Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson has urged Congress to pass sweeping legislative reform of the country’s chemical management law and announced plans to review the controversial food-packaging chemical bisphenol A and the perfluorinated chemicals used in nonstick cookware. In a September 29, 2009, speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Jackson claimed that the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) has “fallen behind the industry it’s supposed to regulate. It’s been proven an inadequate tool for providing the protection against chemical risks that the public rightfully expects,” she said, declaring that as “more and more chemicals are found in our bodies and the environment, the public is understandably anxious and confused.” Legislation to strengthen TSCA is expected to be introduced soon. The Obama administration has issued “Essential Principles for Reform of Chemicals Management Legislation,” to aid Congress during the legislative process. The six principles would give EPA the…
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A recent study presented at the American Heart Association’s High Blood Pressure Research Conference has reportedly claimed that a diet high in fructose raises blood pressure in men, but that the gout drug allopurinol may counteract this effect. “This is the first study to show that fructose can raise blood pressure in humans,” lead author Richard Johnson of the University of Colorado, Aurora, was quoted as saying. The study followed 74 adult men, whose average age was 51, for two weeks as they consumed 200 additional grams of fructose per day. In addition, one-half of the participant pool acted as a control and one-half received allopurinol. The results apparently showed that the control group experienced significant average increases in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, while the men taking allopurinol saw little or no increase in systolic pressure. Johnson told a news source that it was “remarkable” how quickly people with…
“Sugar is the most absurdly protected agricultural commodity in America,” according to health nutrition author and New York University Professor Marion Nestle, who answered reader questions about sugar policy during a September 20, 2009, online forum hosted by the San Francisco Chronicle’s website, SFGate.com. In explaining the so-called “sugar crisis,” Nestle stated that “Quotas allow U.S. producers to grow only specified amounts of sugar cane and sugar beets each year, for which the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] guarantees a higher-than-market price.” She noted that these quotas and import tariffs have “ensured that Americans pay two or three times as much for sugar,” resulting in the “unnecessary transfer of $3 billion a year from 350 million Americans to a few thousand sugar growers and processors.” With these industry interests allegedly invested in “sugar protectionism,” Nestle reported that these policies might finally change partly “because the gap between domestic and world…
“It may take more than an analogy with tobacco to convince voters,” argues Daniel Engber in the first of two recent Slate articles questioning the effectiveness of a proposed federal tax on sugar-sweetened beverages and other “hyperpalatable” food products. Titled “Let Them Drink Water: What a Fat Tax Really Means for America,” the article asserts that state-levied soda taxes have thus far “turned out to be way too small to make anyone lose weight.” It states that any successful effort to deter consumption would require redefining soda as drug, not a beverage. “It’s hard to draw a line, though, between foods that are drugs and foods that are merely delicious,” opines Engber, who notes that under this regime, “Doughnuts are a drug; brioche is treat.” He concludes that fat taxes, which “[discriminate] among the varieties of gustatory experience,” would create an “apartheid of pleasure” that disproportionately affects those consumers most…
The British Medical Association (BMA) has issued a September 2009 report titled Under the Influence: The Damaging Effect of Alcohol Marketing on Young People, which aims “to identify effective ways of protecting young people from the influence of alcohol promotion and marketing.” Led by Institute for Social Marketing Director Gerald Hastings, the report purportedly “confirms that alcohol marketing is independently linked to the onset of drinking in young people and the amount they drink,” according to an accompanying article published in the September 12, 2009, edition of the British Medical Journal. The report also apparently criticizes regulators for allowing the UK alcohol industry, which allegedly spends approximately £800 million per year on advertising, to fund the public education program known as Drinkaware Trust. The BMA Science Board has urged UK policy makers to counter these “ineffective educational initiatives and partial solutions” by adopting several measures, including a comprehensive ban on all alcohol…
