U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), have written a letter to the Office of Management and Budget asking for the release of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) voluntary industry guidelines for levels of arsenic in fruit juices currently under review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Citing studies that have found “concerning” levels of arsenic in food and beverages, DeLauro and Pallone assert that FDA’s guidance document will be “instrumental” to industry members and consumers in their efforts to address “this public health issue.” It is “inexcusable that the guidelines are stalled while consumers continue to be exposed to potentially dangerous levels of arsenic,” the letter states. “Inorganic arsenic is a known carcinogen that can increase the risk of bladder, lung and skin cancers, [which is] particularly concerning because children consume large quantities of juice and may be at risk for more harmful…
Category Archives U.S. Government and Regulatory Agencies
Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) have introduced bipartisan legislation to combat antimicrobial drug resistance by requiring the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to report more information on the annual sales of antibiotics used among industrial farm animals. The “Antimicrobial Data Collection Act” would also reportedly give the agency a deadline to finalize policies proposed in 2012 that would eliminate the use of antibiotics for growth-promoting uses. “Antimicrobial resistance is a public health concern that needs to be adequately addressed,” Gillibrand said in a statement. “Increased data collection, transparency, and accountability are part of a comprehensive solution that will help protect American citizens from drug resistant microbes, saving lives and tax dollars.” “Our bill would not create any new reporting requirements for drug companies, feed mills, or farmers. It would only require the FDA to provide more transparency in reporting the antimicrobial data which is already being reported to it,”…
University of Arkansas School of Law Professor Susan Schneider has authored a post on the Agricultural Law Blog agreeing with a Federation of Southern Cooperatives post refuting claims by a New York Times reporter of fraud linked to the recovery of settlement proceeds (the Pigford settlement) in litigation alleging U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) loan program discrimination against African-American, Hispanic, Native American, and women farmers. Schneider states that on reading the April 25, 2013, New York Times article, titled “U.S. Opens Spigot After Farmers Claim Discrimination,” “I was alarmed to see errors, omissions, and misleading references . . . [and] I am very disappointed that the author appeared more interested in producing a salacious story than in treating the issue with the respect and depth that it deserved.” She includes a number of details overlooked in the newspaper article and concludes, “casting the story in the cynical tone of political…
Although a recent proposal to restrict the use of three neonicotinoids failed to gain support from the qualified majority of member states on an appeals committee, the European Commission (EC) has announced its intention to proceed with the plan as part of its bid to better protect honeybees. Basing its decision on a European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) scientific report that “identified ‘high acute risks’ for bees as regards exposure to dust in several crops such as maize, cereals and sunflower, to residue in pollen and nectar in crops like oilseed rape and sunflower and to guttation in maize,” the Commission has agreed to limit the use of clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiametoxam “for seed treatment, soil application (granules) and foliar treatment on bee- attractive plants and cereals” for a period of two years starting December 1, 2013. Under the plan, “the remaining authorized uses are available only to professionals,” with possible…
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine Michael Taylor said this week that the agency “is taking a fresh look at the potential impact that the totality of new and easy sources of caffeine may have on the health of children and adolescents, and if necessary, will take appropriate action.” According to Taylor, “[t]he only time that FDA explicitly approved the added use of caffeine in a food was for cola and that was in the 1950s.” He acknowledged that in today’s environment children and adolescents can be exposed to the substance “beyond anything FDA envisioned when it made the determination regarding caffeine in cola.” In 2010, FDA warned companies producing alcoholic malt beverages that the added caffeine was an unsafe additive and that seizure of their products was possible under federal law. The companies ceased producing the caffeinated products. Additional information about the 2010…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued guidance to answer stakeholder questions about changes to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) slated to take effect on July 1, 2013. According to FTC, the new rules apply not only to the operators of Websites and mobile apps directed at children younger than age 13, but the operators of general audience sites and apps “with actual knowledge that they are collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from children under 13,” as well as third-party operators “that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information directly from users of another Web site or online service directed to children.” In addition to describing the types of personal information covered by COPPA, which for the first time will class IP addresses as persistent identifiers, the guidance addresses, among other things, (i) new online privacy policy rules, including requirements for displaying the policy; (ii)…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration have announced a June 18, 2013, public meeting in Washington, D.C., to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft U.S. positions for discussion at the 36th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in Rome on July 1-5. Agenda items include (i) a report by the chair of the 68th session of the executive committee; (ii) revocation of existing Codex standards and related texts; (iii) “Amendments to the Codex Standards and Related Texts”; (iii) “Financial and Budgetary Matters”; and (iv) chair and vice chair elections and coordinator appointments. See Federal Register, April 23, 2013.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg has reportedly informed Senate appropriators that the agency would extend for 120 days the comment period for two proposed rules—one relating to fresh produce and the other to food processors issued in January 2013 to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). According to Hamburg, “We appreciate that these are complex rules, the proposed rules, to go through and analyze, and we do intend to extend the comment period so that we can hear all of the concerns and address them fully, and I think it’s a reasonable request.” Hamburg also reportedly indicated that a rule requiring restaurants to post calorie information is a “high priority” for the agency, but hesitated when asked if it would be issued by October 1, at the start of the new fiscal year. See CQ Healthbeat News, April 18, 2013.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a proposed rule that would add selenium to the list of nutrients required in infant formula as well as establish minimum and maximum levels for the mineral in this context. Under the proposed rule, which recognizes selenium as an essential nutrient, infant formula labels would also need to list the amount per 100 kilocalories of formula. According to FDA, the selenium content of soil varies widely by geographic region, leading to either chronic selenium toxicity or dietary deficiencies that can result in diseases such as cardiomyopathy. Recognizing that formula “is intended to be the sole source of nutrition for infants,” FDA has proposed “2.0 µm selenium/100 kcal as the minimum level for selenium in infant formulas and 7.0 µm selenium/100 kcal as the maximum level.” The agency will accept comments on the proposed rule until July 1, 2013. See Federal Register, April 16,…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reportedly received “more than 30,000 comments” in response to its request for information about a petition filed by dairy-industry groups asking the agency to drop special labeling requirements for flavored milks that contain artificial sweeteners such as aspartame. The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) have asked FDA “to amend the standard of identity for flavored milk and 17 other dairy products (including nonfat dry milk, heavy cream, eggnog, half-and-half and sour cream) so that nonnutritive sweeteners are among the standard ingredients,” thus exempting the products from having to make nutrient content claims such as “reduced calorie” in a more prominent location. “If we granted the petition, a carton of chocolate milk made with nonnutritive sweeteners would simply say ‘chocolate milk,’ the same as a carton made with nutritive sweeteners, such as sugar,” said FDA Food Labeling…
