“Caffeine-loaded energy drinks have now crossed the line from beverages to drugs delivered as tasty syrups,” opines a July 26, 2010, Canadian Medical Association Journal editorial, which recommends “strict regulations” and warning labels comparable to those required for caffeine tablets. According to the authors, these sweetened beverages pose a unique health risk to adolescents, 73 percent of whom reported consuming at least 100 mg of caffeine per day, and college students who “often mix energy drinks with alcohol, a potentially hazardous combination because the high levels of caffeine can mask the perception—but not the consequences—of acute alcohol intoxication.” Moreover, claims the editorial, these products “are often targeted toward children and youth through carefully designed advertising campaigns as well as sponsorship of events such as snowboarding and skateboarding competitions.” The editors thus call for “government-mandated restrictions on labeling, sales and marketing, or self-imposed industry standards with clear labeling accompanied by public education.”…
Category Archives Issue 358
A recent editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine has warned that health care reform, rising medical costs and childhood obesity have overtaken tobacco as the top public health priorities, even though smoking “remains by far the most common cause of preventable death and disability in the United States.” Titled “Don’t Forget Tobacco,” the opinion piece claims that federal, state and private efforts to reduce smoking “have seen their assets dwindle or their priorities change” as obesity comes to dominate the discourse. “Lack of insurance, childhood obesity and tobacco use are very different public health challenges, requiring different solutions. All three threaten the most vulnerable Americans,” opine the authors. “By assuming that the tobacco war has been won, we risk consigning millions of Americans to premature death.” Meanwhile, a July 27, 2010, New York Times article fleshes out this trend, tracking the dollars diverted from anti-tobacco campaigns to address…
Two recently released studies have purportedly found high concentrations of bisphenol A (BPA) in the thermal paper used by many retailers to print cash register receipts. Researchers with the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry in Massachusetts tested 10 blank cash register receipts from Boston-area businesses and found some had BPA concentrations as high as 19 mg on a 12-inch long receipt. Ted Mendum, et al., “Concentration of bisphenol A in thermal paper,” Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews, July 28, 2010. They suggest that businesses avoid an potential health risks by using BPA-free receipt paper. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) also apparently studied BPA concentrations in cash register receipts, submitting 36 samples from fast food restaurants, large retailers, grocery stores, gas stations, and post offices to a lab for testing. According to EWG, 40 percent of the samples had high BPA levels, in some instances 250 to 1,000 times greater than…
In this literature review, The New Yorker’s Elizabeth Kolbert recounts the decline of bluefin tuna and other aquatic species due to overfishing, technological advances and lukewarm governance by authorities like the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). According to Kolbert, the world passed “the point of what might be called ‘peak fish’” in the late 1980s, when the global catch topped out at 85 million tons. “For the past two decades, the global catch has bee steadily declining,” she warns. “It is estimated that the total take is dropping by around five hundred thousand tons a year.” Kolbert thus turns to several books on aquatic ecosystems and ocean sustainability to explain the confluence of cultural, historical and technological factors that have brought whole fisheries to the brink of extinction. To this end, she trawls such watery tomes as (i) Saved by the Sea: A Love Story with…
DTC Perspectives Inc. has announced the 2010 Marketing Disease Prevention in America (MDPA) Conference, which will discuss how health care marketing can effectively address obesity prevention. Slated for October 19-21 in Atlanta, Georgia, the conference is designed for advertisers, health and wellness marketers, media representatives, pharmaceutical marketers, public health advocates, and those in the food, beverage and weight loss industries. MDPA will provide participants with information on the increasing prevalence of obesity; the latest legislative, regulatory and voluntary efforts to limit food and beverage marketing; consumer behaviors and attitudes toward healthy living; the role of retailers and manufacturers in preventing obesity; and the impact of new technologies on public health. Speakers will include David Kessler, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, as well as representatives from the American Beverage Association, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Action Against Obesity, and Trust for America’s Health.
The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFB) has issued a policy statement urging the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to “initiate a retaliation process” against the European Union over its de facto moratorium on genetically modified (GM) crops. Despite a 2006 World Trade Organization ruling that found fault with EU approval procedures for GM crops, the bloc has allegedly failed to implement “a timely and predictable regulatory process,” resulting in “substantial damage” to U.S. agriculture. Although AFB initially agreed to suspend formal action in favor of normalizing trade, the industry group has since reversed that decision. According to AFB, “If the EU does not immediately begin to make timely, science-based regulatory decisions on pending and future applications, soybean exports also are at serious risk.” See AFB Press Release, July 26, 2010. Meanwhile, the European Commission (EC) recently approved six GM corn varieties via “the usual and standard” authorization procedure,…
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld, in part, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) denial of objections filed to its final rule revoking all residues of the pesticide carbofuran permitted on or in raw and processed foods. Nat’l Corn Growers Ass’n v. EPA, No. 09-1284 (D.C. Cir., decided July 23, 2010). EPA revoked the carbofuran “tolerances” after notice-and-comment rulemaking because it determined that aggregate dietary exposure to residues of carbofuran is “not safe” and because exposure to the chemical in drinking water exceeded “the level of concern with respect to both children and adults.” This action effectively banned its use on both domestic and imported food for human consumption. The U.S. company that makes the pesticide and several trade organizations filed objections to the revocation and a hearing request, which EPA denied. While the objectors had participated in the rulemaking proceeding, they attempted to either introduce new evidence during the…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has solicited feedback on a proposed information collection related to the Pet Event Tracking Network (PETNet). PETNet would allow state and federal regulators “to quickly and effectively exchange information about outbreaks of illness in companion animals associated with pet food.” FDA has envisioned the voluntary system as a “secure, Internet-based network” that would provide a platform for members to receive and create alerts about pet food incidents. According to the agency, “The information will be used to help State and Federal regulators determine how best to use inspectional and other resources to either prevent or quickly limit the adverse events caused by adulterated pet food.” FDA has anticipated that each participating state would report via PETNet approximately 10 times per year. “[G]iven that the form only has 11 items and most are drop down fields, 20 minutes is a sufficient amount of time to…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a notice specifying the terms and conditions for voluntary compliance with section 4205 of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, which established nutritional labeling requirements for chain restaurants with more than 20 locations and vending machine operators with more than 20 machines. Other retailers not covered by section 4205 can elect to become subject to the federal law by registering biannually with FDA. Restaurants and similar establishments that voluntarily opt in “will no longer be subject to State or local nutritional labeling requirements unless those requirements are identical to Federal requirements,” according to the agency. Vending machine operators are already covered by state and local regulations identical to federal requirements, although Congress has “expressly provided” that they may still undertake voluntary registration. The agency will accept comments until October 21, 2010. See Federal Register, July 23, 2010.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking under the Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002, soliciting feedback on the list of select agents and toxins that could pose “a severe threat to animal or plant health, or to animal or plant products.” APHIS has requested suggestions regarding (i) “any addition or reduction of the animal or plant pathogens currently on the list of select agents,” and (ii) potential reorganization of the list “based on the relative potential of each select agent or toxin to be misused to adversely affect human, plant or animal health.” According to APHIS, “Such tiering of the list could allow for the application o different security measures for those selected agents or toxins which post a higher risk to animal or plant health if they were to be stolen or otherwise misused.” Backed by…
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