The UK’s University of Cambridge has conducted an animal study suggesting that poor diet during pregnancy may lead to an increased risk of offspring developing diabetes later in life. Ionel Sandovici, et al., “Maternal diet and aging alter the epigenetic control of a promoter enhancer interaction at the Hnf4a gene in rat pancreatic islets,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, March 8, 2011. Researchers exposed female rats to either a normal or low-protein diet during their pregnancies and then collected pancreatic cells from their offspring at ages 3 and 15 months. Researchers reportedly found that the offspring of rats fed a protein-deficient diet had a higher rate of type 2 diabetes, according to the study. But they also discovered that the offsprings’ Hnf4a gene—thought to play a role in pancreas development and insulin production—was apparently silenced as the rats aged, a factor that may cause diabetes. “This study has identified…
Category Archives Issue 386
A group calling itself “The Ethereal Enigmatic Euphoric Movement Towards Civilized Hedonism, Ltd.” has sued Idaho in federal court, alleging that a state law allowing cities to “prohibit the sale of distilled spirits” violates members’ fundamental right to practice their religion. The Ethereal Enigmatic Euphoric Movement Towards Civilized Hedonism, Ltd. v. Idaho, No. 11-00097 (D. Idaho, E. Div., filed March 11, 2011). According to the complaint, the city of Preston in Franklin County has relied on the state law to forbid the sale of liquor by the drink. The plaintiff contends that this happened because more than 80 percent of local voters belong to The Church of Christ of the Latter Day Saints, whose members allegedly “believe that drinking alcoholic beverages is a mortal sin.” The plaintiff alleges that these voters “are allowed to force their morality on those of us who don’t believe in their religion,” and that, in fact,…
Five Hispanic farmers have filed a putative class action in a D.C. district court against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), to seek “redress from Defendants’ unconstitutional treatment in the proposed settlement of discrimination claims by these Hispanic Plaintiffs . . . as compared to the manner in which Defendants have settled identical discrimination claims by similarly situated African-American and Native American claimants, . . . all of whom were undeniably discriminated against in like manner by [USDA] in the administration of its farm credit and non-credit farm benefit programs.” Cantu v. United States, No. 11-00541 (D.D.C., filed March 15, 2011). According to the complaint, the government has paid African-American farmers about $1 billion in settlement benefits, and legislation signed into law in December 2010 provides an additional $1.25 billion to settle African-American farmers’ claims. Native American farmers were purportedly offered $680 million in compensation and $80 million in debt…
A federal court in California recently dismissed with prejudice a claim against a school district and some of its personnel filed by the parents of a child with an allergy to nuts; they alleged that the defendants threatened harm to the child by refusing to keep him in a nut free environment, which threat was undertaken to discourage the parents from exercising a legal right, i.e., requesting accommodations for him, in violation of state law. McCue v. S. Fork Union Elementary Sch., No. 10-00233 (E.D. Cal., decided February 7, 2011). The parents also alleged harm from an unspecified person giving the child a peanut butter cookie. Because the third amended complaint did not allege all of the facts needed to state a claim under the law and because “[s]erving a child a peanut butter cookie is not an inherently violent act,” the court concluded that the complaint did not allege…
A California court has issued a statement of decision in support of its July 2010 oral ruling vacating a judgment in favor of plaintiffs who alleged they had been rendered sterile from chemicals used on Nicaraguan banana plantations. Tellez v. Dole Food Co., Inc., No. BC 312852 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty., statement filed March 11, 2011). According to the court, the plaintiffs’ attorneys “coached their clients to lie about working on banana farms, forged work certificates to create the appearance that their clients had worked on Dole contracted farms, and faked lab results to create the impression that their clients were sterile.” The court also stated that the attorneys “tampered with witnesses,” “threatened witnesses and took other actions to carry out the fraud.” The court held more than 20 hearings, presiding over a year-long evidentiary process, and “reviewed the sworn testimony of 27 protected witnesses describing the fraud at…
A federal court in California has dismissed as preempted state-law claims that Smart Balance falsely labeled and advertised its Nucoa® margarine product; the court also denied the plaintiff’s motion to certify a class. Yumul v. Smart Balance, Inc., No. 10-00927 (C.D. Cal., order entered March 14, 2011). Additional information about the complaint, which has twice been amended after previous rulings on motions to dismiss, appears in Issue 359 of this Update. The defendant argued in its response to the plaintiff’s motion for class certification that the claims were preempted by federal law and thus could not be certified. The plaintiff argued that the defendant had waived this defense by not asserting it in its previous motions to dismiss. According to the court, the defendant did not waive the defense, because it had been preserved in the company’s answer and because the company “is entitled to raise the defense any time prior…
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has issued a report analyzing the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) “Healthy People 2020” initiative aimed at improving the overall health of Americans over the coming decade. According to a March 15, 2011, IOM press release, HHS asked the institute to review and recommend “leading health indicators that could sharpen the focus of the agenda,” which seeks to “identify nationwide health improvement priorities; increase public awareness and understanding of determinants of health, disease, disability, and understanding of opportunities for progress; provide measurable objectives and goals applicable at national, state, and local levels; engage multiple sectors to take actions to strengthen policies and improve practices that are driven by the best available evidence and knowledge; and identify critical needs for research evaluation and data collection.” In the new report, IOM has updated and expanded on “10 leading health indicators that served as priorities for…
The Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling has reportedly endorsed guidelines providing regulators and the dairy industry a standard reference for testing melamine in dairy products, including powdered infant formula. Developed by the International Dairy Federation (IDF) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in the wake of a melamine contamination scandal in China that purportedly sickened thousands of young children, the guidelines represent an internationally harmonized procedure that will allow authorities to determine if levels of melamine in dairy products exceed the Codex maximum level of 1 mg melamine per kg of product. The Codex Alimentarius Commission will consider the committee’s endorsement and vote on the guidelines’ adoption in July 2011. The guidelines, titled “ISO/TS 15495 IDF/RM 230:2010, Milk, milk products and infant formulae—Guidelines for the quantitative determination of melamine and cyanuric acid by LC-MS/MS,” reportedly provide advice about sampling, test procedures and performance with examples of…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced its first public meeting to discuss implementation of import safety provisions recently enacted by the Food Safety Modernization Act. Titled “FDA Food Safety Modernization Act: Title III—A New Paradigm for Importers,” the March 29, 2011, meeting in Silver Spring, Maryland, seeks stakeholder input to develop regulations and guidance “on importer verification, the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program, import certifications for food, and third-party accreditation.” FDA requests comments by April 29, 2011. See Federal Register, March 14, 2011. In a related matter, FDA has also announced a public hearing on the agency’s new initiatives for ensuring the safety of imported foods and animal feed to reduce food borne illness. The March 30-31 hearing in College Park, Maryland, will “provide stakeholders the opportunity to discuss FDA’s use of international comparability assessments as a mechanism to enhance the safety of imported foods and animal feed and lessons…
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report reviewing the activities of the Food Safety Working Group (FSWG), an advisory panel established by President Barack Obama (D) to recommend improvements to the U.S. food safety system. According to GAO, the working group has spurred the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies to implement “steps designed to increase collaboration in some areas that cross regulatory jurisdictions––in particular, improving produce safety, reducing Salmonella contamination, and developing food safety performance measures.” The report concludes, however, that the FSWG did not develop “a government-wide performance plan for food safety that provides a comprehensive picture of the federal government’s food safety efforts.” GAO specifically faults the group for failing to include “results-oriented” goals, performance measures or “information about the resources that are needed to achieve its goals.” The March 2011 GAO report highlights “options to reduce fragmentation and overlap…
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