Speaker 1: It's night Side, Dan undoing Mazy Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Beg you, Dan Watkins, as we move into a Thursday
Speaker 2: night edition of Nightside. We'll be here for the next
Speaker 2: four hours, less a few minutes. We'll get you all
Speaker 2: the way up until midnight. We will talk later on
Speaker 2: tonight with a former Massachusetts state representative who spent some
Speaker 2: years in federal prison some time, I should say in
Speaker 2: federal prison for some campaign violations. It was complicated by
Speaker 2: some addictions. And we'll be talking with former Massachusetts Representative
Speaker 2: Dave Nangle Nangle and talk about not only what he
Speaker 2: has learned from this cautionary tale, but how he hopes
Speaker 2: to help people as a consequence of it. And then
Speaker 2: later on tonight at ten o'clock, we will talk with
Speaker 2: Larry and Scott Rubinstein, the WVZ Nightside car guys. So
Speaker 2: it's May first, the driving season is about to get
Speaker 2: underwagh and any questions you have about cars in any
Speaker 2: shape or form, any vehicle, any model, any make. They
Speaker 2: know more about cars than any two people I know.
Speaker 2: My name's Dan Ray. I know myself pretty well, and
Speaker 2: I also know Rob Brooks, the pronouncer, the producer of
Speaker 2: this program. I do not know. Our first guest here
Speaker 2: at the eight o'clock hour. His name is doctor Stephen Katz.
Speaker 2: Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Doctor Katz. How are you
Speaker 2: this evening?
Speaker 3: Hi Dan, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. You know,
Speaker 3: we can just chat about cars if you like. I
Speaker 3: like the idea of your guys coming on later. I'd
Speaker 3: love to talk with them.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you six month seven two five thirty.
Speaker 2: Give them a call. They know everything. But you are
Speaker 2: the president of the American Association of Endo Dauntists, and
Speaker 2: I believe that word endo dantist is from the Greek
Speaker 2: which means inside the tooth. We're talking about taking care
Speaker 2: of our teeth inside and outside. You have a message
Speaker 2: from my listeners, because look, healthy teeth are just as
Speaker 2: important as any other portion of your body to keep
Speaker 2: healthy because it can have tremendous impact on us. What
Speaker 2: is the primary message you want to impart to my
Speaker 2: listeners tonight, our listeners to me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's exactly right. So I am, as you said,
Speaker 3: the president of the American Association of end Adonnas and Endomeans.
Speaker 3: Within the tooth, end adonis perform root canal therapy and
Speaker 3: related procedures to save the teeth. And it just so
Speaker 3: happens that starting today is what we celebrate called Save
Speaker 3: your Tooth Month, and in May each year, the American
Speaker 3: Association of end Adonnas recognizes and Celli breaks are members
Speaker 3: and champion the preservation of natural teeth and their quest
Speaker 3: to improve oral health for all our patients. And I
Speaker 3: think the message that we would like to impart is
Speaker 3: that nothing feels, functions, or looks like our natural teeth do.
Speaker 3: They are just so crucial for eating, for speaking, and
Speaker 3: for smiling, and we all understand the value that that imparts.
Speaker 3: But more importantly, what we learn now, as you said,
Speaker 3: is that the teeth are associated with the overall health
Speaker 3: of the body. So we know that if you have
Speaker 3: a clean, healthy mouth, you have less likely chance of
Speaker 3: having heart disease, you have better brain health, you have
Speaker 3: better control of your sugar, and there's many other things
Speaker 3: that I think will continue to discover about how important
Speaker 3: it is to save your natural teeth.
Speaker 2: So one of the things that I want to address
Speaker 2: with you is the word root, the phrase root canal.
Speaker 2: I had a couple when I was very young, back
Speaker 2: in the dark ages, and they were not pleasant experiences.
Speaker 2: But as I understand it, you folks try to make
Speaker 2: people understand that the fear of the current dentist is
Speaker 2: quite different than maybe the first dentist all of us
Speaker 2: were introduced to early on in our lives. How important
Speaker 2: in your mind is the patience comfort with a procedure
Speaker 2: as complicated as a root canal, and it does. It's
Speaker 2: one of those words that no one ever wants to hear. Doctor.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you have you understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: Sure, sure, And oh, I mean, I don't know how
Speaker 3: I could sum that up other than to say it's
Speaker 3: crucially important when we treat patients as endodonists. I mean
Speaker 3: that is primary that our patients are numb, that they
Speaker 3: don't feel anything at all, and that it's a positive
Speaker 3: experience for them. So I think the point you made
Speaker 3: is really accurate and valid. A lot of patients have
Speaker 3: had procedures in the past, and you know they were
Speaker 3: potentially uncomfortable, and that keeps patients away from the dentist.
