A recent study has purportedly identified an association between urinary bisphenol A (BPA) concentration and obesity in children and adolescents. Leonardo Trasande, et al., “Association Between Urinary Bisphenol A Concentration and Obesity Prevalence in Children and Adolescents,” Journal of the American Medical Association, September 2012. Relying on data from 2,838 participants ages 6-19 years who were enrolled in the 2003-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, researchers evidently found that urinary BPA concentration “was significantly associated with obesity.” In particular, the study reported that urinary BPA values in the second, third and fourth quartiles showed “a substantial elevation in the odds of obesity” when compared with first-quartile values, with “an adjusted prevalence of obesity of 22.3%... among children in the highest quartile, compared with a 10.3% prevalence…among those in the lowest quartile.” “To our knowledge, this is the first report of an association of an environmental chemical exposure with childhood obesity in…
Category Archives Issue 454
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers recently published a study finding that sodium intake among U.S. children and adolescents “is positively associated” with systolic blood pressure (SBP) and risk for pre-high blood pressure and high blood pressure (pre-HBP/HBP). Quanhe Yang, et al., “Sodium Intake and Blood Pressure Among US Children and Adolescents,” Pediatrics, October 2012. According to the study, which used 24-hour dietary recalls to estimate the sodium intake of 6,235 children ages 8-18 years, the subjects consumed an average of 3,387 milligrams of sodium daily. The results also apparently indicated that the associations between sodium intake and increased SBP and risk for pre-HBP/HBP “may be stronger” among the 37 percent of participants who were overweight or obese than among those who were not. While in normal-weight children every 1,000 mg extra of sodium evidently corresponded with a one-point rise in SBP, in obese or overweight children…
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has devoted its latest issue to articles focusing on obesity. Among them is a commentary authored by Thomas Farley, who is affiliated with New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which recently adopted a prohibition on sugar-sweetened beverages larger than 16 ounces. Titled “The Role of Government in Preventing Excess Calorie Consumption,” the opinion piece calls for “governments to regulate food products that harm the most people, simultaneously encourage food companies to voluntarily produce and market healthful products, and then provide information to consumers in ways that facilitate their choosing healthful products.” He argues that New York City has taken this approach and compares it to the city’s action on smoking, which has purportedly led to a 35 percent decline in smoking since 2002. Farley claims that industry opposes New York City’s portion rule by portraying it as a “limit…
“U.S. food companies are reaching children by embedding their products in simple and enticing games for touch-screen phones and tablets,” writes The Wall Street Journal’s Anton Troianovski in this September 18, 2012, article examining how food and beverage manufacturers allegedly use mobile games and phone apps to sidestep “government and public pressure to limit advertising to minors on TV and the Web.” According to Troianovski, some of these companies have argued that food-branded apps are a cost-effective marketing tool that would not violate any advertising restrictions because parents much purchase the games first. “We don’t view it as our place to be a superparent—the nanny of the parents or the children to say what products that can see and what games they can play,” Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative Director Elaine Kolish told the Journal. Troianovski notes, however, that the proliferation of such apps has raised questions among consumer…
A recently released documentary short, titled “Unjustified: The Unchecked Power of America’s Justice System,” focuses on the fallout from a 2008 immigration raid on a kosher meatpacking plant in Iowa. Former Agriprocessors executive Sholom Rubashkin was later charged with numerous violations, including violating child labor laws, identity theft and bank fraud. He was convicted on 86 financial fraud counts and sentenced to 27 years in prison, and his case has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The documentary was apparently directed by an Emmy-nominated producer who has worked on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” and Michael Moore’s Bravo TV series “The Awful Truth.” Additional information about Rubashkin’s case appears in Issue 439 of this Update. See The Des Moines Register, September 19, 2012.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has released a 60-page report in conjunction with its National Summit on Alcohol Marketing to Young People that accuses industry of targeting children with new media tactics as well as alcohol-flavored food and cosmetic products. Urging “more robust policy and stronger regulatory oversight,” the report aims to document current alcohol advertising tactics in Australia, examine the impact of these tactics on drinking patterns, and make a case for regulatory and statutory reform. In particular, the report claims that “the introduction of digital technologies has opened up new platforms for marketing and promotion, with alcohol companies aggressively harnessing the marketing potential of online video channels, mobile phones, interactive games, and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.” It also argues that alcohol-flavored foods and cosmetics, such as vodka-flavored lip gloss, not only “circumvent most existing regulations regarding marketing and the placement of alcoholic products” but introduce…
The Mercury Policy Project (MPP) and a coalition of other consumer groups have released a report claiming that canned albacore tuna sold in U.S. schools may contain higher mercury levels than those reported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Of the 59 canned tuna samples that MPP tested from this market sector, 48 were “light” tuna products representing six brands and 11 were “white” or albacore tuna products representing two brands. Although the report acknowledged that “the mercury content of these products is similar to what has been reported for supermarket canned tuna by other investigators and by [FDA],” it nevertheless alleged that the albacore tuna samples “averaged 0.560 µg/g, much higher than FDA’s reported average of .350 µg/g.” The results also purportedly indicated a high variably in mercury content across tuna samples, revealing, for example, that U.S-caught light tuna “had the lowest country-oforigin average mercury level, 0.086 µg/g,”…
After testing more than 200 rice products, Consumer Reports purportedly found levels of total arsenic, both organic and inorganic, far in excess of the federal limit of 10 parts per billion (ppb) for arsenic in drinking water. Among the products tested were baby cereals, crackers, milk, pasta, flour, and an array of brown, white and basmati rice. One infant cereal product apparently contained up to 329 ppb of arsenic. Consumer Reports recommended that consumers cook their rice in twice the amount of water, 6 cups to 1 cup of rice, eat a varied diet and experiment with other grains that are less prone to absorbing arsenic from soil and water as they grow. Its investigation included a data analysis by researchers experienced in National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) analyses. They found that of 3,633 rice consumers who participated in NHANES, those consuming one rice food item before their urine…
Shook, Hardy & Bacon Public Policy Partner Phil Goldberg has co-authored, with the current chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Animal Law Committee, a commentary titled “Barking Up the Wrong Tree,” published in the September 17, 2012, issue of the New Jersey Law Journal. The commentary discusses a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling denying emotional distress damages to a woman whose dog was attacked by a neighbor’s dog and died. Noting that more and more pet owners are seeking these types of damages when their pets are injured or killed, the authors contend that limiting pet owners to economic damages will best protect their pets in the long run. According to the authors, “[p]et economics is simple. At litigation-inflated prices, many owners will no longer be able to afford services and products their pets need. The quality of pets’ lives will be lowered, and in some cases, owners…
A California resident has filed a putative nationwide class action with a California subclass against a company that makes low-calorie frozen desserts that allegedly have as much as 68 percent more calories than touted on the product label. Freeman v. Arctic Zero, Inc., No. 12-2279 (S.D. Cal., filed September 18, 2012). Similar putative class claims filed by another California resident in August are summarized in Issue 451 of this Update. According to plaintiff Brenda Freeman, “[c]onsumers do not receive the benefit of their bargain because the actual calorie content of the Frozen Desserts is up to 68 percent higher than Arctic Zero prominently represents on the front of the product packaging, on the nutritional label, and in Arctic Zero’s other marketing materials.” She cites testing on the company’s Chocolate Peanut Butter and Vanilla Maple products showing them to be higher in calories than the 150 calories per pint on package…
