The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reportedly noted an increase in rare human swine influenza infections, documenting two similar cases in California children not directly exposed to livestock. The agency stated that it typically registers one human swine influenza case every year or two in the United States, but has verified 12 infections between December 2005 and February 2009. CDC also confirmed seven additional cases in Texas and California during March 2009, describing a unique influenza strain that combines segments of a human virus, an avian virus from North America, and pig viruses from North America, Europe and Asia. In addition, Mexican health officials have reported that a swine influenza outbreak recently killed 16 people, including children and young adults, and sickened as many as 943 in the Mexico City area. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization and other experts have expressed concern that the cases, if…
Category Archives Issue 301
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that Kellogg Co. agreed to settle false-advertising charges involving Frosted Mini-Wheats® advertisements that claimed the product was “clinically shown to improve kids’ attentiveness by nearly 20 percent.” According to FTC, the clinical study on which the ads were based showed that “only about half the children who ate Frosted Mini-Wheats for breakfast showed any improvement in attentiveness, and only about one in nine improved by 20 percent or more.” Under the consent order, Kellogg agrees to pull its offending ads and not to express or imply that its cereal improves attentiveness “unless, at the time [the claim] is made, the representation is true and non-misleading.” The company also agreed not to make any representation “about the benefits, performance, or efficacy of such product for cognitive function, cognitive processes, or cognitive health, unless the representation . . . relies upon competent and reliable scientific…
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