Speaker 3: But the problem with that is the longer you stay
Speaker 3: away from the dentist, the more likely that you're going
Speaker 3: to have problems, and those problems become bigger problems, and
Speaker 3: those teeth ultimately could need root canal and some of
Speaker 3: them could actually be lost as well. So the thing
Speaker 3: about seeing an end adonist is that we are experts
Speaker 3: in the diagnosis and treatment of pain. We've been trained
Speaker 3: extensively in anesthesia and how to make our patients comfortable. Additionally,
Speaker 3: compared to the past, we have newer techniques, We have
Speaker 3: newer technologies, and we have better local anesthesia. So all
Speaker 3: of those things compounded can make for an experience that's
Speaker 3: not any different than having a filling or even having
Speaker 3: your teeth cleaned. It should really be completely painless.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's really important. I had a dentist
Speaker 2: as a young boy. It was a bad experience, and
Speaker 2: I stayed away from the dentist for a while and
Speaker 2: paid a price. I've had really good dental care throughout
Speaker 2: my adult life. I was fortunate enough to have a
Speaker 2: couple of great friends who became my dentist, and I
Speaker 2: had to get over myself at a lot of I
Speaker 2: think legitimate apprehensions, But again, I was a child in
Speaker 2: the late nineteen fifties dealing with the dentist who they
Speaker 2: would give you some he would give you Novacan, and
Speaker 2: the next thing you felt was his knee on your
Speaker 2: chest as the drill was going. And I was saying, like,
Speaker 2: as an eight year old doc, shouldn't wait a little while. Oh, no,
Speaker 2: it's no problem, And yeah it was. It was a
Speaker 2: huge problem. So we have moved out of I don't
Speaker 2: like to refer to the nineteen fifties as dark ages,
Speaker 2: but I think we've gone way beyond the type of
Speaker 2: care people received from dentists, you know, some fifty or
Speaker 2: sixty years ago, and it's improved sprentially.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you're one hundred percent correct, And you know,
Speaker 3: I'm just a few years behind you. Dan and I
Speaker 3: experienced the same thing. And then later in life, I
Speaker 3: ended up meeting a root canal and I went to
Speaker 3: an end of Donnis and it was really a very
Speaker 3: positive experience. I was in pain when I went there
Speaker 3: and not feeling great, and he took care of that
Speaker 3: and the procedure was painless. But I felt exactly the
Speaker 3: same way. And that's what encouraged me to go to
Speaker 3: dental school and ultimately to specialize in endodonics, was that experience.
Speaker 3: So you are correct, it was very different. I'm not,
Speaker 3: are you calling it the dark Agency. You know, it
Speaker 3: was only fifty years ago, but you know, from a
Speaker 3: tech now standpoint, we are so much further than we
Speaker 3: were back then.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe me. Sometimes I go to the dentist
Speaker 2: and now who I have, and I walk out and
Speaker 2: I say, it didn't hurt. Why did it hurt in
Speaker 2: the old days? Anyway, I thank you for what you do,
Speaker 2: and I thank you for your demeanor and your approach
Speaker 2: because I know how important seeing your dentist, you know,
Speaker 2: every six months, and getting your teeth cleaned and making
Speaker 2: sure that they stayed clean because it presents, it prevents
Speaker 2: problems going forward. I understand that there are millions of
Speaker 2: Americans who have lost all of their teeth, and you
Speaker 2: know that to me is a complete tragedy that many
Speaker 2: Americans are walking around with all of most of their
Speaker 2: teeth missing, because it's such an impact on the rest
Speaker 2: of their life. As you said earlier, they don't smile,
Speaker 2: they don't they're not able often to eat the food
Speaker 2: they enjoy, and it is a deleterious effect on their lifestyle.
Speaker 2: So thanks for joining us tonight, and thanks for clarifying
Speaker 2: what antidontics can actually do. It's not a word we
Speaker 2: should fear. It's a word that we should take advantage of.
Speaker 3: In the yep, exactly right. And if your listeners, you
Speaker 3: don't should need root canal therapy, they can find us.
Speaker 3: They don't need to come through their dentist. They could
Speaker 3: just go to find my end adonis dot com and
Speaker 3: find a specialist in their area that can take care
Speaker 3: of the issues. And you know, you are correct. We
Speaker 3: do see a lot of people walking around with our teeth,
Speaker 3: but that's better than it used to be, so we
Speaker 3: aren't getting our message out. And in addition to that,
Speaker 3: if patients have not seen the dentist, it's never too late.
