In a development only recently noticed in the United States, New Zealand’s Commerce Commission took action in late 2009 against a poultry producer that claimed its chickens contained no genetically modified (GM) ingredients. According to a November 18, 2009, commission news release, Inghams Enterprises (NZ) Pty. Limited was warned that it risked breaching the Fair Trading Act by stating that its chicken products contained “No . . . GM ingredients” and “have no added hormones, GM ingredients or artificial colours,” when the company’s chickens were fed with a product that contained 13 percent GM soy. The commission based its action on a report issued by a Canterbury University genetics and molecular biology professor who concluded that “GM plant material can transfer to animals exposed to GM feeds in their diets or environment, and that there can be a residual difference in animals or animal-products as a result of exposure to GM…
Category Archives Issue 335
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and the Food and Drug Administration have announced a February 8, 2010, public meeting to discuss draft U.S. positions for the 42nd Session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA) slated for March 15-19, 2010, in Beijing, China. Co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the meeting will include discussions concerning (i) “endorsement and/or revision of maximum levels for food additives and processing aids in [C]odex standards”; (ii) “draft and proposed draft food additive provisions of the General Standards for Food Additives (GSFA)”; (iii) “proposals for changes or additions to the International Numbering System (INS) for food additives”; (iv) “identification of problems and recommendations related to the inconsistent presentation of food additives provisions in Codex commodity standards; and (v) “the Codex standard for food grade salt.” See Federal Register, January 28, 2010.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced a series of stakeholder meetings intended to address the “views, concerns, and issues surrounding the hazards of combustible dust,” which may be formed in agricultural and grain-handling workplaces and factories that manufacture food, animal food, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals. For the February 17, 2010, meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, OSHA is soliciting feedback on (i) possible regulatory approaches to handling the hazards of combustible dust; (ii) the scope of any rulemaking; (iii) the organization of a prospective standard; (iv) the role of consensus standards; and (v) consequent economic impacts. OSHA held a similar meeting December 14, 2009, and additional meetings are planned for 2010. The agency previously published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking that requested comments, including data and other information, on issues related to the hazards of combustible dust in the workplace. According to OSHA, “Materials that…
The Food and Drug Administration’s Science Board has announced a February 22, 2010, public meeting to discuss “an interim report from its subcommittee reviewing research at the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.” The advisory board is also slated to discuss “plans to establish another subcommittee to review research programs at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research” and “updates on science programs at the Office of Regulatory Affairs and the National Center for Toxicological Research.” FDA plans to make background material available no later than two business days before the meeting. See Federal Register, January 27, 2010.
Legislation recently introduced in the House and Senate would take different approaches to the continuing development and use of nanotechnology. Senators Mark Pryor (D-Ariz.) and Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) have co-sponsored a bill (S. 2942), the “Nanotechnology Safety Act of 2010,” that would establish a program within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate nanoscale materials used in FDA-regulated products to assess their “potential toxicity” and interactions with biological systems. The measure would appropriate $25 million for each year from 2011 through 2015 to carry out the program. Among other matters, the proposal calls on FDA to assess scientific literature and data, develop models to formulate general principles for “the behavior of classes of nanoscale materials with biological systems,” undertake collaborative efforts to understand the “science of novel properties at the nanoscale that might contribute to toxicity,” build agency expertise on these issues, ensure ongoing training, and “participate in international…
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