The American Heart Association (AHA) has issued a presidential advisory calling for renewed efforts to reduce sodium consumption among Americans. Published ahead of print in AHA’s Circulation, the advisory summarizes the latest evidence backing its recommendation that consumers reduce their sodium intake to less than 1,500 milligrams per day. To this end, the new report builds on a 2011 presidential advisory that linked excess sodium consumption to high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke. It also attempts to debunk what the advisory describes as “[r]eports of paradoxical inverse or J-shaped associations between sodium intake and CVD and stroke risk and a meta-analysis [that] have been widely misinterpreted as disproving the relationship between sodium and CVD and stroke risk and have received considerable media attention.” According to AHA, these publications “have stirred controversy and confusion in the popular press and the general population,” leading some to question the need to…
Category Archives Issue 461
Energy drink consumption by U.S. service members deployed for combat has been linked to sleep problems, according to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Titled “Energy Drink Consumption and Its Association with Sleep Problems Among U.S. Service Members on a Combat Deployment—Afghanistan, 2010,” the study found that “[s]ervice members drinking three or more energy drinks a day were significantly more likely to report sleeping ≤4 hours a night on average than those consuming two drinks or fewer.” The study also found that those consuming three or more of the beverages each day “were more likely to report sleep disruption related to stress and illness and were more likely to fall asleep during briefings or on guard duty.” The study involved 1,249 service members “using a cluster sample of randomly selected U.S. Army and Marine combat platoons deployed to Afghanistan.” All were men,…
In a move that Mother Jones magazine calls “surreal,” The Corn Refiners Association (CRA) has issued a press release using the magazine’s recently published exposé “Big Sugar’s Sweet Lies” as a “cudgel” in CRA’s battle with the sugar industry. The exposé outlines the alleged decades-long efforts by the U.S. sugar industry to influence the debate about the health effects of sugar compared to high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and CRA apparently believes it helps its case. In the article “Are High-Fructose Corn Syrup Makers in Denial?,”Mother Jones author Michael Mechanic writes, “The corn refiners should be sending flowers, not subpoenas, to the Sugar Association. After all, the association’s decades-long campaign to bury evidence suggesting that its product plays a role in the ‘death-dealing diseases’—as revealed in our story—has benefited the makers of HFCS as well. If the corn refiners imagine that our exposé somehow left them looking good, well, I’ve got some…
“If even the ad industry can’t agree on the definition of an online ad, who can?,” asks The Washington Post’s Cecilia Kang in this November 2 article highlighting the “increasingly thorny debate on how to monitor advertising aimed at children when they are confronted with so many new forms of marketing online.” Kang reports that both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission regulate traditional media but have thus far failed to restrict online advertising to kids, leading consumer groups to question the supposedly “lax oversight of digital marketing.” “There is a great deal of research that shows children don’t distinguish between content and advertising,” American University Communications Professor Kathryn Montgomery was quoted as saying. “Now on digital, there is the opportunity of more blurring of those lines, and the industry is pushing to keep definitions of online advertising broad and unclear.” In particular, Kang notes that even…
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has asked members of the U.S. House of Representatives to exclude certain provisions in the Farm Bill that would limit the government’s authority to conduct environmental analyses of genetically engineered (GE) crops. According to CSPI, “the bill language at issue would specifically limit the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s regulatory review to specific issues, such as whether the engineered crops could act as ‘plant pests’—a scenario CSPI says is not supported by science. Instead, Congress should write stand-alone legislation that would give USDA specific regulatory authority over genetically engineered crops and consider the full range of actual potential problems with such crops, such as the development of weeds or insects that were resistant to the crops’ technology, and the impact of gene flow to weedy relatives.” CSPI Biotechnology Director Greg Jaffe asks, “Why would Congress add to the public’s skepticism of genetically engineered crops by…