Speaker 3: You can always start and we could save most of
Speaker 3: their teeth and they can keep them for the rest
Speaker 3: of their lives. So I don't want people to think that,
Speaker 3: you know, they have to give up. They can go
Speaker 3: to the dentist, get treatment and retain what they have.
Speaker 2: Doctor Stephen Katz. Very great presentation, and I mean that seriously.
Speaker 2: I was even apprehensive talking to you, but you have
Speaker 2: put my mind at ease and hopefully a lot of
Speaker 2: my listeners all up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Doctor
Speaker 2: Stephen Katz, what's that website one more time with people
Speaker 2: can go to if they need an answered Auntist.
Speaker 3: Yes, it's find my endidonist dot com.
Speaker 2: Couldn't be easier. Couldn't be easier. Thank you so much,
Speaker 2: doctor Katz. Look forward to talking again again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was great to being on. Thank you so much. BOBBYE.
Speaker 2: Welcome. When we get back, we're going to talk about
Speaker 2: another problem, not well maybe a problem for us. We're
Speaker 2: going to talk about Cape Cod and the great white
Speaker 2: sharks that we've become accustomed to, and we're going to
Speaker 2: talk with the president of the Atlantic Shark Expeditions, doctor
Speaker 2: Neil Hammerschlog, and answer the question what would happen to
Speaker 2: Cape Cod if the Great whites disappear. We'll be back
Speaker 2: right after this on Nightside.
Speaker 1: You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
Speaker 1: news radio.
Speaker 2: With us is doctor Neil hammas Schlog. He is a
Speaker 2: the president of the Atlantic Shark Expeditions. First of all,
Speaker 2: doctor Hammerschlag, tell us exactly what is it Atic Shock Expeditions.
Speaker 2: Is this something that you're involved in professionally or can
Speaker 2: people use the Atlantic Shock Expeditions and take trips out
Speaker 2: to the briny deep and see some white shocks up
Speaker 2: close and personal.
Speaker 4: Hi there. Yeah, it's actually a bit of both. So
Speaker 4: we do bring people out from the public to get
Speaker 4: on a boat. They can view the sharks from the
Speaker 4: boat or actually take the plunge in our shark cage
Speaker 4: and get face to face on the waters of predators.
Speaker 4: And it all supports research that we're doing out on
Speaker 4: these sharks while.
Speaker 3: On the boat.
Speaker 2: All right, so now we know that you do get
Speaker 2: up close and personal. So the question is, and I'm
Speaker 2: going to ask you when did the sharks? When are
Speaker 2: white sharks off the coast of the cave. I'm going
Speaker 2: to go really to the fundamentals Initially, when do they
Speaker 2: arrive and when do they depart for warmer waters?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so they're they're a bit like a like a snowbird.
Speaker 4: So they spend the kind of summer and fall off
Speaker 4: the cape, and then when the waters get cold, they
Speaker 4: head back down south to over winter.
Speaker 2: So we're talking about, say the fourth of July to
Speaker 2: the end of October. When will you see your first
Speaker 2: white this year white shark off the cape.
Speaker 4: So I don't work in the cape. I work in
Speaker 4: Nova Scotia, So I work in Nova Scotia, just a
Speaker 4: bit north of the shelf of Maine, and so we
Speaker 4: see sharks there coming in around July, August, September, but
Speaker 4: it's slightly earlier off off the cape, so you can
Speaker 4: probably expected to see that in June or right.
Speaker 2: Okay, so they are migratory. That's great. So now my
Speaker 2: question then is, and my producer says that there's a
Speaker 2: story here sharks scientists show what may happen to cape
Speaker 2: called if great whites disappear. I don't assume great whites
Speaker 2: are going to disappear anytime soon. And our focus is
Speaker 2: the cape because we're so familiar with the cape. What
Speaker 2: would happen or what could cause cause white sharks to
Speaker 2: no longer migrate up here, great whites to no longer
Speaker 2: migrate up there? How significant of a change in water
Speaker 2: temperature would we need some here in New England or
Speaker 2: in the southeast Canada.
Speaker 4: Well, you'd actually be surprised these animals. And I don't
Speaker 4: think it's going to be water temperature that would have
Speaker 4: a dramatic effect. I mean the I think what we're
Speaker 4: seeing in other place of the world is that these
Speaker 4: sharks are long lived and they mature laid life and
Speaker 4: they have very few offspring. So if there's a lot
Speaker 4: of all of a sudden they start being captured in
Speaker 4: fisheries and suffering or being killed some way, being removed,
Speaker 4: they could quickly quickly disappear.
Speaker 2: So they need to So you're telling me, is they
Speaker 2: need to be protected.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean they Fortunately they are protected in the
Speaker 4: US and in Canada. And what we're seeing is their
Speaker 4: numbers are healthy. Right now they've increased and right now
Speaker 4: they are healthy.
