The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has reportedly indicted a London, Kentucky-based cattle company and its treasurer for falsifying records related to a federal investigation and creating false documents. The charges apparently arise out of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigation to determine whether the company was violating a 2006 court-ordered injunction requiring it to notify buyers if the company sells them animals with medical drugs in their systems. The order also requires the company to “identify the potential cause for the medical drugs in the animals and to refrain from purchasing animals from sellers who supply cattle that contain medical drugs.” Williams Cattle Co. treasurer Pamela Collette allegedly “falsified weekly reports that were supposed to be sent to buyers verifying that the animals sold were drug free, in an attempt to influence the outcome of the investigation. She is also alleged to have created false documents that appeared…
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U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have issued a joint report presenting the results of their investigation into the energy drink industry. Titled “What’s all the Buzz About?,” the report is based on survey responses from 14 energy drink companies asked to outline their current marketing, labeling and manufacturing practices. According to the lawmakers, the responses highlight various inconsistencies in how these companies market and label their products under current regulations, “leading to consumer confusion and a lack of transparency.” In particular, the report alleges that (i) “four out of the 14 companies surveyed classify and market one or more of its products as dietary supplements, as opposed to conventional beverages”; (ii) “concentrations of caffeine are not uniformly represented on the label of the brands evaluated,” with some concentrations exceeding safety levels set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for soda;…
A recent study has reportedly found that “frequent intake of walnuts was associated with a lower risk of incident type 2 diabetes in women.” An Pan, at al., “Walnut Consumption is Associated with Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Women,” Journal of Nutrition, February 2013. Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health apparently tracked nearly 140,000 nurses (from the Nurses’ Health Study) aged 35 to 77 during a 10-year period to determine how many developed type 2 diabetes—which comprises “90 percent of all diabetes cases”—concluding that compared to those who rarely or never ate them, (i) women who consumed a serving (28g) of walnuts at least twice a week reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes by 24 percent; (ii) women who consumed a serving of walnuts at least once a week reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes by 13 percent; and (iii) women who consumed a serving…
Las Vegas, Nevada-based Rockstar, Inc. recently released a “scientific white paper” prepared for the energy drink maker by Intertek Cantox. Signed by University of Kansas Medical Center Department of Pharmacology Professor John Doull, a member of an “Expert Panel convened to evaluate the conditions of use of caffeine in Rockstar products,” the paper reviews scientific literature on the purported health effects of caffeine in adults and youths, and concludes that the estimated daily dietary intakes of the caffeine in Rockstar energy drinks is safe and generally recognized as safe (GRAS) “based on scientific procedures.” The paper also reviews literature on other ingredients, including guarana extract, taurine, milk thistle extract, and ginseng extract, and reports that “the Expert Panel unanimously concluded” that these ingredients are also safe and GRAS. Among other matters, the paper further notes that (i) there is no apparent basis for the claim that the American Academy of Pediatrics…
A recent study has reportedly used whole genome sequencing (WGS) to retrospectively trace the transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from animal to human for the first time. Ewan Harrison, et al., “Whole genome sequencing identifies zoonotic transmission of MRSA isolates with the novel mecA homologue mecC,” EMBO Molecular Medicine, April 2013. According to a March 25, 2013, University of Cambridge press release, U.K. and Danish researchers used WGS to examine two separate cases of MRSA infection in Danish farmers and their animals. The results evidently showed that the MRSA strains under investigation carried the novel mecC gene, which allowed researchers to compare the human infections with those found in the livestock and determine that animals were most likely the source of the new strains. “Having found this new MRSA in both people and animals on the same farm it was likely that it is being transmitted between animals and people. By looking…
Fast Food Forward has apparently coordinated its second strike in six months as part of its long-term effort to unionize fast-food employees in New York City. According to media sources, hundreds of workers employed by approximately 65 fast-food restaurants throughout New York City walked off the job on April 4, 2013, to show support for Fast Food Forward’s latest campaign, which seeks to increase worker wages to $15 per hour. The effort has apparently drawn public support from UnitedNY.org, the Black Institute and the Service Employees International Union, among other organizations. “What happened in November was a very big thing in terms of seeing whether workers were ready and able to go out and strike and take risks in a way that has not happened in the fast-food industry before,” said New York Communities for Change Executive Director Jonathan Westin of Fast Food Forward’s previous strike. “A lot of people…
In a Nature Nanotechnology commentary titled “The insurability of nanomaterial product risk,” business and scientific researchers funded by the European Commission (EC) propose a framework for the insurance industry to assess risks for purposes of issuing policies that will ensure the “commercial viability and long-term sustainability” of the nanotechnology industry. Noting that Lloyd’s of London and large insurers are “paying close attention to developments in the area of nanomaterials,” the authors suggest that uncertainty about nanotech risks has led insurance companies to carry this risk on their books, because they have failed to explicitly cover nanotechnology risks in their policies. They recommend that control banding, which rates risks according to exposure and toxicity levels, could provide the means to harness the uncertainties and allow policies to explicitly include nanomaterials. The commentary concludes, “In the absence of effective regulatory controls and a lack of legal clarity, control banding will allow nanoparticle…
Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity has issued a March 2013 report highlighting “where children and adolescents viewed the food and beverage advertisements they saw on television in 2011.” Using Nielsen data, the Rudd Center apparently sought to quantify “the average number of food and beverage TV ads viewed by age group (ages 2-5, 6-11, 12-14, 15-17) in total and by product category, as well as the channels and programs where these ads appeared.” According to the report, four youth-oriented channels accounted for one-half of food advertising viewed by children, with Viacom’s Nickelodeon airing “over one-fourth of the food ads viewed by 2- to 11-year-olds.” Overall, 24 percent of these ads evidently featured fast food restaurants, 12 percent featured cereal, 11 percent featured other restaurants and 11 percent featured candy. In addition, the report noted that “[f]ive programs on the top-ten list of programs where children saw…
A coalition of more than 200 farm, consumer and environmental organizations has written a letter urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support recently proposed changes to U.S. Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements for meat products. USDA proposed new labeling rules in March 2013 in response to a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that the old labels discriminated against imported livestock from other countries. The proposed rules would require that that all meat from animals born, raised and processed in the United States bear a “born, raised and slaughtered in the USA” label. “The only acceptable way to respond to the WTO challenge is to make labels more informative for consumers, not water them down,” states the letter. “U.S. farmers and ranchers are proud of what they produce and should be allowed to promote their products.” “Consumers want more information about the source of their food, not less,”…
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has published two “Perspective” articles in its April 3, 2013, issue, commenting on the recent ruling by Judge Milton Tingling overturning the New York City Board of Health’s restrictions on the size of sugary drinks sold at certain city establishments—the “Portion Cap Rule.” Details about the ruling are included in Issue 475 of this Update. Attorneys Wendy Mariner and George Annas with the Boston University School of Health opine in “Limiting ‘Sugary Drinks’ to Reduce Obesity— Who Decides?” that the court was likely correct in ruling that the Board of Health lacked the authority to adopt the rule given a court of appeals ruling overturning indoor smoking rules after examining “the difficult-to-define line between administrative rulemaking and legislative policymaking.” They contend that higher taxes on all soda sales would be a reasonable alternative to the Portion Cap Rule, noting that “[h]igher prices often…
