Community News (V11-I28)

Top scientist receives grant to develop fast test to detect porcine fat

TALLAHASSEE, June 29, 2009– Y-H. Peggy Hsieh, of Florida State University,  recently received a grant from Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo K. of Japan to develop a rapid method for the detection of porcine fat. The two-year grant provides $216,000 in research funds plus $40,000 in consulting fees.

Pork tissue is strictly prohibited in  Halal diets for religious reasons. Reliable methods for the detection of any porcine tissue, including muscle and fat, are of paramount importance to the practicing Muslim and Jewish populations. Hsieh has previously developed a rapid pork immunoassay which can sensitively detect any pork muscle in food and feed mixtures regardless of their processing conditions. This pork-specific assay was commercialized in 2000 and has been widely used internationally. However, detection of pork fat remains challenging due to the physiochemical nature of the fat. Currently available methods such as DNA based Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) techniques, gas and liquid chromatography, and near-infrared spectroscopy, all require sophisticated instruments coupled with complex data analysis procedures for interpreting results. Rapid field tests of pork or any other fat are non-existent.

Hsieh will search for a porcine-specific and thermal-stable biomarker in the porcine fat tissue and develop a rapid method for the detection of the biomarker in raw and processed pork fat. It is anticipated that after two years, she will deliver the very first field assay which can identify even small amounts of pork fat in a wide range of raw and processed materials without using expensive instrumentation. This type of assay will greatly benefit billions of people who try to avoid pork in their diet. Tanaka has signed an optional licensing agreement with FSU in the hopes of commercializing Hsieh’s end product upon completion of this project.

The Tanaka Kikinzoku Group is Japan’s leading precious metals company with a history of over one hundred and twenty years. Although best known internationally for its high specification industrial products, the group is also producer and trader of a variety of bullion and platinum group metals, coins and bars. The group is also active environmentally, and is one of the world’s largest recyclers of platinum group metals. Their newly established Medical Group, which is funding Hsieh’s research, is focused on developing various products through the use of precious metals to improve human health.

Protestors at mosque presented with roses

BOSTON, MA–The mosque complex of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center officially opened last Friday with more than 1800 worshippers in attendance. Mayor Thomas M. Menino, city councilors, and state lawmakers also attended the ceremony.

The mosque had faced a plethora of problems including financial woes and allegations that some of the speakers there had indulged in extreme rhetoric.

A handful of protestors stood across the street from the mosque holding placards led by a leading critic Charles Mosque. Local Muslims gave them white flowers as a gesture of peace. A few arguments ensued but the overall atmosphere was peaceful.

The Muslim leaders of the area hoped that the mosque will become a hub of interfaith programs.

Mayor Bloomberg says schools won’t close for Eid

NEW YORK,NY–Mayor Michael Bloomberg says New York City’s schools can’t close for Muslim holidays.

The City Council is considering a nonbinding resolution on Tuesday asking the Education Department to observe Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

The city has the nation’s largest school system. A 2008 study by Columbia University’s Teachers College estimates at least 10 percent of its 1.1 million students are Muslim.

The resolution asks the Bloomberg administration to observe the holidays in schools and for the state to require it by amending education law.

The mayor says the city is so diverse schools can’t observe every holiday.

LAPD appoints first Muslim chaplain

LOS ANGELES, CA–In a bid to improve relations with Muslims, the Los Angeles Police Department has appointed its first Muslim chaplain.

Pakistan-born Sheik Qazi Asad, 47, will become a reserve chaplain at the North Hollywood station, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

“We need to establish very good communication … where both parties are talking to each other,” Asad told the Times. “This is just opening up the door.”

Asad, a U.S. citizen, has spent a decade working to improve relations between police and Muslims  in Los Angeles County.

The LAPD hopes he’ll strengthen relations that have suffered since the department tried to map the city’s Muslim population in 2007, the newspaper said. The department abandoned the plan after critics called it religious profiling.

Asad has served as a member of the sheriff’s Executive Clergy Council, on which he worked to build trust between Muslims and police.

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