According to the director of the FDA’s Office of Food Additive Safety, the agency will conduct additional analysis of the effects of bisphenol A on human health after its panel of independent science advisors called the agency’s position on its safety flawed. Laura Tarantino reportedly said that a lot of work remains; she would not indicate if the reassessment would take months or years. Among the issues the FDA is apparently exploring is the cumulative exposure people face over a lifetime given the chemical’s presence in food and beverage containers, plastic medical devices and coatings on gel tablets. A spokesperson for an environmental organization was quoted as saying, “More years of research by FDA to determine what thousands of scientists worldwide already know about the toxic chemical is a waste of time, taxpayer dollars, and will place millions of babies yet to be born at risk.” See The Washington Post,…
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President-Elect Barack Obama has reportedly named former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack (D) to serve at the helm of USDA. Political observers characterize Vilsack as a centrist who balanced his state’s budget, resisted tax increases and agreed to spend tax revenues on education and health. Vilsack briefly sought the Democratic presidential nomination, but dropped out due to difficulties raising campaign funds. He is apparently a renewable energy proponent and is known as a staunch advocate of ethanol. An issue the USDA secretary will face in 2009 may be whether to grant the ethanol industry billions in federal aid as part of an economic stimulus package. The Organic Consumers Association has already begun a campaign to stop Vilsack’s confirmation by the U.S. Senate. According to the association’s executive director, “Vilsack’s nomination sends the message that dangerous, untested, unlabeled genetically engineered crops will be the norm in the Obama administration. Our nation’s future…
A new international study seeking to pinpoint the origin of food allergies has reportedly started to gather environmental, genetic and health information from hundreds of families in Boston, Chicago and Anhui Province in China. Led by Xiaobin Wang and Jacqueline Pongracic from Children’s Memorial Hospital, the study uses a multicenter design to compare diverse populations and their prevalence of allergic disease. Moreover, the initial findings have already produced some unexpected results. Although skin-tests found that 16.7 percent of one rural Chinese community was sensitive to shellfish and 12.3 percent to peanuts, allergic reactions occurred in less than 1 percent of that population. “The apparent disassociation between high allergenic sensitization and low allergic disease in this Chinese population is not seen in our two U.S. study populations,” Pongracic said. “What can explain the U.S. and Chinese difference? Is it urban versus rural exposure? Diet and lifestyle? Or genetic susceptibility? These are…
A recent study has apparently claimed that pediatric obesity may alter thyroid function and structure. Giorgio Radetti, et al, “Thyroid Function and Structure Are Affected in Childhood Obesity,” Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, December 2008. Italian researchers performed thyroid ultrasounds on 186 overweight and obese children over three years, as well as measuring their thyroid hormone and antibody levels. The ultrasounds of 73 children reportedly revealed symptoms of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease in which T-cells attack the thyroid, despite an absence of the antibodies usually indicative of this ailment. “The ultrasound findings are a bit mysterious,” the lead author was quoted as saying. “However, the findings do suggest the existence of a low-grade inflammation state, which has been known to characterize obesity.” Scientists have long suspected that thyroiditis can lead to obesity, but this recent study suggests that obesity plays a role in the development of thyroid disorders. In…
This op-ed piece advises President-Elect Barack Obama to select a reformer for the top position in the Department of Agriculture and to recast the agency as the Department of Food, thereby “giving primacy to America’s 300 million eaters.” Appointing a “secretary of food” would signal Obama’s intention to “move away from the bankrupt structure of factory farming that squanders energy, exacerbates climate change and makes American unhealthy – all while costing taxpayers billions of dollars,” according to columnist Nicholas Kristof. He faults both Republicans and Democrats on congressional agriculture committees for “kowtowing” to industrial farming interests, which have allegedly used their influence “to inflict unhealthy food on American children in school-lunch programs, exacerbating our national crisis with diabetes and obesity.” Kristof points readers to an online petition that names six potential reform candidates for the secretary of agriculture post, including the Center for Rural Affairs’ executive director, Chuck Hassebrook. In…
According to a news source, the Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division, at the request of Dannon, has asked General Mills Inc. to change the way it advertises the purported digestive health benefits of its Yoplait Yo-Plus® yogurt. Dannon apparently contended that General Mills’ claims about its ingredients helping to “regulate digestive health naturally” were not scientifically sound, and the division agreed, saying the studies that General Mills submitted “are not sufficient to support a health-related product performance claim.” A General Mills spokesperson apparently responded that the company disagreed with the division’s findings, “but we respect the process and will take these recommendations into account.” See Product Liability Law 360, December 9, 2008.
The American Soybean Association (ASA) has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Inspector General to investigate the administration of the federally mandated soy checkoff program that is responsible for industry-wide marketing and promotion efforts. “Serious ethical, legal and financial allegations have been raised about how farmer checkoff funds and program activities are being conducted,” stated ASA President John Hoffman in a press release that levied several charges against the United Soybean Board (USB) and the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USECC) for their oversight of checkoff resources. The association’s allegations include “the improper and wasteful expenditure of both checkoff and federal funds; potential evasion of mandated salary and administrative spending caps by USB; conflicts of interest at USB; use of checkoff funds for prohibited purposes by USB; and wasteful and excessive spending by USB.” In addition, ASA cited concerns about “improper USB oversight and tolerance of actions that…
A Chinese court has reportedly refused to accept a lawsuit filed by dozens of families whose children were sickened or died from consuming infant formula contaminated with melamine. Apparently the first-known group lawsuit to arise in the wake of the scandal, the complaint sought nearly US$2 million from the state-owned Sanlu Group Co., the dairy company that allegedly produced the tainted products. According to a news source, Chinese courts often turn down group suits, preferring to deal with individual cases and avoid angering party officials. Some one dozen individual cases are currently pending in courts around the country, but they have not yet been accepted. A lawyer for the affected families reportedly indicated that the group lawsuit was ostensibly not accepted because government departments are still investigating. See Associated Press, December 8, 2008.
A multidistrict litigation court (MDL) in New York has dismissed putative class claims filed against PepsiCo., Inc. for allegedly misrepresenting the source of its Aquafina® bottled water, “by using a label designed to create the impression that the water came from a mountain source and failing to inform consumers that the true source . . . was public drinking supplies commonly known as ‘tap water.’” In re: PepsiCo., Inc. Bottled Water Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig., MDL No. 1903 (S.D.N.Y., decided December 5, 2008). The court determined that plaintiffs’ state-law unfair and deceptive trade practices claims were expressly preempted under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). According to the court, “the FDCA’s statutory framework and regulatory history . . . reveal that the FDA specifically addressed the disclosure of source information and determined, in its expert opinion, that representations of source are immaterial in the context of purified water.”…
Whole Foods Market, Inc., concluding that it cannot get a fair hearing before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in proceedings over the competitive effect of its merger with Wild Oats Markets, Inc., has filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to terminate the proceedings as fundamentally flawed under the Due Process Clause. Whole Foods Market, Inc. v. FTC, No. 08-02121 (D.D.C., filed December 8, 2008). The FTC lifted a stay on its administrative proceedings shortly after a federal appeals court, reversing a district court ruling denying the FTC’s request to stop the merger, ruled that the commission could proceed with its preliminary-injunction proceeding in the courts. The appeals court remanded the case for the district court to consider whether the equities favor the FTC now that the merger has taken place and Whole Foods has closed or sold a number of Wild Oats stores. Among other matters, Whole Foods claims that…
