July 15, 2004

Carolina in the News

Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:

International Coverage

Snapper stocks sold short
Nature, UK
Three-quarters of fish marketed in the United States as red snapper are mislabelled and belong to other species, researchers have discovered....Peter Marko and his colleagues from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, suspected that the reef fish was often being wrongly labelled.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jul04/marko071404.html

Scientists Find Something Fishy in U.S. Diets
Reuters International Wire Service
All is not what it seems in a popular fish supper in the United States.....Scientists from the University of North Carolina have found that three-quarters of the fish sold there labeled as Red Snapper is nothing of the sort.

DNA tests expose fishy labels for red snapper
CBC News, Canada
Some three-quarters of the fish sold as red snapper in the U.S. are in fact other fish species, according to scientists who performed DNA tests on samples....Researchers at the University of North Carolina found more than 75 per cent of fish tested and sold as red snapper at stores in eight states were other species.

Football Deaths: Injuries 3, Heat Stroke 0
Reuters International Wire Service
For the second year running, no football player in the U.S. died of heat stroke last year, according to an annual survey of injuries among football players...."It is important to follow the recommendations of the report in order to further reduce the number of deaths to football players," Dr. Frederick O. Mueller of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill told Reuters Health.

National Coverage

Bait and switch: Study finds red snapper mislabeled
USA Today
There's something fishy at the seafood counter. Genetic tests indicate that 77% of fish sold as red snapper nationwide are other species illegally mislabeled as the popular entree, according to a new study....Scientists at the University of North Carolina sampled fish from eight states - Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and Wisconsin.

'Red snapper' may be red herring for consumers
Newsday, New York
Red snapper is prized for its taste and priced accordingly, at up to $15 per pound...Peter Marko, a professor of marine science at the University of North Carolina, and his students used DNA sequencing to test 22 fillets of fish identified as red snapper from nine different vendors, and discovered that 77 percent were mislabeled.

Red snapper often isn't, report finds
Chicago Tribune
Much of the fish sold as red snapper, a familiar and expensive favorite of seafood lovers for its firm texture and nutty flavor, isn't red snapper at all, according to an article in Thursday's issue of the research journal Nature....The research began mostly as an innocent exercise in which Peter Marko, an assistant professor of marine science at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, was training graduate students in how to extract and sequence DNA from animal cells.

'Red snapper' may be red herring for consumers
National Associated Press
Scientists recommend that you think twice before spending $15 for a red snapper filet the size of an index card....Research at the University of North Carolina shows more than three-quarters of "red snapper" samples from eight states turned out to be different species -- vermillion snapper or lane snapper -- in violation of federal law.

Something's fishy about so-called red snapper
Scripps Howard News Service
Just because it says "red snapper" at the fish market counter doesn't make it the tasty whitefish that you would expect. A new genetic study done by graduate students at the University of North Carolina found that more than three in four fish tested and sold as red snapper in eight eastern and central states were actually other species.

U.S. consumers bite on a fishy seafood
The Baltimore Sun
Remember that red snapper you picked up for dinner last week? It was probably a red herring....A provocative new genetic study by scientists at the University of North Carolina has found that most supermarket fillets sold as red snapper - one of America's priciest and most popular fish - are actually some other species.

Bait and switch on red snapper
San Antonio Express-News
Fishermen might not be the only ones telling whoppers....The study, published today in the journal Nature, was confined to supermarkets in eight East Coast states, but the results suggest the problem could be more widespread, said Peter Marko, a professor of marine sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Red snapper may be imposter
The Birmingham News
Seafood lovers are willing to pay extra for red snapper, the popular fish that has firm white flesh and a nutty sweetness....[Peter] Marko, an assistant professor of marine sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, called this a "remarkable" amount of mislabeling.

Marketplace Red Snapper Is Case of Bait and Switch
Scientific American
Three quarters of the fish sold in the U.S. as red snapper may be a different species, researchers report today in the journal Nature....Suspecting that the restrictions might foster substitution of the costly fish with its less valuable relatives, Peter B. Marko of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his colleagues genetically tested 22 purported red snappers from eight states.

Aqua-Robics
ABC News
Swimming and other forms of water exercise, such as water aerobics, offer remarkable cardiovascular benefits and are one of the few forms of exercise that work out the entire body....Below, Robert McMurray, professor of exercise and sports science at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, talks about how to dive into a water exercise program.

Republican America: How Georgia went 'red'
The Christian Science Monitor
Relaxing in front of his small ranch house, watching the birds flit around his feeder, Ronnie Pilcher looks out over the changing face of the place he calls home...."Megachurches have found themselves adapting to the social and economic climate," says Ferrell Guillory, director of the Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill.

State & Local Coverage

Deal would build UNC centers
The News & Observer
The legislature's leaders announced Wednesday a deal to spend $463 million on land purchases and major construction projects, including a long-sought $180 million cancer hospital at UNC-Chapel Hill....UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser said he was delighted that legislative leaders had come to an agreement on a project that would expand clinical trials at the university and improve treatment for cancer patients throughout the state.
Related link: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/9157357.htm

General Assembly approves UNC's $180M cancer center
Triangle Business Journal
North Carolina House and Senate leaders on Wednesday reached a compromise agreement that will give UNC-Chapel Hill its $180 million cancer center, fund projects at other state universities and preserve land near military bases.

Cheap fish sold as pricey variety
The News & Observer
Fish lovers might not realize they are getting reeled in at some seafood counters when they pay a premium price for red snapper fillets....But a UNC-Chapel Hill marine sciences professor and his students noticed something really fishy after doing DNA tests on fish labeled as "red snapper" that they bought from nine vendors in eight states.

Is that really red snapper?
The Herald-Sun
A group of UNC researchers accidentally turned up some surprises when their experiments in seafood DNA analysis uncovered what may be the ultimate in bait-and-switch marketing.

CCU joins trend of freshman book task
Myrtle Beach Sun News
A required reading assignment for Coastal Carolina University's incoming freshmen promises to spur conversation, but it likely won't spark the controversy that has shaken other schools....And book choices at some institutions, such as those at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have made waves in recent years.

Study Reveals Post-9/11 Experience Among Raleigh Muslims
WTVD-TV (ABC, Raleigh)
Terrorists involved in the September 11th, 2001 attacks had written down, before their suicide mission, that they were Muslims carrying out the work of their God....Their post-September 11 experiences were the subject of a first of its kind study by researchers at UNC Chapel Hill.

Issues & Trends

Pell Grants Would Remain Flat and NIH Would Receive Slight Increase Under House Spending Plan
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The maximum Pell Grant award would remain steady, and the National Institutes of Health would receive a slight budget increase, under a spending bill for the 2005 fiscal year approved by the Appropriations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday. Funds for the Perkins Loan Program, which provides low-cost loans to disadvantaged students, would be reduced by the measure.

Raises likely for state workers
The News & Observer
For the first time in three years, state workers likely will receive raises, though less than they had hoped....State workers would get raises of $1,000 or 2.5 percent, whichever is greater, under a tentative agreement reached by legislative budget negotiators.

Produced by News Services, Carolina in the News is an e-mail sampling of current news media coverage about Carolina people and programs, as well as issues and trends that affect the university. Stories usually will be online and available free for a limited time - often one to two weeks. Expiration dates before stories move to archives vary by media outlet. Some outlets require free user registration or a subscription.

Carolina in the News is also posted daily to the News Services Web page, http://www.unc.edu/newsserv/clipsindex.htm.

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