Speaker 2: Great, it was not always that way. Was there a
Speaker 2: period of time when Captain Ahab was running around that
Speaker 2: the whites h.
Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, their numbers definitely dropped in January seventies,
Speaker 4: eighties and nineties, where you know, at least the early
Speaker 4: nineties until they are protected in the late nineties. But
Speaker 4: in the seventeen and eighties, saw you know, these sharks
Speaker 4: the numbers decline.
Speaker 2: Okay, Now the next question that I have is, clearly
Speaker 2: they're part of the ecosystem, a big part of the ecosystem.
Speaker 2: Your sense is that right now they're in pretty good
Speaker 2: shape in terms of numbers, and that they are replacing
Speaker 2: the sharks are replacing themselves. What do we need to
Speaker 2: not that we need to worry about things, but what
Speaker 2: are you most concerned about in terms of making sure
Speaker 2: that the great white sharks are welcomed and comfortable up
Speaker 2: in your neck of the woods and down in our
Speaker 2: neck of the woods by cape cod. What worries you
Speaker 2: at night if anything?
Speaker 4: You know, you know, I think while animals can be
Speaker 4: protected on paper, that doesn't always you know, come out
Speaker 4: in reality. And so you know, there's a possibility that
Speaker 4: these these sharks could be targeted by people, you know,
Speaker 4: trophy hunters trying to catch the big one, you know,
Speaker 4: get a set of jaws. They're being caught. They could
Speaker 4: be caught, you know, unintentionally, you know, entanglement and things
Speaker 4: like yeah, traps or lobster pots, and then you know
Speaker 4: they could be killed, you know, when they leave protected
Speaker 4: waters and being taken in international waters. So you know,
Speaker 4: there's always that fear there.
Speaker 2: We have right now a part of about thirty whales
Speaker 2: which are frolicking off of Cape cod, and that particular
Speaker 2: species of whale only has about three hundred and fifty worldwide.
Speaker 2: So there's been some cautions sent out on the last
Speaker 2: day or so. According to the local newscast for anybody
Speaker 2: who's out there on the water, particularly in the Cape
Speaker 2: Cod Canal, to go no faster than ten knots, So
Speaker 2: they don't, you know, run in and run their boats
Speaker 2: and hurt someone. What is the estimate of the population
Speaker 2: of great white sharks worldwide or North America? Does anyone
Speaker 2: have their arms around how many of these beautiful fish
Speaker 2: exist in our world?
Speaker 5: Not?
Speaker 3: Really.
Speaker 4: There's some estimates that restarch To or Atlantic White Shark
Speaker 4: Conservancy estimated in a study that there might be as
Speaker 4: many as eight hundred individuals that have visited Cape Cod
Speaker 4: in the last several years. Other areas, it seems like
Speaker 4: most areas of world where there have been estimates, it
Speaker 4: seems to be the number like up the Luck Australia
Speaker 4: or New Zealand. The numbers seem to hover around a
Speaker 4: thousand in various different locations. But in terms of the
Speaker 4: total population size, that doesn't mean that's as many sharks
Speaker 4: in one single time. That just needs like kind of
Speaker 4: the whole population size.
Speaker 2: I know that I believe it's out of woods hole
Speaker 2: here down on Cape Cod. I believe that they were
Speaker 2: able to get out and actually tag these sharks and
Speaker 2: follow them. What their their migration pattern is and they
Speaker 2: actually can almost name them. That's that's the how close
Speaker 2: the research is that the relationships that develop between the
Speaker 2: researches and the sharks. I'm sure it's something similar to
Speaker 2: that where you are up in Canada. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, we're trying to monitor, you know, through our research
Speaker 4: and ecotourism. We're trying to get a handle on what
Speaker 4: kind of the the population statuses and if it's stable, increasing, decreasing,
Speaker 4: and also identify just areas that are important for these sharks,
Speaker 4: because no one you have to protect the sharks, but
Speaker 4: also the habitats are important. To do this, we try
Speaker 4: to identify the individuals. We track the individuals and so
Speaker 4: we can see like where they're, the places they like
Speaker 4: to go, how frequently they go there, and if they
Speaker 4: return there from your year.
Speaker 2: Does the hamislide? Just one final question we follow during
Speaker 2: the summertime shar activity. I'm sure you have that that
Speaker 2: app on your phone as well. What's the average life
Speaker 2: expectancy of a great white shark, you know, in our
Speaker 2: in our part of the world. Is it twenty thirty
Speaker 2: years or less or more.
Speaker 4: You're gonna be blown away? It's eighty years old, about
Speaker 4: eighty years old to be their long lived species. That's
Speaker 4: the thing is they only reach they only reach sexual maturity.
