Barbara Feder Ostrov

<p>Don’t spit out your fruitcake, but are the ingredients in it safe? A couple of recent federal auditor reports suggest that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration needs to step up its efforts to protect the nation’s food supply in two areas: tracing ingredients through the food supply chain and ensuring that food companies register with the federal agency.</p>

<p>The Senate may be taking a <a href="http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/senate-tables-health-… break</a> from health reform, but a journalist’s quest for fresh angles on the topic never wanes. (If you’re looking for some ideas, check out my previous tips <a href="../../../../../../../../resources/lessons/health-reform">here</a>.)</p>

<p>When Los Angeles Times reporter <a href="../../../../../../../../resources/sources/lisa-girion">Lisa Girion</a> and health policy consultant <a href="../../../../../../../../resources/sources/peter-harbage">Peter Harbage</a> talk about health reform and health insurance, the result is an exceedingly well-informed discussion with lots of concrete story ideas for journalists.</p>

<p>The shimmering blue lights of the Terminal Island Bridge, rising above the <a href="http://www.portoflosangeles.org/">Port of Los Angeles</a>, belie the intense pollution that emanates from the nation’s largest port and compromises the health of nearby communities. &nbsp;</p>

<p>It sometimes seems like it takes a high-profile case like <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/31/schiavo/index.html">Terri Schiavo</a> to get people to think about end-of-life issues – or editors to agree to stories on the topic.</p>

<p>Have you ever wanted to pick the brain of an investigative reporter? The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellows (Twitter hashtag #cahealthfellows) got the chance with former Los Angeles Times investigative reporter Bill Heisel, who also writes the thrice-weekly <a href="http://www.reportingonhealth.org/blogs/130">Antidote blog</a> for Center for Health Journalism Digital.&nbsp;</p>

<p><em>“I’m really ashamed I let myself get caught up in dishonest and deceitful campaigns really just so a few corporations and their Wall Street masters could become richer than they already are. So now, in a certain way, I’m trying to make amends.”</em></p>

<p>We have a guest post today from <a href="http://www.healthjournalism.org/secondarypage-details.php?id=377">Felice Freyer</a>, veteran medical writer for the Providence Journal, member of the <a href="http://www.healthjournalism.org/">Association of Health Care Journalists</a> Board of Directors and chair of AHCJ's Right to Know Committee.

<p>A loophole in California law means that insurers could require you to take a genetic test to qualify for long-term care insurance – and potentially deny coverage based on the results.</p>

<p>In the heated debate over the new routine <a href="http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/USpstf/uspsbrca.htm">mammogram screening recommendations</a> from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, not enough coverage has focused on our perception of risk.</p> <p>It’s important context for all reporting on medical screening.</p> <p>Journalist Merrill Goozner, who blogs at <a href="http://www.gooznews.com/">GoozNews</a&gt;, has a great <a href="http://www.gooznews.com/node/3174">post</a&gt; on this topic, and on the costs of our misperception of risk. He writes:</p>