 243 people had developed diabetes.

Among the 500 people in the original study group who ate the most canned processed meat, 85 developed diabetes. In contrast, among the 500 people who ate the least amount of “spam,” just 44 developed the disease.

Though Spam is a brand-name pork product, the lower-case term is also used to describe any kind of processed, canned meat, Fretts said. Canned meat is available freely to many Native Americans on reservations as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food assistance program.

However, a nutritionist from Harvard said his research found a link to higher diabetes risk from consumption of certain unprocessed meats as well.

“I think what this study indicates is processed meats should be a priority for reduction (in the diet), especially among American Indians where they can go to food assistance programs and they can get discounted spam,” said Dariush Mozaffarian, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health who was not involved in the study.

Jenna Cederberg

The current statistics are shocking enough, and a new clarification of definition of rape may highlight more troublesome, increased numbers of rape cases in Indian Country.

As Rob Capriccioso reports on ICTMN, the Obama Administration recently expanded the official definition of rape. That could help tell a more accurate picture of sexual assaults across the country and help define a solution.

In the past, the numbers have shown Native women are more than three and half times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape.

That revelation was made clear January 6 when the Obama administration announced that the federal government would also begin counting rapes toward women that were done by an object or mouth on the vagina or anus without consent, and it would begin counting rapes of children and men as well. The new data will be collected for the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The new definition is more consistent with state laws and local crime reports, administration officials said.

Obama administration officials said the new measuring methods may lead to an increase in the number of counted rapes nationwide, including those in Indian country.

“This major policy change will lead to more accurate reporting and far more comprehensive understanding of this devastating crime,” said Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to Obama, in a press conference call. She called the old data “incomplete,” and said that “it has not captured the true impact of this crime.”

Capriccioso also discusses in his report how decreased federal funding for certain programs inhibits the prosecution of attackers and resources available to victims of rape in Indian Country.

Jenna Cederberg

Mark Trahant

I’ve been writing a lot lately about the Era of Contraction – the shrinking of the federal government – and what that policy means to Indian Country.

Only not this year. Last week Congress finally approved money for fiscal year 2012 (three months into the spending year) and many programs serving American Indians will get more money, not less.

First, the big picture. Hal Rogers, R-Kentucky, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, describes this year’s spending bill this way: “When all FY 2012 Appropriations legislation is complete, Congress will have cut discretionary spending for two straight years in a row – the first time this has occurred in modern history.”

Indeed: This budget is about less.

The Environmental Protection Agency takes a 6 percent cut from the president’s request or a budget of $8.4 billion. The House conference report makes clear that EPA is a Republican budget target because it represents “unnecessary spending” and a “regulatory overreach, which has a detrimental effect on American businesses and the recovering economy.” (To give an example of the spite towards EPA. The administrator’s budget is cut by one-third.) Of course even these numbers are more than Republicans wanted to spend. The House was proposing funding EPA at only $7.1 billion.

The Administration for Children and Families takes a hit of $855 million (even though the demand for services is increasing). But defying logic, Congress also appropriated $5 million for abstinence education, money that was not asked for in the president’s budget.

Other agency reductions include 3 percent less for the Internal Revenue Service, a 5 percent cut for Homeland Security, and a 5 percent cut from Congress’ own budget.

Read the rest of this entry »

Nuclear reactors and power plants that lie close to reservation land throughout the country are under more severe scrutiny since the Japan earthquake and tsunami damaged nuclear plants there.

But as ICTMN’s Rob Capriccioso reports, the reservation residents who live close the U.S. reactors have always cast a weary eye on their nuclear neighbors.

Capriccioso examines the struggles of the Prairie Island Indian Community in Welch, Minnesota, and looks at what price others are paying for nuclear testing.

Since 1973, citizens of this small Sioux reservation have kept a wary eye on the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, which lies adjacent to their land and is believed to be the closest nuclear power plant to an inhabited community in the country. The plant, owned by Xcel Energy Inc., has long been controversial, not only because of the risk of mishaps with its nuclear reactor, but because nuclear waste produced there since the early 1990s has been stored in large steel casks on concrete pads near the reactor that creates it. This became all the more frightening when residents learned that the damaged Japanese plant had a similar on-site storage system, which caused horrific problems when the electricity went out post-earthquake and the waste there could not be kept cool.

Accidents have occurred time and again at U.S. plants, including the infamous Three Mile Island crisis of the late 1970s in Pennsylvania. In 2006, workers at the Prairie Island plant faced a drama of their own, having been exposed to low levels of radiation resulting from a gas leak. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reported that approximately 110 workers received exposure of 10 to 20 millirads, which the company and the U.S. government say is safe. But John LaForge, writing in the Pulse of the Twin Cities publication and representing the views of many local residents, was not convinced: “Every government agency that deals with radiation says in their official publications that there is absolutely no safe level of exposure, that every single radiation dose carries some increased risk of cancer and other illnesses.”

. . .

Much like Prairie Island, Indians nationwide were rarely consulted as the plants began to invade their lands. According to the Honor the Earth environmental organization, at least two dozen of the nation’s 104 licensed nuclear power plants are close enough to reservations to pose immediate danger if an accident similar to that in Japan were to occur.

Jenna Cederberg

From Matt Volz, Montana Associated Press:

In this Friday, Feb. 11, 2011 picture, Darrell Follette, left, and Ida Follette recount the day of their daughter Chelle Rose Follette's suicide during an interview in their home on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Poplar. (AP Photo/Michael Albans)

POPLAR – Chelle Rose Follette fashioned a noose with her pajamas, tying one end to a closet rod and the other around her neck. When her mother entered the bedroom to put away laundry, she found the 13-year-old hanging.

Ida Follette screamed for her husband, Darrell.