Speaker 4: They only become adults when they're you know, close to thirty,
Speaker 4: which is why you know. That means they don't reproduce
Speaker 4: until they're in their thirties pretty much. So that's why
Speaker 4: you know it doesn't take a lot of removals. If
Speaker 4: you start pishing them out before they can reproduce, then
Speaker 4: you know, can have detrimental impacts.
Speaker 2: Great, well, look, doctor Hammerschlock, you have answered all my questions.
Speaker 2: I thank you very much, President of Atlantic Shark Expeditions.
Speaker 2: If there are some folks who are looking to visit you,
Speaker 2: what's the website.
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, we'd love that. We'd love to host you
Speaker 4: on a case diving per science. It's Atlantic Shark e
Speaker 4: XP dot com. Atlantic Shark exp dot com.
Speaker 2: That's perfect. It makes it simple, easier than to spell
Speaker 2: expeditions Atlantic Shark e XP all one word dot com.
Speaker 2: Doctor Neil Hamishlock, thank you very much for your time tonight.
Speaker 2: I really enjoyed our conversation.
Speaker 4: Thank you, You're welcome.
Speaker 2: We had the news coming up at the bottom of
Speaker 2: the hour and after that we're going to talk with
Speaker 2: a reporter from the Washington Post about whether or not
Speaker 2: brown rice actually is healthier than white rice, and the
Speaker 2: way the question has been posed, I suspect we may
Speaker 2: have a surprise for an answer. We'll find out on
Speaker 2: the other side of the news at the bottom of
Speaker 2: the hour.
Speaker 1: It's night signed Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: All right, we are delighted to welcome from the Washington
Speaker 2: Post reporter by the name of Teddy and then a
Speaker 2: mena bar. Have I gotten that name anywhere close close
Speaker 2: to correct? Teddy?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 6: Dead on, it's really fanatic having all right.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. The Teddy was pretty easy, that one
Speaker 2: I got, uh, And you're right for the Post, and
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about whether brown rice is actually
Speaker 2: healthier than white rice. Is food your specialty or you're
Speaker 2: a general assignment reporter and this investigative report is was
Speaker 2: assigned to you or you came up with the idea?
Speaker 6: Yeah, So I've been reporting on contaminants and foods, specifically
Speaker 6: having that lead and arsenic and I reported this story
Speaker 6: with Anahad O'Connor, who is our food and nutrition columnist
Speaker 6: and reporter, And so that's how we tackled both sides
Speaker 6: of this question of you know, whether brown rice is
Speaker 6: in fact healthier.
Speaker 2: So I believe that the story that you wrote concluded
Speaker 2: that brown rice has more arsenic than white rice, But
Speaker 2: is it still the better choice? I think that was
Speaker 2: the headline.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Yes, there are some influencers on Instagram or TikTok who
Speaker 6: you know, raised concerns about the level of arsenic in
Speaker 6: brown rice. And it is true that brown rice, because
Speaker 6: it has that brand, that outer layer, it does have
Speaker 6: higher levels of arsenic than white rice. But you know,
Speaker 6: really the folks we spoke with, so the researchers who
Speaker 6: really study rice and rice patties and heavy metal contamination,
Speaker 6: you know, they just said that for the average adult,
Speaker 6: you would need to eat an excessive amount of brown
Speaker 6: rice for this to be a concern. The one caveat
Speaker 6: here that I do just want to stress is, you
Speaker 6: know where the attention is. It is for babies and
Speaker 6: toddlers who you know, rice based toddler food can you know,
Speaker 6: really be kind of the first foods a small child
Speaker 6: might be eating, And you just want to be conscious of,
Speaker 6: you know, diversifying the types of grains that you're feeding
Speaker 6: a small kid because they can be more, you know,
Speaker 6: at risk of you know, having you know, too much
Speaker 6: arsenic because they're smaller.
Speaker 2: Okay, So my question is when we think about arsenic,
Speaker 2: we think that arsenic is a poison like hemlock. How
Speaker 2: does a arsenic find its way into rice, whether it's
Speaker 2: brown or white? Is this just a function of nature?
Speaker 6: Yeah, this is This is I think the most fascinating
Speaker 6: part of the reporting. So arsenic is particularly good at
Speaker 6: getting into rice grain because of how we grow rice,
Speaker 6: so rice patties. We flood fields and the soil isn't
Speaker 6: exposed to oxygen. So the natural amount of arsenic that's
Speaker 6: already in the soil converts to a more soluble form
Speaker 6: of arsenic that the rice, the roots of the rice
Speaker 6: plant absorb it. Actually, the rice actually thinks that this
Speaker 6: is a nutrient and the arsenic goes through the roots
Speaker 6: into the grain. And so that's why you have higher
Speaker 6: levels of arsenic and rice than you do quina or
Speaker 6: barley or wheat.
