“Growing Season,” The Ladydrawers’ exploration of the links between public health, race and food policy, continues with this month’s strip, “Epidemic,” which traces links between federal laws and the alarming rise of autoimmune diseases in the US.

By Anne Elizabeth Moore and Melissa Mendes  Truthout.org | Graphic Journalism  August 11, 2015   

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Drawn by Melissa Mendes, whose previous strips in the series – “Cultivating Policy” and “Cultivation” – looked at communities of color and food justice. It’s a personal issue for The Ladydrawers Comics Collective (try to spot ’em all!), just as it is for a growing number of people around the country.


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Ladydrawers: Epidemic

Notes
1. The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, Inc. (AARDA) goes on to note,”We at AARDA say that 50 million Americans suffer from autoimmune disease. Why the difference? The NIH numbers only include 24 diseases for which good epidemiology studies were available.” The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, Inc.,“Autoimmune Statistics.”
2. “There aren’t a large number of epidemiological studies published [on autoimmune disorders] because it’s very slow research – it can take 20 years. No investigator likes to do that kind of work. It’s also very expensive,” Noel R. Rose, MD, director of Johns Hopkins Autoimmune Disease Research Center, told Self in April. As for why these diseases are on the rise, Rose says, “There are good enough studies coming out to convince me that at least some autoimmune diseases are going up and going up quite rapidly. The question, of course, is why. There has to be some kind of environmental exposure, because genetics – which account for about a third of all cases – don’t change that fast. See “Autoimmune Epidemic: The Medical Experts.”

3. AARDA website, Ibid: “Autoimmune disease is one of the top 10 leading causes of death in female children and women in all age groups up to 64 years of age.”

Copyright, Truthout.orgpermission.

ANNE ELIZABETH MOORE AND MELISSA MENDES

Anne Elizabeth Moore is is an award-winning journalist and author, and is currently based in Chicago. Her nonfiction comic book with “The Ladydrawers,” Threadbare: Clothes, Sex, and Trafficking, comes out in May 2016 from Microcosm Press.

Melissa Mendes is the author of Freddy Stories, a Xeric Award-winning all-ages graphic novel. She received her master of fine arts degree from The Center for Cartoon Studies in 2010, does comics-making workshops for kids, has been an art teacher, and once worked at a convenience store. Melissa lives in Hancock, Massachusetts. You can see more of her work at www.mmmendes.com.

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By Published On: September 12th, 2015Comments Off on Ladydrawers: Epidemic

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