Cambridge Health Alliance researchers studying the investments of health and life insurance companies have apparently concluded that the companies own some $1.88 billion, or 2.2 percent, of the stock issued by the five leading fast-food companies. Arun Mohan, et al., “Life and Health Insurance Industry Investments in Fast Food,” American Journal of Public Health, April 15, 2010. The analysis relied on shareholder analysis from the Icarus database, accessed in June 2009. The researchers, who call for the insurance companies to divest themselves of these holdings or to leverage their holdings “to force the adoption of practices consistent with widely accepted public health principles,” consider the insurance companies’ investments inconsistent with their missions and public health role. The authors speculate that the investments may return more than the costs of insuring people who consume fast food or the companies may be investing this way through inadvertence, that is, “insurers are unaware…
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A recent study has apparently found a “statistically significant association” between added dietary sugars and increased blood lipid levels in U.S. adults. Jean Welsh, et al., “Caloric Sweetener Consumption and Dyslipidemia Among US Adults,” Journal of the American Medical Association, April 2010. Researchers analyzed blood lipid levels and other nutritional data obtained from more than 6,000 men and women enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) between 1999 and 2006. Their results reportedly demonstrated that “increased added sugars are associated with important cardiovascular disease risk factors, including lower HDL-C [good cholesterol] levels, higher triglyceride levels, and higher ratios of triglycerides to HDL-C.” Compared with participants who received less than 5 percent of their daily caloric intake from added sugars, those who consumed the highest amount—46 teaspoons per day—were most at risk for developing heart disease. The authors contend that these findings “support the importance of dietary guidelines that…
Bolivian President Evo Morales attracted international media attention when he publicly linked “deviances in being men” on hormones once used to raise chickens. Speaking at the World People’s Summit on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, Morales reportedly claimed that “the chicken we eat is loaded with female hormones. So, when men eat those chickens, they experience deviances in being men.” According to an April 22, 2010, blog post in The Guardian, Morales added that these substances have also been associated with baldness. After the speech drew widespread criticism from both the press and human rights activists, who interpreted the remark as homophobic, the Bolivian Foreign Relations Ministry issued a statement defending the president’s position. “He made no mention of sexuality,” the ministry was quoted as saying. Rather, he said that eating chicken that has hormones changes our own bodies. This point of view has been confirmed by…
“If we are to solve the many problems that obesity is creating for American society, we must first move beyond the stale ‘willpower versus the food-industrial complex’ debate,” contends politics editor Marc Ambinder in the May 2010 edition of The Atlantic. Examining the powerful interest groups arrayed against each other in this fight, Ambinder claims that the rise in obesity is not attributable to one specific cause but “is associated with a rogue’s gallery of individual, social, and technological factors.” He resists the temptation “to borrow insights and metaphors from the 50-year battle against smoking,” maintaining that “[o]besity belongs in a different category of social illness.” In Ambinder’s view, the current epidemic is a confluence of both personal and environmental risks largely mitigated by socioeconomic status. In particular, he criticizes public health campaigns aimed at individual choices when “just being an American can naturally lead you to be obese.” According to…
Mission: Readiness, a non-profit organization of senior retired military leaders, has issued a report claiming that “at least nine million 17- to 24-year-olds in the United States are too fat to serve in the military.” According to an April 20, 2010, press release, weight problems “have become the leading medical reason why recruits are rejected for service.” The group describes the situation as a threat to national security, noting that similar concerns prompted the military to initiate the National School Lunch Act in 1946. “Back then young people were undernourished, and now they are poorly nourished,” stated Mission: Readiness National Director Amy Taggart. “Too many kids are carrying too many pounds, and improving school nutrition is an important place to start.” The retired military leaders have urged Congress to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act with changes that would (i) “allow the U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA] to adopt new nutrition…
The Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) recently posted a case study that discusses the process which led to the adoption of a restaurant calorie disclosure law in New York City. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Public Health Practice & Policy Solutions, the case study focuses on threats of litigation that arose throughout the law’s development and adoption, noting that public health officials considered this possibility early in the process and ultimately prevailed by adopting a broad-based law that survived legal challenge. The article relies on media coverage, legislative materials, scholarly articles, legal filings, and judicial opinions to recommend how other local authorities can prepare to support similar initiatives. While “interviews with opponents were not conducted,” the author did consult in-depth with the law’s proponents in preparing the analysis. PHAI is headed by anti-tobacco attorney and law professor Richard Daynard. It has conducted a number of conferences for lawyers,…
A putative class action has been filed against Kellogg USA alleging that, by calling its cereal “Froot” Loops® and including “pictures of brightly colored cereal made to resemble fruit” and actual fruit on product packaging, the company is deceiving the reasonable consumer who is led to believe the cereal contains fruit. Werbel v. Kellogg USA, No. 10-1660 (N.D. Cal., filed April 19, 2010). The named plaintiff relies on a Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments study which purportedly revealed that this cereal, like many others, contains no fruit whatsoever despite packaging and advertising suggesting its presence. The plaintiff seeks to certify a class of California consumers who purchased the product in the four years preceding the lawsuit’s filing; he alleges unlawful, unfair and deceptive advertising and promotion in violation of the state’s Business & Professions Code , intentional misrepresentation, breach of implied warranties, and violations of the Consumers Legal…
The Louisiana Senate Commerce Committee has reportedly rejected a bill (S.B. 128) that would have prohibited the sale of certain high caffeine beverages to youth younger than age 16. Introduced by State Senator Robert Adley (R-Benton), the bill defined an energy drink as “any drink, except coffee, that contains at least five milligrams of caffeine per fluid ounce.” Affected drinks purportedly included Red Bull, Rockstar and Full Throttle. According to a news source, committee members were concerned the legislation would start a trend of creating restrictions on specific products and place a regulatory burden on retailers. “If we outlaw these drinks, we’re going to be up here for 10 years outlawing Twinkies, Milky Ways, whatever,” said State Senator Danny Martiny (R-Kenner). See The Times-Picayune, April 22, 2010.
The University of California-San Francisco Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment has developed draft policy recommendations to address potential health risks from nanomaterials and nanotechnology. When finalized, the document will be presented to California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) to better inform the agency’s risk assessment recommendations. The draft will be considered during a Science Advisory Panel meeting on May 5, 2010, and all public comments are due on that date. Among the recommendations for OEHHA in the draft report are to (i) assess whether nanomaterials are already covered under the agency’s existing policy structure, (ii) determine if nanosized materials are more toxic than “their bulk material,” (iii) identify the extent of nanomaterial use in products, including food contact materials and foods, and (iv) “require labeling for nanomaterials that contain known carcinogens or reproductive effects.”
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) officials recently solicited public and industry feedback on a proposal to loosen country-of-origin labeling guidelines by exempting specific ingredients difficult to obtain in Canada. The amendment would reportedly exclude imported salt, sugar and other spices from provisions that require processed products labeled “Product of Canada” or “Made in Canada” to obtain 98.5 percent of their ingredients from domestic sources. Speaking to food and beverage company representatives at an April 19, 2010, conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Minister of State (Agriculture) Jean-Pierre Blackburn apparently reaffirmed his commitment to working on the labeling issue to secure a competitive future for the Canadian food processing industry. According to Blackburn, public consultations are slated to begin this month with a consensus on the proposed changes expected by the end of June 2010. See AAFC Press Release and Parliamentary Bureau, April 19, 2010; Farmscape, April 20, 2010.