Speaker 2: So is rice And I'm not an expert, I'm not
Speaker 2: an exp for an agriculture. Is brown rice and white
Speaker 2: rice rice just a function of where it is grown?
Speaker 2: Or are there rice patties that are developed to produce
Speaker 2: a certain color of rice or or is it just
Speaker 2: you know, it just so happens that in this particular
Speaker 2: part of the world it mostly is brown in this
Speaker 2: particular part of the world. How does that work? Yeah?
Speaker 6: Yeah, So you know, there are absolutely different species of rice,
Speaker 6: and you know, different soils, even in the US are
Speaker 6: going to have different levels of arsenic. So actually parts
Speaker 6: of the southern southeast US deal more with arsenic in
Speaker 6: the soil than say California. But to get to the
Speaker 6: point of your question, the difference between white rice and
Speaker 6: brown rice is just processing. So white rice is a
Speaker 6: bread rice kernel that has been processed more to remove
Speaker 6: that outer layer and strip it of that brown what's
Speaker 6: called brand.
Speaker 2: Okay, So so what you're saying is that a kernel
Speaker 2: uh and maybe I hope the word colonel is correct.
Speaker 2: A kernel of white rice, uh and brown rice is
Speaker 2: essentially the same. When you take the the outer covering
Speaker 2: off the brown, the brown, the colonel of brown rice
Speaker 2: will look the same. Is That's what I think I'm
Speaker 2: hearing you say.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, that's correct. And they do some polishing too
Speaker 6: to the white rice to give it that But yeah,
Speaker 6: that's that's the process well.
Speaker 2: That's interesting. And this, this story that that you've worked
Speaker 2: on with your colleague is a consequence of what some
Speaker 2: people I guess who are not necessarily rice experts, have
Speaker 2: theorized and and you and wanted to prove or disprove
Speaker 2: what their theories were. That's what it sounds to me
Speaker 2: was the genesis of the story. Yeah.
Speaker 6: Well, a lot of my job is what's the health
Speaker 6: information people see online? And how can we report the facts,
Speaker 6: how can we go to the experts to clarify or
Speaker 6: to dig deeper? And so that was the case with
Speaker 6: this one.
Speaker 2: So overall you were going to I think a unique position.
Speaker 2: Overall the research that you did, does it confirm what
Speaker 2: the Food and Drug Administration would know or are you
Speaker 2: actually going deeper onto issues like this and perhaps others
Speaker 2: that you've covered which are even more informed than what
Speaker 2: our FDA knows about not only this product but other products.
Speaker 6: It's an interesting question. I would say that you know,
Speaker 6: the SDA is definitely aware of arsenic in rice, and
Speaker 6: it regulates the amounts of arsenic in rice cereals for
Speaker 6: infants at a metric called one hundred parts per billion,
Speaker 6: but it doesn't specifically have the same guidance for you know,
Speaker 6: the white or brown rice we buy in the store.
Speaker 6: Comparatively in the EU, there are you know, in the
Speaker 6: UK there are more specific regulations for you know, the
Speaker 6: rice you'd buy off the shelf.
Speaker 5: So that's all to say, you know, they're they're aware
Speaker 5: of it.
Speaker 6: There is some regulation, but it's it's not as specific
Speaker 6: as it is in the EU.
Speaker 2: Last question, since since you're an expert in this field,
Speaker 2: what is your take on the appointment of that the
Speaker 2: American surgeon, doctor Martin McCarry out of Johns Hopkins as
Speaker 2: the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. You know, again,
Speaker 2: he's a surgeon. I'm trying to reconcile what his expertise
Speaker 2: as a surgeon, uh will will will benefit the Food
Speaker 2: and Drug Administration. I know he's a very smart guy.
Speaker 2: I'm just curious if if you've looked at his background
Speaker 2: and said, hey, it's a pretty good pick, or maybe
Speaker 2: it's a pick that still has to be evaluated.
Speaker 6: You know, I have not you know, admittedly interviewed or
Speaker 6: like spoken with people in or around the FDA about
Speaker 6: I you know, my job is really more just to
Speaker 6: keep reporting what we know about you know as the
Speaker 6: SDA rolls out new regulations or the aged as rolls
Speaker 6: out new announcements, like what's the broader context here? What
Speaker 6: does the science say so far and so anyways? That
Speaker 6: doesn't directly answer your question.
Speaker 2: That's right, Look, honest answer. I've asked a question. We
Speaker 2: don't script questions. You do not have my questions at events,
Speaker 2: but I couldn't pass on that opportunity. Teddy, Amanda bar
Speaker 2: thank you so much. Love to have you back. It
Speaker 2: was fascinating interview.
