Soybeans grown in soil that contains pharmaceuticals and the chemicals found in personal care products can reportedly absorb those compounds. Chenxi Wu, et al., “Uptake of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products by Soybean Plants from Soils Applied with Biosolids and Irrigated with Contaminated Water,” Environ. Sci. Technol., July 21, 2010. The plants were apparently grown under conditions simulating fertilization with treated sewage and irrigation with recycled water. Three pharmaceuticals and two antimicrobials common in personal care products were added to the soil and water, and the plant tissues were tested just before flowering and then after they sprouted beans. The environmental scientists found that uptake “of selected compounds differed by treatment, with biosolids application resulting in higher plant concentrations, likely due to higher loading. However, compounds introduced by irrigation appeared to be more available for uptake and dislocation.”
Category Archives Issue 359
A recent study has purportedly linked an increased risk of bladder cancer to “meatrelated compounds,” including nitrate and nitrite. Leah Ferrucci, et al., “Meat and components of meat and the risk of bladder cancer in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study,” Cancer, August 2010. Researchers apparently identified 854 transitional cell bladder-cancer cases among the 300,933 men and women enrolled in the 1995 National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. Using validated food-frequency questionnaires completed by subjects and quantitative databases of measured values, the study authors estimated “intake of nitrate and nitrite from processed meat and HCAs [heterocyclic amines] and PAHs [polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons] from cooked meat.” Their results reportedly showed that when compared to participants who ate the least amount of processed red meat, the top one-fifth had a 30 percent greater risk of contracting bladder cancer. As the study authors concluded, these findings provide “modest support for an…
A recent study has reportedly suggested that pancreatic cancer cells “can readily metabolize fructose”—but not glucose—“to increase proliferation.” Haibo Lu, et al., “Fructose Induces Transketolase Flux to Promote Pancreatic Cancer Growth,” Cancer Research, July 20, 2010. The abstract maintains that “fructose and glucose metabolism are quite different,” as fructose “induces thiamine-dependent transketolase flux and is preferentially metabolized via the nonoxidative pentose phosphate pathway to synthesize nucleic acids and increase uric acid production.” Thus fructose purportedly provides “an alternative substrate to induce pancreatic cancer cell proliferation.” These findings could have “major significance for cancer patients given dietary refined fructose consumption, and indicate that efforts to reduce refined fructose intake or inhibit fructose-mediated actions may disrupt cancer growth,” conclude the study authors. Meanwhile, the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) and others have publicly disputed the implications of these results. In an August 3, 2010, press release, CRA noted several inaccuracies in the study, which…
“Energy bars and energy drinks are just the tip of this antioxidant-enhanced, vitamin-enriched, high-fiber iceberg,” writes Anneli Rufus in an August 3, 2010, AlterNet article examining health claims based on nutraceuticals such as “vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs, other botanicals, and that amorphous category known as dietary supplements.” According to Rufus, “nutraceuticals hark back to preindustrial folk remedies,” but are not yet proven to work in people. As Stephen DeFelice of the Foundation for Innovation in Medicine told her, the functional-foods industry “is all marketing, marketing, marketing without the clinical research to back it up.” Rufus goes on to trace the history and development behind “the nutraceutical boom,” noting that consumers are again seeking “good for you” foods after a century of focusing “entirely on flavor, speed and ease.” To meet this demand, functional-food companies must walk “a tricky linguo-legislative tightrope” in marketing their products, with restrictions placed on claims linking…
One of the editors of this collection of essays about how to protect consumers when food and products freely cross international borders is Adam Finkel, a former senior enforcement official at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The book is “a direct outgrowth” of a 2009 Penn Law School conference that brought together leading scholars and analysts to discuss import safety. Among the authors are professors in law, economics, political science, criminology, engineering, psychology, risk assessment, and business. The overall tone of the work is to find innovative ways to ensure product safety with a combination of effective “public action and private inspections, public and private standard-setting, and a degree of dependence on consumers to take some responsibility for their own safety.” The essays are grouped under four headings: “Perspectives on the Problem,” “International Trade Institutions,” “Toward Smarter Regulation,” and “Leveraging the Private Sectors.” The authors discuss the massive scale…