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has sued KFC Corp. and its parent Yum! Brands, Inc. in a California court, alleging that they have failed to comply with Proposition 65 (Prop. 65) by selling grilled chicken without warning consumers that it contains a substance, PhIP, known to the state to cause cancer. PCRM v. KFC Corp., No. __ (Cal. Super. Ct., San Francisco Cty., filed September 23, 2009). According to a news source, the allegations are nearly identical to litigation PCRM filed in 2008 against other fast-food restaurants. A court dismissed that complaint, citing the preemption of Prop. 65 claims by federal law which requires chicken to be cooked to food-safe temperatures. PCRM has reportedly appealed the court’s ruling, arguing that the food-safe temperature requirement is merely U.S. Department of Agriculture policy and that states traditionally govern public health and safety issues. KFC was not apparently included in the earlier…
A California man who alleges that he was misled by the packaging and advertising for Cap’n Crunch with Cruncherries® has brought a putative class action against the cereal maker in federal district court. Werbel v. Pepsico, Inc., No. 09-4456 (N.D. Cal., filed September 22, 2009). Alleging violations of California’s unfair competition and false advertising laws, intentional misrepresentation, breach of express and implied warranties, and violations of the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, the plaintiff claims that he and a class of California consumers were misled by representations that the product contained fruit. Yet, according to the complaint, “the only fruit content is a touch of strawberry fruit concentrate—twelfth in order on the ingredient list, just after partially hydrogenated soybean oil and ‘natural and artificial flavors,’ and just before malic acid.” According to the complaint, the plaintiff “trusted the Quaker label because of the company’s long history of producing other wholesome breakfast…
A putative class action was reportedly filed in a California state court against Nestlé, alleging that the company falsely advertises its “Juicy Juice Brain Development Fruit Juice” as a product that will improve toddlers’ brain function. Plaintiff Alexis Farmer, who then dismissed the complaint without prejudice several days later, reportedly claimed that she purchased the company’s juice relying on labeling and advertisements stating that it contained DHA Omega-3, a “fatty acid especially important for brain development in children under two years old.” Farmer was seeking damages and injunctive relief; her complaint apparently alleged false and misleading advertising, unjust enrichment, fraud, and civil code violations. See Courthouse News, September 23, 2009. In a related development, Health Canada has apparently decided not to stop infant-formula manufacturers from claiming that DHA, in any amount, will support normal brain and eye development, particularly for children under two. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency asked the…
Without admitting liability for alleged misleading advertising involving its probiotic yogurt products, The Dannon Co. has agreed to settle claims in seven putative class actions for $35 million. Gemelas v. The Dannon Co., Inc., No. 08-00236 (N.D. Ohio, stipulation of settlement filed September 18, 2009). If approved by the court, the settlement would also require the company to modify the advertising and labeling for its Activia® and DanActive® products to explain how they “regulate the digestive system” and to modify promotional statements about the products’ effects on the digestive tract’s immune system. Under the proposed settlement, class claimants can obtain $15 by submitting a claim form, $15-$30 by submitting a claim form signed under penalty of perjury, and $30-$100 by submitting a claim form signed under penalty of perjury and register receipts or other sufficient proofs of purchase. The amount ultimately paid to claimants will depend on the number of…
A federal court in California has determined that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) erred when it deregulated a genetically engineered (GE) sugar beet without preparing an environmental impact statement. Ctr. for Food Safety v. Vilsack, No. 08-00484 (N.D. Cal., decided September 21, 2009). Thus, the court granted the motion for summary judgment filed by the Center for Food Safety and other environmental interest groups and scheduled a hearing for October 30, 2009, to decide what remedies will be appropriate. A court in the same federal district ruled in 2007 that APHIS erred in deregulating GE alfalfa, and this court based its ruling on that decision, which resulted in an effective halt to the use of GE alfalfa. According to the court, which discussed at length how sugar beets are grown and how cross-pollination can occur with non-GE sugar beets and related Swiss chard and…
