Blood Needed & Over-Reaching Standards

Blood Needed & Over-Reaching Standards plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The National Red Cross typically sees a dip in blood donations this time of year but this year there is a bit more urgency for donations according to Daphne Mathew, Communications Manager, Pacific Northwest, Red Cross.

MATHEW: The American Red Cross has issued an appeal for blood donors of all types due to this critical blood shortage that’s really going across our nation. by the types that we are most in need of are O-negative, A-negative and B-negative. On these particular types there’s less the population that have that type. The usage can be high but the donation may be low so that’s one of the reasons for the shortage.

To schedule an appointment to give blood call 1-800-RED-CROSS.

Gee, I thought everyone was in favor of energy saving. Now a group of lawmakers are saying that having to buy a squiggly fluorescent light bulb is an affront to personal freedom. Huh? House Republicans are pushing legislation that would overturn measures in a 2007 energy act requiring efficiency upgrades in the old-fashioned incandescent light bulb, little changed since it was invented by Thomas Edison in 1879. Some Republicans say the new standards are a symbol of an overreaching federal government and people should have the right to buy the traditional, cheap and reliable incandescent bulbs.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

Could it really be true, an agreement between the Humane Society of the United States and the nation’s egg industry? As of last week these two entities have had a meeting of the minds in regards to improving the environment of egg laying hens through enriched cage systems. Up until this time the HSUS showed no interest in any type of compromise and had been vehemently calling for cage free egg production. But now, the HSUS has shifted gear by agreeing to a national federal standard which would call for increasing the size of cages from sixty-seven inches to one hundred twenty-four inches for all egg laying hens in the U.S.over the next fifteen to eighteen years. President of the HSUS, Wayne Pacelle, stated, “this unprecedented agreement pushing for a national standard means the HSUS will cease litigation and planned ballot measures in Washington and Oregon. He also said this would mean an end to the HSUS’s undercover videos. It’s apparent the writing was on the wall for the HSUS; Americans, while supporting animal welfare, also support animal agriculture, and have no intentions of becoming a nation of strictly vegans.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.