04/03/08 Hop Tea & Hepatitis

Hop Tea & Hepatitis plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. One of the drawbacks of hops has been the bitter taste. While it's great for making beer, other uses have been limited until now. USDA researchers in Oregon have produced a new hop that is less bitter than varieties used in beer, making it a perfect ingredient for herbal tea according to Agricultural Research Service Researcher John Henning. HENNING: Tea Maker, this newest variety which we've just released has close to zero alpha acid present and it's the only known variety that has this level and because of it, it can be used as a tea because the tea is not bitter. The main focus of this program is that of development of hop varieties for the brewing industries but at the same time I'm trying to identify alternative markets for the hop grower for those slim years where they need alternative sources of income. More than 280 people have been given shots to ward off hepatitis A after eating at a Boise restaurant. Health department officials say that people who ate at the Red Feather Lounge between March 5 and March 17 may have been exposed to the disease because of a server who had hepatitis A. So far, no one who ate at the restaurant has caught the viral illness. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. Ready to fight global warming by paying more taxes? Yes, you heard correctly. "The climate change mitigation and adaptation fee" is the brain child of a strapped for cash Los Angeles County, and sounds a sour note as far as most voters in California are concerned. As well it should. The fee is being proposed as a way to fund public transportation projects that should ease traffic congestion which in turn should aid the fight against global warming. With California state legislature assuming that voters will actually pass the proposed fee, and assuming the fee, or tax; as a rose by any other name, will actually be used to fund said projects, and assuming that the motorists will actually car pool or use public transportation; it seems to me there is a lot of assuming going on! And you've heard the old adage about assuming anything. If we want to fight global warming we need to find an alternate source of fuel other than fossil fuel, not tax an already overtaxed society. This proposed tax is just another way of treating the symptoms instead of the disease. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.