University of Arkansas School of Law LL.M. Candidate Lauren Handel has considered whether food-labeling provisions, such as those that would have been required under California’s Proposition 37 (Prop. 37), which voters defeated this week, are vulnerable to constitutional or preemption challenges. Had it been enacted, Prop. 37 would have required most food companies to label their products with a statement indicating that they contain genetically engineered (GE) ingredients and would have prohibited the use of the term “natural” on processed food products as inherently misleading to consumers. In her article titled “Labeling of Genetically Engineered Foods: A Constitutional Analysis of California’s Proposition 37,” Handel explores the First Amendment standards applied to commercial speech and concludes that the state would not have been able to justify a ban on “natural” claims, and that whether consumers’ “right to know” about GE ingredients trumps food companies’ commercial speech rights is debatable. She also concludes that…
The General Court of the European Union (EU) has dismissed an annulment action brought by Hungary, seeking to overturn a protected Slovakian designation of origin for wine produced in the Tokaj region which both countries share. Hungary v. Commission, Case T-194/10 (Gen. Ct., decided November 8, 2012). Hungary will have two months to bring an appeal to the Court of Justice, as to points of law only. The European Commission registered the protected designation of origin ‘Vinohradnicka oblast’ Tokaj’ on Slovakia’s behalf in the 2006 and 2007 lists of quality wines produced in specified regions (QWPSR). On July 31, 2009, the day before the EU established the E-Bacchus database to publish the QWPSR lists, Slovakia requested a modified designation— ‘Tokajská/Tokajské/Tokajsky vinohradnicka oblast’—which became the new protected designation on the electronic database. Several months later, Slovakia requested that the Commission revert to the original designation of origin, and the Commission amended the…
A putative class action filed in a California state court claims that Monster Rehab®, a green tea and energy drink, contains unknown amounts of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (ECGC), “an extremely dangerous and potentially lethal ingredient,” and that the company fails to warn consumers of its potential hepatotoxic side effects. Wooding v. Monster Energy Co., No. 30-2012-00609716 (Cal. Super. Ct., Orange Cty., filed November 5, 2012). While the named plaintiff, a Huntington Beach, California, resident, has not apparently experienced any side effects, she claims to have “suffered injury in fact and has lost money and property as a result of the unfair, deceptive, untrue and misleading advertising described herein, including the purchase price for products that are of little or no value and are dangerous.” Among other matters, the plaintiff claims that those with compromised livers should not drink the product, nor should it be consumed with alcohol. Yet, she points to ads…
A Colorado resident has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a putative nationwide class against Pepperidge Farm, Inc., alleging that the company misleads consumers by labeling its Cheddar Goldfish crackers “natural,” because they contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs) “in the form of soy and/or soy derivatives.” Bolerjack v. Pepperidge Farm, Inc., No. 12-2918 (D. Colo., filed November 6, 2012). Claiming damages in excess of $5 million, the plaintiff claims that she “purchased the Product believing it to be ‘Natural’ because he [sic] read and relied on Pepperidge Farm’s material statement that the Product is ‘Natural,’ prominently displayed on the Product’s front labeling/packaging. Plaintiff has been damaged by her purchase of the Product because the labeling and advertising for the Product was and is false and/or misleading under Colorado law; therefore, the Product is worth less than what Plaintiff paid for it and/ or Plaintiff did not receive what he [sic]…
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. investors have reportedly filed a consolidated securities action against the company, claiming that they were misled about demand for Keurig and K-Cup products. La. Mun. Police Emp. Ret. Sys. v. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., No. 11-00289 (D. Vt., filed October 29, 2012). The Louisiana Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System sued the company for U.S. securities law violations in November 2011 when Green Mountain’s shares fell 34 percent in a single day, losing $3.1 billion in market value, after quarterly sales fell short of analysts’ expectations. A group of pension funds, seeking to represent all company investors, allege that “[u]nbeknownst to investors, and contrary to defendants’ statements that they were barely able to ship orders as they came in, Green Mountain Coffee Roaster’s warehouses were overflowing with unused and expiring coffee products that were not being sold to consumers.” The company is facing increasing competition as…
12
