One too many bouts of flatulence and cramping has prompted a Florida inmate to sue the Florida Department of Corrections, claiming that the prison’s soy-based turkey dogs and sloppy Joes amount to cruel and unusual punishment.
Eric Harris, 34, who is serving a life sentence for sexual battery on a child, said the soy in his prison diet is threatening his health by endangering his thyroid and immune system. Florida prisons serve meals with 50 percent soy and 50 percent poultry three times a day, a mixture that costs half as much as using beef and pork, the Department of Corrections says. The cost per meal: US$1.70 a day for each inmate. Florida prisons began serving soy-based meals in 2009.
As an inmate at the Lake Correctional Institution, near Orlando, Florida, Harris, a former paralegal, has few culinary choices. He can eat 100g of soy protein a day, use his own money to buy food at the commissary or eat a vegan diet, he said in the lawsuit, which was filed in state court in Tallahassee, Florida, and which the Orlando Sentinel reported on this week.
The Florida Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“Excessive soy can be toxic to the thyroid gland,” said Sally Fallon Morell, the president and treasurer of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nonprofit group that advocates a diet of whole, largely unprocessed foods and food high in saturated fats, and is publicizing the lawsuit on its Web site. “It can have hormonal effects.”
It turns out that Harris is not alone in his objection. Nine inmates at the Danville Correctional Center, in Illinois, filed a similar lawsuit there in 2009. That lawsuit, which is still pending, is being financed by the Price Foundation.
Prisoners who have soy allergies or other ailments are especially at risk, said Fallon Morell, who added that her organization has received hundreds of calls from inmates and their relatives in Illinois and Florida who complain about the ill effects from too much soy. Illinois switched to soy-based meals in 2004 to save money.
Fallon Morrell said Illinois prisons serve more than 100g of soy protein a day — much more than the 25g the government recommends. She said she had taken into account soy oil used for cooking and soy milk.
Studies about the benefits and dangers of soy are mostly contradictory, with some extolling its virtues and others pointing to risks when used to excess.
However, nutritionists say that for the most part eating soy is better for most people than eating 100 percent beef or pork.
“Plant protein is more healthful for us, and people who consume a more plant-based diet have better health outcomes,” said Andrea Giancoli, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, an organization of food and nutrition professionals. “However, I can’t speak for how the soy is processed. Like anything, the more we process them and break them down and isolate proteins, [the more] we lose some of the goodness and benefits.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of