Speaker 6: Thank you, yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Very welcome. When we get back, President Trump has signed
Speaker 2: an executive order to relax some of his twenty five
Speaker 2: percent tariffs on imported automobiles and auto parts. We'll talk
Speaker 2: about it with John Vincent, senior editor for Vehicle Testing
Speaker 2: at US News Autos Team. Coming back on Night's Side
Speaker 2: right after this.
Speaker 1: It's Night Side, Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: Well, I think all of us have learned a lot
Speaker 2: about tariffs in the last month or so. Someone who
Speaker 2: knows a lot about tariff is my next guest, John Vincent. John,
Speaker 2: welcome to Nightside. How are you, sir?
Speaker 5: I am good for you tonight.
Speaker 2: You're probably very sought after interview. These days, you're the
Speaker 2: senior editor for vehicle Testing at US News Autos Teams.
Speaker 2: This is a it's been a very interesting month. We're
Speaker 2: now in May. A lot of us are thankful that
Speaker 2: we're out of April. We do know that the President
Speaker 2: imposed some tariffs on April second Liberation Day and stock
Speaker 2: market went down around five or six percent across the board.
Speaker 2: It has kind of clawed its way back, and now
Speaker 2: the President seems to be relaxing some of his twenty
Speaker 2: five percent tariffs on imported automobiles and auto parts. What's
Speaker 2: going on?
Speaker 5: So they're relaxed, they're not gone, and they help certain
Speaker 5: companies a whole lot more than other companies. Basically, what
Speaker 5: they're doing is throwing the mestic auto companies a lifeline
Speaker 5: so they have a little bit more time to you know,
Speaker 5: create their new supplier pipelines in the Wes. You know,
Speaker 5: building a factory isn't as simple as just building a building.
Speaker 5: You have to develop all the supplier pipelines to serve
Speaker 5: that factory and that's not easy to do or quick.
Speaker 2: So today, I don't know when he signed this order.
Speaker 2: Was that this order signed today?
Speaker 3: Was it yesterday or yesterday.
Speaker 2: Yesterday, okay, today, the stock market across the board seemed
Speaker 2: to have a pretty good day. They've had. It's had
Speaker 2: a lot of good days. Are you now, I know
Speaker 2: you're not a stock market expert, but in view of
Speaker 2: the impact that these tariffs had initially had on the market,
Speaker 2: the turbulence of the early part of the month of April,
Speaker 2: are you surprised that the market has come back this
Speaker 2: quickly after such a down, downspike.
Speaker 5: You know, like you said, I am a little surprised
Speaker 5: at how parts come back because we're not out of
Speaker 5: the woods and the effects of these tariff shed and
Speaker 5: we still don't know, you know, exactly how much they're
Speaker 5: going to cost. The market hates uncertainty, and we still
Speaker 5: have a lot of uncertainty out there.
Speaker 2: How tough is it going to be? It's It's one
Speaker 2: thing to say if if a company, an automaker is
Speaker 2: shipping in a car from that that's been produced made
Speaker 2: in Mexico or Japan or wherever in its entirety, Okay,
Speaker 2: you're going to hit it with the tariff. But as
Speaker 2: I understand that a lot of the vehicles that are
Speaker 2: made even here in the US are made with parts
Speaker 2: that come from other countries around the world, so that
Speaker 2: it's not going to be like either a zero percent
Speaker 2: tariff or one hundred percent tariff on some cars. There's
Speaker 2: going to be some percentage of the value of the
Speaker 2: of the products in the car. How who is going
Speaker 2: to decide that? And how difficult is it going to
Speaker 2: You're going to have to have everybody walking around with
Speaker 2: a calculator.
Speaker 5: So, yes, the math is going to be complicated, but
Speaker 5: fortunately most of it is done already. There is an
Speaker 5: index that comes out on a rolling basis that talks
Speaker 5: about the American arts content on every car sold in
Speaker 5: the US, and it's actually something that's included on the
Speaker 5: minor ownly sticker, the windowstick you see the price on
Speaker 5: the side of the car. There is no event US
Speaker 5: built car there. The highest percentage is eighty five percent,
Speaker 5: and it happens to be on two Tesla models, which
Speaker 5: it's kind of funny because you're doct to pay any
Speaker 5: tariffs if your car is built in Eighty five percent
Speaker 5: of US parts kind.
Speaker 2: Of worked out pretty well, fantastical.
Speaker 5: Well for someone funny where they found that number.
Speaker 2: I have no idea. You sound somewhat skeptical but I'm
Speaker 2: not going to put you to the test of that skepticism.