He lifted his child’s body, rushed her to the bed and tried to bring her back.

“She was so light, she was so light. And I put her down. I said, ‘No, Chelle!’ ”

But the time had passed for CPR, he said, his voice fading with still raw grief. His wife sat next to him on the couch, sobbing at the retelling.

Here on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, a spasm of youth suicides had caused alarm and confusion even before Chelle’s death. The Follettes had talked with her about other local children who had killed themselves. She had assured her parents that they need not worry about her.

“She always promised that,” said Ida as the half-light of the winter afternoon created shadows in the sparsely furnished home. “She said, ‘What’s going on with these kids, are they stupid or what?’ ”
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Salish Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee Elders Committee is being asked to weigh in on the mining regulation discussion the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are having with the state of Montana.

Officials in Montana have offered to begin regulating building stone mines on reservation fee land, the Char-Koosta News reports. As the tribe’s legal department continues to examine the issue, the elders’ opinions are being brought into the discussion as well. Sovereignty and the health of the land were main points of interest at the first meeting with elders to discuss the mining regulations.

There are several unregulated stone building mines on the reservation already. One has generated anger because of its close proximity to the sacred Chief Cliff site overlooking Flathead Lake.

“When it comes to hard rock mines on fee land within the exterior boundaries of the Flathead Reservation, (fee land owners) can mine without regulations,” (CSKT legal department attorney Stu) Levit said. “The mining at Chief Cliff and Perma has been going on for quite a few years now. Cultural preservation acts don’t carry much weight.”

Levit said the Tribes were concerned about the building stone mining at Perma and went to the State with their concerns. It was in those discussions that the CSKT learned that the State doesn’t have the regulative authority when it comes to building stone mining.

. . .

Elder Pat Pierre advised caution when it comes to the strange bedfellows political mix of State and tribal because it seems that it is the tribal people who consistently come out on the short end of the deal. He added that tribal people historically have had little say – if any – in laws that affect them.

Jenna Cederberg

On Feb. 28, Dorgan officially launched the Center for Native American Youth, a new policy program at the Aspen Institute think tank. (Photo by Vincent Schilling)

From Rob Capriccioso, ICTMN:

WASHINGTON – For years, tribal citizens have made impassioned pleas to federal lawmakers to help address the crisis of youth suicide among struggling Native American young people.

Like Coloradas Mangas, a teenager from the Mescalero Apache Reservation in Ruidoso, N.M., who testified before Congress last year about a time not so long ago when he tried to kill himself.

“Things go wrong that they can’t change,” he said in response to a question about why Native kids were turning to suicide. “They don’t get shown the love they need. They say, ‘You don’t love me when I was here. Now you love me when I’m not here.’

“I come from a people whose pride runs deep, but I also understand that sometimes pride can keep us from asking for help.”

At the time, Mangas’ testimony struck a chord with the now-retired Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan, the immediate past chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, who commended the high schooler for sharing his thoughts. Before exiting Congress at the beginning of this year, Dorgan went on to host a tribal roundtable discussion focusing on youth suicide, and he attempted to drum up support for legislation that would hopefully curb the epidemic.

But those efforts did not signify the end of his commitment. Today, it’s stories like that of Mangas that have led the former congressman to begin a venture that will spotlight Native youth, while attempting to make up for all that missing attention.

Read the rest of this entry »

Native biennial film festival to feature record number of Native
women filmmakers
Mark your calendars: The 2011 Native American Film + Video Festival at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in New York begins on March 31. It’s free and this year it will feature a larger number of women film makers, the Tanka Bar blog said.

A movie that will make its premiere at the festival is Apache 8 by Sande Zeig, about an all-woman Apache wildland fire-fighting crew that has worked together for 22 years. Zeig said that all the firefighters would attend the festival, which she said was the best venue for the movie’s world premiere.

No “Indian” for comedy duo?
The ongoing controversy over the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo sparked an interesting request for the comedy duo “the Indian and the White Guy” when they were asked to cut out the word “Indian,” from performances if they played at UND’s Alerus Center, the Grand Forks Herald reports.

The duo’s manager said he was made aware of the stipulation but talks to have his clients perform didn’t get far.

Phil Potter, national director of programming for VenueWorks in Ames, Iowa, said he was looking at Williams and Ree among several acts as possible entertainment at a “business after hours function” at the Alerus on March 17.

“There were at least half a dozen acts we kicked around, and it never got to an offer point,” he said.

Potter said he knew nothing of the nickname controversy until someone in Grand Forks mentioned it to him. Potter said he called Williams and Ree’s agent and asked “if that is too sensitive right now.”

He said he made the suggestion that the act limit its references to Indians.

He said the discussions didn’t advance further, and the event planners apparently decided “to do something smaller, maybe local,” and he didn’t think more about it.

“Living Sicker, Dying Younger”
If you’re still hungry, take some time to check out the University of Montana School of Journalism Native News Honors Project 2010 . It includes stories about the state of Native health from the seven Montana reservations and the urban outlook as well.

Photos, video and text included.

Jenna Cederberg

A New Mexico study has found that Indians are four times more likely to die from influenza.

Experts are now recommending that Native Americans get vaccinations priority, KOAT TV in New Mexico reports. Scientists studied the H1N1 flu and how it affected different groups of people.

(Epidemiologist Michael) Landen works for the New Mexico State Department of Health. He and other researchers teamed up with 12 other states.

“With additional work in New Mexico, Alaska and Arizona, we saw consistent information,” Landen said.

Native Americans across all age groups were dying at disproportionate rate from the flu, Landen said.

New Mexico sent its research to the CDC and it led to broad sweeping changes on who gets first dibs at flu shots.

Jenna Cederberg