Story Ideas for Media 1/6/09

Research

Ohio State study: Dangers of raw milk outweigh possible benefits. Controversy over the legality of selling raw (unpasteurized) milk and dairy products and the alleged health benefits of these foods is growing. The Food and Drug Administration recently filed an injunction to stop a California dairy from shipping raw milk for human consumption out of state, and the Ohio Department of Agriculture has charged several farmers for selling raw milk to consumers in the past couple of years.
In the Jan. 1, 2009 issue of the journal "Clinical Infectious Diseases," a new study by Ohio State University veterinary scientist Jeff LeJeune reviews the dangers of drinking raw milk. In the article, LeJeune documents the increasing number of cases of foodborne illnesses related to unpasteurized milk consumption in the United States since 2005 – including outbreaks of salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis and E. coli. LeJeune contends that contrary to claims that raw milk cures or prevents disease, no scientific evidence supports this notion. He also claims that although testing raw milk has been suggested as an alternative to pasteurization, this method cannot ensure a product that is 100 percent safe and free of pathogens. CONTACT: Mauricio Espinoza, (330) 621-6541 or Jeff LeJeune, (330) 263-3739.

Events

Postponed: Sculpture delivery creates face on new Ohio Union – Jan. 7. Inclement weather has postponed delivery and installation of two new sculptured reliefs for the exterior of the new Ohio Union. The event will be rescheduled. The reliefs will eventually be joined by the six original Marshall Fredericks reliefs that were part of old Ohio Union. Because of the historical value of the six original pieces and students' interest in transferring them to the new building, they were carefully taken from the old building, stored, and worked into the design of the new building. The new reliefs, designed by artist and alumna Linda Langhorst, feature Paul Laurence Dunbar and Harriet Beecher Stowe on one, while the second gives tributes to the art of Roy Lichtenstein and Ohio's rich history of the theatre including George Bellows, James Thurber. The Ohio Union is scheduled to open next year. CONTACT: Kellie Uhrig, Student Life (614) 496-3341.

Ohio State University students animate James Thurber's famous dog drawings for Thurber's Dogs, a Musical Work by Peter Schickele – Jan. 10 - 11. A team of nine graduate students at Ohio State University's nationally known Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) took on the challenge of animating six sequences of James Thurber's famous dog drawings as part of a collaboration with ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and the Thurber House. Their animations will be projected for the orchestra's multimedia performance of composer Peter Schickele's Thurber's Dogs – Suite for Orchestra at a concert on January 10-11. The concerts begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Southern Theater. CONTACT: Pat Riechel, (614) 292-5171. SEE: http://thurberdogs.accad.ohio-state.edu/

The person listed as the CONTACT will have the most current information about the story. Call on our media relations staff for help with any Ohio State story: Liz Cook, (614) 292-7276, Shelly Hoffman, (614) 247-4748; Jim Lynch, (614) 247-4110; or Amy Murray, (614) 292-8385.