The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has produced a report concluding that despite 20 years of research and 13 years of commercialization, genetically engineered (GE) corn and soybean crops have not increased yields compared to other agriculture technologies. Released in March 2009, the report reviewed two dozen academic studies of corn and soybeans and found that increase in yields for both crops over the last 13 years was largely due to traditional breeding or improvements in agricultural practices. It claims that genetic engineering is unlikely to play a significant role in increasing food production in the foreseeable future and recommends that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), state agricultural agencies and universities increase research and development for proven approaches to boost crop yields. “If we are going to make headway in combating hunger due to overpopulation and climate change, we will need to increase crop yields,” the report’s author, Gurian…
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Green Century Capital Management, an investment advisory firm focused on environmentally responsible companies, and As You Sow, an advocacy group that promotes corporate accountability, have issued a new report urging food and beverage manufacturers to stop using the packaging chemical bisphenol A (BPA) or risk possible repercussions in the marketplace. The report claims that 14 of the largest public packaged food and beverage companies still use BPA despite studies allegedly linking it to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and metabolic disorders. The report states: “Companies that move toward BPA-free packaging are being recognized as putting their customers’ health first, while other companies refusing to phase out BPA may find themselves punished in the marketplace.” In published reports, a Green Century director expressed concern about the lack of urgency the packaged food industry appears to have in addressing BPA. “Alternatives to BPA exist for many products. We believe companies should implement all feasible…
According to a news source, Monsanto has filed a lawsuit challenging the German government’s decision to prohibit farmers from planting the company’s genetically modified (GM) corn. Designed to produce a substance toxic to the corn borer pest, the GM seed has been permitted in Germany since 2005, and the corn has been used in Europe for animal feed since 1998. Earlier in April 2009, Germany’s agriculture minister, saying she had “legitimate reasons” to believe the corn is an environmental hazard, put a halt to plans to use the GM seed on nearly 9,000 acres in eastern states this year. Monsanto contends that the ban is arbitrary and could only be imposed as to approved plants if new scientific evidence comes to light. Other European countries have banned the GM seed, although the European Food Safety Authority concluded that studies surfacing in 2008 did “not present new scientific evidence that would…
The pesticide-exposure claims of Nicaraguan banana-plantation workers were dismissed in two cases after a hearing that began April 21, 2009, in a state court in Los Angeles, California. Meija v. Dole Food Co., No. BC340049 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty.); Rivera v. Dole Food Co., No. BC379820 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty.). Additional details about the events leading to the court’s show-cause order and hearing appear in issue 297 of this Update. The court agreed with Dole Food Co. allegations that Nicaraguan lawyers, seeking to collect millions of dollars in damages from the company, recruited poor men to pose as plantation workers and claim that pesticide exposure caused their sterility. Dole introduced evidence showing a decade-long conspiracy to defraud U.S. companies and perpetuate a massive fraud on the court. Dole alleged that the attorneys intimidated witnesses and paid plaintiffs, showed them videos depicting plantation life, falsified sterility documents,…
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to hear a putative class action lawsuit involving claims that Tri-Union Seafoods LLC fails to warn consumers about mercury concentrations in its canned tuna fish products. Tri-Union Seafoods, L.L.C. v. Fellner, No. 08-889 (U.S., cert. denied April 20, 2009). The plaintiff filed her claims in 2006, alleging that she developed severe mercury poisoning after eating Chicken of the Sea® canned albacore tuna almost exclusively for five years. The district court dismissed the case on federal preemption grounds, but the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated it after finding that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had taken no action about alleged risks posed by mercury in fish and thus, that the lawsuit would not conflict with FDA’s “regulatory scheme.” More information about the Third Circuit’s ruling appears in issue 272 of this Update. At least one legal commentator responded to news about the rejection…
A working group of California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) met on April 23, 2009, to consider how warnings under Proposition 65 could be provided to consumers of food products containing chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive harm. Participants discussed a draft proposal submitted by the California Grocers Association, California Retailers Association, California League of Food Processors, GMA, and American Beverage Association. It was the only proposed regulation to be submitted. Generally speaking, the proposal offers food manufacturers the option of uploading product-related information to an OEHHA Web site, which could be used, in turn, by retailers to download information that could be made available to consumers via computer, notebook, kiosk, or other similar means. Stakeholders representing consumer interests would prefer that warning information be placed on each product or in close proximity to them. While no final decisions were made during this…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has confirmed April 27, 2009, as the effective date for the final rule titled “Substances Prohibited From Use in Animal Food or Feed,” which establishes “measures to further strengthen existing safeguards against bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).” The agency earlier this month considered delaying the rule for 60 days after industry stakeholders requested additional time to arrange alternative disposal methods for high-risk materials. In light of these requests, FDA has set an October 26, 2009, compliance date for renderers and other affected persons, but believes that “the rendering, livestock, meat and animal feed industries have addressed many of the compliance and carcass disposal challenges and are prepared to meet the April 27, 2009, effective date of the final rule.” See Meatingplace.com, April 23, 2009; Federal Register, April 24, 2009.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reportedly noted an increase in rare human swine influenza infections, documenting two similar cases in California children not directly exposed to livestock. The agency stated that it typically registers one human swine influenza case every year or two in the United States, but has verified 12 infections between December 2005 and February 2009. CDC also confirmed seven additional cases in Texas and California during March 2009, describing a unique influenza strain that combines segments of a human virus, an avian virus from North America, and pig viruses from North America, Europe and Asia. In addition, Mexican health officials have reported that a swine influenza outbreak recently killed 16 people, including children and young adults, and sickened as many as 943 in the Mexico City area. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization and other experts have expressed concern that the cases, if…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that Kellogg Co. agreed to settle false-advertising charges involving Frosted Mini-Wheats® advertisements that claimed the product was “clinically shown to improve kids’ attentiveness by nearly 20 percent.” According to FTC, the clinical study on which the ads were based showed that “only about half the children who ate Frosted Mini-Wheats for breakfast showed any improvement in attentiveness, and only about one in nine improved by 20 percent or more.” Under the consent order, Kellogg agrees to pull its offending ads and not to express or imply that its cereal improves attentiveness “unless, at the time [the claim] is made, the representation is true and non-misleading.” The company also agreed not to make any representation “about the benefits, performance, or efficacy of such product for cognitive function, cognitive processes, or cognitive health, unless the representation . . . relies upon competent and reliable scientific…
A recent study has reportedly linked cognitive decline in some diabetic women to high intakes of saturated and trans fats and low intakes of polyunsaturated fats during midlife. Elizabeth E. Devore, “Dietary Fat Intake and Cognitive Decline in Women With Type 2 Diabetes,” Diabetes Care, April 2009. Harvard Medical School researchers apparently assessed the cognitive functioning of approximately 1,500 women with type 2 diabetes enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study, finding that those in the highest tertile of trans fat intake scored 0.15 standard units lower on six cognitive function tests when compared to women in the lowest tertile. “This mean difference was comparable with the difference we find in women 7 years apart in age,” stated the authors, who noted a need for “further research to confirm these findings and explore additional strategies for maintaining cognitive health in diabetes – especially in women, who can have a higher lifetime…