Food activist, author and lawyer Michele Simon writes on AlterNet about how PepsiCo has placed a number of respected, and previously anti-industry, scientific experts on its payroll to the dismay of activists like Marion Nestle and others concerned about the purported influence of corporate resources on the public debate over health, obesity and nutrition. She reports that former “public health hero” Derek Yach established his reputation by working on the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control while working at the World Health Organization and later found himself “at odds with Big Food.” He worked for some time with Kelly Brownell’s team at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, but then joined PepsiCo in 2007. Nestle reportedly described on her “Food Politics” blog a conversation she had with Yach after learning he was working for the food industry after which she “remained unconvinced that his role at…
Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. has filed a lawsuit against a competitor alleging that it has orchestrated “an unlawful and malicious campaign” against Ocean Spray designed to damage the company’s reputation, frustrate its relationships with customers and undermine its dealings with grower-owners and other cranberry growers in the industry. Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. v. Decas Cranberry Prods., Inc., No. 10-11288 (D. Mass., filed August 2, 2010). According to the complaint, the defendants have falsely accused Ocean Spray of creating “a significant oversupply of cranberries” in the industry and contributing to that surplus by reducing the amount of cranberries in its products. Ocean Spray details the various means the defendant has used to disseminate its “smear campaign,” including letters to growers, blog posts, and a letter to the U.S. Attorney General seeking an investigation of Ocean Spray. Ocean Spray also alleges that the defendant developed a “false and misleading social media campaign”…
Seeking to represent a statewide class of all those who purchased extra virgin olive oil during a four-year period, one of Bravo TV’s “Top Chefs” and individual consumers have sued companies that make and sell the product, alleging that it often does not meet international and U.S. standards. Martin v. Carapelli USA, LLC, No. BC442300 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty., filed July 30, 2010). The complaint cites a June 2010 study conducted by University of California at Davis’s Olive Oil Center researchers who apparently concluded that samples of imported olive oil labeled as “extra virgin” often did not meet applicable standards. They allegedly determined that the failures could be attributed to (i) oxidation from poor handling, (ii) “adulteration with cheaper refined olive oil,” or (iii) oil made from inferior olives, processing flaws, and/or improper oil storage. According to the complaint, “For years, chefs and home cooks have shared anecdotal…
Lawyers for Sholom Rubashkin, who was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison for financial fraud discovered in connection with a kosher meatpacking plant in the aftermath of a 2008 raid to find illegal immigrants, have alleged trial-court improprieties in their request for a new trial. U.S. v. Rubashkin, No. 08-1324 (N.D. Iowa, filed August 5, 2010). According to Rubashkin’s motion, the federal district court occupied temporary space near the plant so that the 300-plus undocumented workers arrested in the raid could be processed the following day. This raised the issue of Judge Linda Reade’s prior involvement with prosecutors. “Indeed, Chief District Judge Linda Reade stated in September 2008 in a written opinion that she engaged in purportedly limited ‘logistical cooperation’ with law-enforcement authorities in order to provide attorneys and interpreters for the arrested aliens and to conduct their trials in Waterloo.” To the contrary, Rubashkin claims, eight months after…
A federal court in California has reportedly dismissed claims that ConAgra Foods, Inc. provided inadequate cooking instructions on its chicken pot pie products. Meaunrit v. ConAgra Foods, Inc., No. 09-02220 (N.D. Cal., decided July 20, 2010). More than 250 people purportedly got sick after eating the company’s pot pies in 2007 in a Salmonella outbreak that led to a nationwide recall. The named plaintiff in this putative class action apparently did not get sick, but claimed that the company put human health at risk by providing inadequate cooking instructions too difficult for the average consumer to understand. She also alleged that the company’s production facilities subjected consumers to food borne illnesses by failing to adequately prevent bacterial contamination of its products. According to the court, federal agencies pre-approved ConAgra’s product labeling and, “[b]ecause the pre-approval process includes a determination of whether the labeling is false and misleading, and the gravamen of…
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