According to a Sustainable Investments Institute report, corporations globally invest some $9 billion annually in nanotechnology, yet less than one-tenth of S&P 500 companies make this information public to shareholders and other stakeholders and none has discussed purported health, environmental or safety risks in their Securities and Exchange Commission Form 10-Ks. Shareholders are apparently beginning to engage companies in discussions about these risks; the first ever nano-related shareholder resolution was brought to a vote in 2014 (garnering 18.6 percent support before Dunkin’ Brands’ shareholders), and “[c]oncerned investors are promising to step up their efforts in 2015.” The report outlines issues that investors should consider regarding companies that rely on, develop or use nanotechnology and nanomaterials; the current state of S&P 500 company disclosures; the history of the 30-year development of nanotechnology in the United States, including the most promising areas; currently identified areas of risk; EU and U.S. approaches to…
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Researchers with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and two other universities have launched a campaign targeting added sugar consumption. Led by UCSF Health Policy Professor Laura Schmidt, the Sugar-Science Initiative bills itself as “the authoritative source for the science about added sugar and its impact on our health.” The resulting Website features public health messages gleaned from 8,000 scientific papers that the group reportedly vetted for accuracy and conflicts of interest. Among other things, the initiative focuses on the alleged toxicity of fructose and high-fructose corn syrup, arguing that added sugar consumption contributes to liver and cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. As contributor Robert Lustig explained, “It used to be a condiment, now it’s a diet staple. As pediatricians, we had evidence of the connection between sugar and diabetes, heart disease and liver disease for years, but we haven’t had this level of definitive scientific evidence to back up…
Calling Berkeley, California, voters’ recent passage of a 1-cent-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) a “victory for the health of Americans,” Australia’s Rethink Sugary Drink Campaign is urging state and local governments to enact comparable measures. The initiative is a partnership among the groups Cancer Council Australia, Diabetes Australia and Heart Foundation (Victoria). “Australia is among the top 10 countries for per capita consumption of soft drinks,” Cancer Council Australia’s Craig Sinclair said. “Research shows that a retail price increase of around 20 percent would be the most effective in reducing the consumption of these sugar-laden drinks.” The Campaign asserts that SSB consumption is linked to a variety of weight-related health issues and also champions state and local regulations to (i) limit children’s exposure to SSB marketing; (ii) restrict the sale of SSBs in primary and secondary schools; and (iii) reduce the availability of SSB sales in workplaces, government offices, health…
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has submitted a request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Freedom of Information Act for “the data collected by the Center for Veterinary Medicine under its Raw Milk Drug Residue Survey.” According to CSPI, FDA conducted the survey in 2012 “because excess and sometimes illegal drugs are more frequently found in animals from dairy farms at slaughter plants than animals coming from other sources.” CSPI’s review of drug testing reports in 2011 purportedly revealed that “animals coming from dairy farms accounted for 67 percent of reported drug residue violations at slaughter” and that, in some cases, “the reported residues were for drugs that are not approved for use in cattle.” While FDA informed consumer groups that it would make the raw data available when its report is released, it has yet to release the survey results. CSPI attorney…
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has released a database and mobile app that score some 80,000 food products using three criteria—nutrition, ingredient concerns and processing—to inform consumers that “popular brands in many categories are not so much food as they are conveyances for excessive amounts of sugar, salt and preservatives.” According to an October 27, 2014, EWG press release, the average product rated in the Food Scores database contains 14 ingredients and 446 mg of salt per 100 g, and it has a 58 percent chance of containing added sugar, 46 percent chance of artificial or natural flavor and 14 percent chance of artificial coloring. The guide allows consumers to search by product name, company or category and provides examples of comparable products with different scores. EWG’s press release specifically calls out stuffing and stuffing mixes as products with the highest likelihood of containing added sugars. According to Bloomberg Businessweek,…
Hours before U.S. regulators were poised to penalize Mexican sugar imports, the United States and Mexico reached an agreement to set a price floor on imported sugar and to suspend anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties. The dispute began in April 2014 when the U.S. Department of Commerce initiated an investigation following petitions from the U.S. sugar industry complaining of unfair pricing and government subsidies on Mexican sugar. Under the agreement, Mexico will reportedly be allowed to meet any demand for sugar in the United States after U.S. producers and other countries with fixed quotas have exhausted their supplies. Mexican producers will sell their sugar for no less than $0.2075 per pound for raw and $0.2357 per pound for refined. “We believe these Agreements, which work in concert with the U.S. sugar program, effectively address the market-distorting effects of any unfairly traded sugar,” Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Enforcement and Compliance Paul…
Sazerac Co. has recalled its Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey from Sweden, Norway and Finland because some batches contain levels of flavoring chemical propylene glycol that exceed European limits. The company says that it mistakenly shipped batches to Europe that were intended for the United States, where the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows higher levels for the Generally Recognized As Safe ingredient. The recall drew media attention to the regulation discrepancy, with many noting that industrial-grade propylene glycol is used in antifreeze. The company clarified October 29, 2014, that it uses food-grade propylene glycol, which it says is also used in many other consumable products, including salad dressing, beer, ice cream, and cake. Sazerac called the ingredient “ideal for use in a large variety of flavors to give most of today’s food and beverages their distinctive taste. Flavor companies use it to carry flavor ingredients through to the final product,…
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) has issued a report challenging the proposed organic aquaculture production regulations under consideration by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Titled Like Water and Oil: Ocean-Based Fish Farming and Organic Don’t Mix, the report argues that USDA should reject proposed standards that would allegedly dilute the value of organic certification by allowing the agency’s seal to appear on fish products sourced from ocean-based farms. In addition to citing the high number of fish escapes reported in the previous two decades, CFS claims that “open-ocean fish farms can never be organic,” partly because synthetic chemicals prohibited under the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) are ubiquitous in the marine environment. The group also alleges that open-ocean farming not only alters the natural behavior of migratory fish in violation of OFPA, but harms wild fisheries by using wild-caught fish as a feed source. “It’s mind-boggling to think that…
The James Beard Foundation has organized its fifth annual food conference around the theme of “Health & Food: Is Better Food the Prescription for a Healthier America?” The October 27-28, 2014, event in New York City will reportedly provide attendees a “better sense of actual health trends … and what solution-oriented food-system leaders and the medical community can do to make a difference.” An October 27 conference segment will include a conversation titled “Sugar and Health: What Is the Connection?” between Robert Lustig, M.D., and sustainability consultant Jonathan Halperin. Lustig, a neuroendocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, has garnered media attention in recent years for comparing sugar to a poison and linking it to metabolic dysfunction, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, liver cancer, and other noncommunicable diseases. A second conversation titled “The Sweet Truth” will feature New York University Professor Marion Nestle and food journalist Corby Kummer, author of…
The Pew Charitable Trusts and Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) have released an October 2014 report urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to reevaluate its current meat and poultry inspection system. Seeking to identify innovations that could better protect consumers, Meat and Poultry Inspection 2.0 compares U.S. regulations to those used in Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Sweden. It also examines scientific assessments undertaken by the U.K. Food Standards Agency and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as part of their efforts to modernize food safety regulations. “Modernizing government inspection of meat and poultry plants would focus resources on the food safety risks posed by bacteria and other microbiological and chemical hazards, and away from some human and animal diseases, such as tuberculosis and brucellosis, that have been successfully controlled in most developed countries,” argues the report. “However, out of a concern that modernizing government…