Speaker 5: Ahead skeptical Okay.
Speaker 2: So so the question then is, uh, President Trump has
Speaker 2: tried to sell this as a way to revitalize the
Speaker 2: US car industry. I guess only time will tell, But
Speaker 2: he's also tried to sell it as a way in
Speaker 2: which companies that are producing high end products like automobiles.
Speaker 2: And I can't think of a higher end product that
Speaker 2: is that is sent into the United States that those
Speaker 2: tariffs will anure to the benefit of the US treasury.
Speaker 2: Is that So is that an aspect that we're overlooking
Speaker 2: or is that overstated in terms of how much good
Speaker 2: it will do From just a purely moneyful perspective.
Speaker 5: I think long term it's overstate a perfect perfectly don't
Speaker 5: tariff collect any tax money because a tariff is designed
Speaker 5: to make the products so expensive the consumers opt for
Speaker 5: different products. So in that case, you know, those imports
Speaker 5: stop and they don't collect tariffs. Unfortunately, unless you cut
Speaker 5: off fifty percent of the auto indugury, they can't just stop,
Speaker 5: you know, bringing cars in, consumers will see price increases,
Speaker 5: whether the car is affected by directly affected by tariffs
Speaker 5: or not they will see price increases because let's say
Speaker 5: the MOTHS to c X five goes up by two
Speaker 5: thousand dollars. I think Honda's not going to rate the
Speaker 5: price of the Honda CRB by a thousand because they
Speaker 5: have that much more room to compete.
Speaker 2: Sure. Yeah, well, I think that corporations will take advantage
Speaker 2: of the marketplace. I think is what you're saying. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's intuitively what they do. I hope that that that
Speaker 2: gets monitored so it's minimized, and I hope that consumers
Speaker 2: are aware of it. And I know that you folks
Speaker 2: will follow that. And information is normally sunlight is the
Speaker 2: greatest disinfectant, but information is a great disincentive for any
Speaker 2: of these games to be played. I look at supermarkets
Speaker 2: right now and I see products that are have gone
Speaker 2: up thirty forty percent, and I know what they are.
Speaker 2: They're not complicated products. They're products that are produced in
Speaker 2: the United States and on a very small level. I
Speaker 2: think companies are taking advantage of the political atmospherics. And
Speaker 2: I think that's what you're saying.
Speaker 5: Yep. And when you look at the auto industry, the
Speaker 5: automotive cycles take a lot longer than a four year
Speaker 5: election cycle. By the time you cite a plant, get
Speaker 5: that plant up and running, you know, it's taking more
Speaker 5: than four years, and the cars built in that plant
Speaker 5: will be more expensive because through robots, robotic tools that
Speaker 5: work in that plant aren't made in America and they're
Speaker 5: going to be subject to teriffs.
Speaker 2: Okay, So my question is then if this is not
Speaker 2: going to innure as a as a short term political
Speaker 2: benefit to President Trump. Most politicians are smart enough to
Speaker 2: do things that are short term political benefits. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: cut your taxes. I'm going to do this. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: chicken in every pot whatever, a car in every garage.
Speaker 2: Why do you think he's doing it? Do you think
Speaker 2: he really believes this as a and as what he says,
Speaker 2: or do you think he's just looking to to make
Speaker 2: a statement and and create and leave a legacy.
Speaker 5: I think he's trying to leave a legacy. But I'm
Speaker 5: you know, not going to get into, you know, what's
Speaker 5: going on in his mind. I think a lot of
Speaker 5: people are making a lot of money with the swings
Speaker 5: in the stock market, which sounds simple, but you know,
Speaker 5: I think there are a lot of smart people in
Speaker 5: the white house, and I'm not sure that they're, you know,
Speaker 5: ignoring the swings that they're seeing.
Speaker 2: Well, we should track that. That should be tracked. John,
Speaker 2: We're flat out of time. Love to have you back
Speaker 2: as this whole story develops throughout the summer and into
Speaker 2: the fall. I hope you'd be kind enough to come
Speaker 2: back with us. We don't again, we don't script questions here.
Speaker 2: I'm asking you questions that I hope the questions that
Speaker 2: are in the mind of my audience. And I appreciate
Speaker 2: you being as honest and candid with your answers as
Speaker 2: you were this evening, and hope to do it.
Speaker 5: We love to come back anytime.
Speaker 2: Thank you, John, appreciate John Vincent of US News their
Speaker 2: Auto's team. When we come back, we are going to
Speaker 2: talk with a former state representative. It's a cautionary tale,
Speaker 2: but it's actually a story that I think is a
Speaker 2: positive story despite what this state representative, David Nangel, went through.
Speaker 2: We will explain when we come back.