President Barack Obama (D) has been urged by health organizations, nutrition experts and physicians to sign an executive order creating a Presidential Commission on Healthy Weights, Healthy Lives to take on the nation’s escalating rates of obesity. In a June 22, 2009, letter to the president, signatories suggested that the United Kingdom’s anti-obesity campaign could act as a model. “The increased rates of obesity will negate many of our nation’s investments in health care and could actually condemn youths to shorter life spans than their parents,” the letter stated. “Each year, obesity causes tens of thousands of premature deaths and tens of billions of dollars in avoidable medical costs. Obesity also leads to heart-wrenching psychosocial problems, such as difficulty making friends, stigmatization, and discrimination in employment.” Groups that signed the letter included the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), American Diabetes Association, American Public Health Association, National Consumers…
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
The Nebraska Department of Agriculture has reportedly quarantined 42 herds involved in an ongoing bovine tuberculosis outbreak, which the department says may have already spread to Colorado and South Dakota because animals from quarantined herds were sold to cattle producers in those states. Transmitted through contact and respiration, bovine tuberculosis is easily transmitted within herds and in rare cases can be transmitted to humans who work directly with the animals or who consume unpasteurized milk and cheese. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is apparently collaborating with state officials to determine the source and extent of the outbreak. Greg Ibach, director of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, predicts that the quarantine, which includes approximately 15,000 cattle, is likely to continue growing in the weeks ahead because investigators are still tracking down the animals that may have had contact with an infected herd over the last two years. “It’s important to…
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has reportedly launched an investigation into chemical and packaging lobbyists who allegedly sought to thwart regulation banning the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles, infant food jars and other products. Blumenthal is seeking details about a series of joint trade association meetings held in April and May 2009, during which industry officials purportedly discussed a public relations strategy to counter efforts to regulate BPA. According to Blumenthal, this “apparent campaign” aimed to use “fear tactics, political manipulation, and misleading marketing” to stymie BPA legislation pending in several state and local governments, including Connecticut. The attorney general has also called on the North American Metal Packaging Alliance (NAMPA) and other key stakeholders to denounce these efforts. “Colluding in a campaign of confusion and concealment – potentially endangering children and pregnant women – is appalling and possibly illegal,” Blumenthal was quoted as saying. “We are…
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) have published a joint report on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), concluding that “food-producing animals such as pigs, veal calves and broiler chickens often carry without symptoms a specific strain of MRSA called CC398.” The report apparently warns that farm workers, veterinarians and their families face the greatest risk of contracting CC398, which has been “associated, albeit rarely, with serious skin and soft tissue infections, pneumonia and blood poisoning in humans.” EFSA has noted, however, that even if food becomes tainted with MRSA, “there is currently no evidence that eating or handling contaminated food can lead to an increased risk for humans.” The agencies have also stated that “as animal movement and contact between live animals and humans are likely to be important factors in the transmission of MRSA, the most…
According to a report from the organization that launched the concept of a voluntary consensus standard for sustainable agriculture, nearly 50 committee members met in late May 2009 in Illinois to address issues raised by task forces considering various aspects of the proposed standard. The Leonardo Academy initiated the effort with a draft “trial-use” standard, intended to be implemented while under development, that would have imposed organic requirements and employment practices, such as union organizing and collective bargaining, on every aspect of agriculture in the United States from farm to store. Operating under the American National Standards Institute consensus and transparency principles, a number of industry interests are now involved in the process, which has apparently resulted in a change of focus. The standard will initially be limited to crop production and will be extended incrementally to eventually include post-farm gate activities and other agricultural production, including livestock. While sustainability…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have agreed to recognize each other’s organic certifications. As of June 30, 2009, Canada will have national organic standards in place that have been determined to be the equivalent of U.S. National Organic Program requirements. Thus, products meeting U.S. standards can be sold as organic in Canada, and vice versa. The only exception is for products from fields in the United States treated with sodium nitrate; such crops cannot be sold in Canada as organic. The agreement, however, does away with the need for a three-year transition period from sodium nitrate use. According to USDA, “more than 80 percent of Canada’s organic consumption comes from imports, and approximately 75 percent of those imports come from the United States.” The value of the total market for organic products in Canada apparently ranges from $2.1 to $2.6 billion. U.S. Trade…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that emergency processing is underway for the draft guidance titled “Questions and Answers Regarding the Reportable Food Registry as Established by the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007.” When finalized, the guidance will assist industry in complying with the Reportable Food Registry requirements prescribed by the Act, which required FDA to establish within one year of enactment an electronic portal to facilitate reporting of adulterated foods. FDA has delayed until September 8, 2009, implementation of the registry to consider comments and to allow further testing of the electronic portal for reportable foods. Written comments are requested by July 16, 2009. FDA has requested approval of the emergency processing by August 17, 2009. See Federal Register, June 16, 2009.
An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deputy administrator reportedly told a House science oversight subcommittee that the agency plans to rely more often on independent peer review panels when seeking scientific advice or conflict resolution. According to a news source, this could potentially speed external review of EPA studies and cut agency costs. Such review would reportedly reverse a policy under the Bush administration of automatically referring problematic scientific risk studies to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for peer review. EPA Assistant Deputy Administrator for Science Kevin Teichman reportedly testified during a June 11, 2009, hearing, that the agency “very carefully consider[s] the complexity of the given assessment as to which form of peer review that we would use. More times than not, we’ll convene a peer review panel, which would have a face-to-face meeting, that might go through a contractor choosing the panelists, or it might be our own…
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has written to Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) requesting that the federal government “levy a tax on non-diet soft drinks to recoup some of the costs incurred by the government from the consumption of these drinks, as well as to reduce consumption.” Others signing the June 17, 2009, letter are the American Public Health Association, Consumers Union, Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine, Kelly Brownell of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, and Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health. Claiming that “soft drinks are the only food or beverage shown to have a direct link to obesity,” CSPI contends that “a new federal excise tax of one penny per 12-ounce soda could generate more than $1.5 billion per year” and that even higher taxes “could raise roughly $16 billion a year— an…
California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), which is responsible for implementing the state’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop. 65), is reportedly reviewing a joint industry proposal submitted in April 2009 with detailed recommendations for a comprehensive food warning system. OEHHA has been conducting meetings with stakeholders to develop a regulation that would provide consumers with point-of-sale warnings about food chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or pose reproductive health hazards. The California Grocers Association, California Retailers Association, California League of Food Processors, American Beverage Association, and Grocery Manufacturers Association proposal would exempt small retail establishments from regulation and would allow warnings to be provided via (i) signage at a store’s entrance, (ii) pamphlets or brochures, or (iii) the backs of cash register receipts. Environmental groups and consumer advocates have reportedly criticized the industry approach, saying that most consumers would remain unaware…
