The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has issued a report that summarizes its Food Forum and Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine that took place May 7-8, 2013. Titled “Sustainable Diets: Food for Healthy People and a Healthy Planet - Workshop Summary,” the report discusses current and emerging information on the food and nutrition policy implications of increasing environmental constraints on the food system as well as the relationship between human health and the environment. Issue 513
Category Archives Other Developments
The World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) last week published its World Cancer Report 2014, a collaborative effort providing “a professional, multidisciplinary assessment of all aspects of the geographical distribution, biology, etiology, prevention, and control of cancer.” In addition to a chapter on cancer etiology as it relates to diet, obesity and physical activity, the report’s third edition includes a section focusing on regulatory and legislative initiatives—such as the taxation of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs)—designed to minimize behavior-related carcinogenic risk. It also features a “Perspectives” article by Harvard School of Public Health Professor Epidemiology and Nutrition Walter Willett that reviews “our current state of knowledge on diet, nutrition, and cancer.” Co-authored by Willett, the chapter on diet, obesity and physical activity warns that excess body fat “increases risk of cancers of the oesophagus, colon, pancreas, endometrium, and kidney, as well as post-menopausal breast cancer.” Singling…
A recent marketing promotion has drawn the attention of keen-eyed literary buffs after a University of Anglia lecturer tweeted that the stock photo of a stern-looking man used to sell Tyrrells Potato Crisps is actually a portrait of R.S. Thomas, a famous Welsh poet who died in 2000 and was known as “the fiery poet-priest.” Jeremy Noel-Tod, who teaches literature and creative writing, told The Church Times that he imagined Thomas would have been “deeply contemptuous of the whole business, though he is also reported to have a wickedly dry sense of humor in person, so he might privately have relished the way in which this facetious piece of marketing has backfired.” “When we see an eccentric old photograph—like the one on the front of this bag—we can’t help but dream up a silly caption,” states the packet of sweet chilli and red-pepper crisps adorned with Thomas’s visage that offers winners…
In a Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI) Update article titled “State Law Approaches to Curtail Digital Food Marketing Tactics Targeting Young Children,” Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) staff attorney Cara Wilking describes the types of digital marketing to children younger than age 8 that should be proscribed because they are unable to identify it as marketing. These include “advergames” and “digital sweepstakes,” which Wilking contends constitute deceptive trade practices and illegal lotteries. She calls for food and beverage companies to cease using “harmful digital marketing tactics” and for state attorneys general to take action against this marketing under consumer-protection statutes. Among other matters, Wilking argues that a number of state consumer-protection laws “explicitly address indirect advertising akin to pester power marketing in order to cover unfair and deceptive marketing that is designed to influence others” as she explains how the parental responsibility concept should not preclude legal interventions to…
Subway has reportedly announced plans to remove azodicarbonamide from its breads after a food blogger’s petition criticized the restaurant chain for including “the same chemical used to make yoga mats, shoe soles, and other rubbery objects” in its U.S. products. Owned by Doctor’s Associates Inc., Subway apparently released a media statement confirming that it had started phasing out the ingredient before FoodBabe.com’s Vani Hari launched her campaign, which garnered 60,000 signatures and sent readers to the company’s Facebook page to complain. “We are already in the process of removing azodicarbonamide as part of our bread improvement efforts despite the fact that it is a USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] and FDA [Food and Drug Administration] approved ingredient. The complete conversion to have this product out of the bread will be done soon,” a Subway spokesperson was quoted as saying. See Associated Press and CNN, February 6, 2014; The Independent, February…
A recently released Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report suggests that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has allowed 30 potentially harmful antibiotic additives to remain approved for use in food animals (cows, pigs and chickens), even though the agency’s own scientists found that “none of these products would likely be approvable as new additives for nontherapeutic livestock use if submitted today, under current FDA guidelines.” Titled “Playing With Chicken,” and based on a review of previously undisclosed FDA documents, the report notes that (i) 18 of the 30 antibiotic feed additives reviewed were assessed as posing a “high risk” to human health; (ii) drug manufacturers did not submit sufficient information on 12 of the additives to establish safety; (iii) despite the fact that 29 of the additives are not proven to be safe, no action has been taken to withdraw approval; and (iv) 26 of the additives have never…
Among the tens of thousands of documents reportedly made public in advance of a hearing in litigation pitting the sugar industry against companies that make high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are emails that purportedly show some HFCS company executives were concerned about rebranding and advertising the substance as “natural” and “nutritionally the same as sugar.” Some apparently suggested that it made the industry appear disingenuous and could invite litigation. According to an attorney representing the HFCS manufacturers, the emails simply reflect a healthy debate. He reportedly said, “What the emails clearly show is the corn refiners engaged in a rigorous internal discussion about the public relations aspects of what HFCS is called, while never wavering in their core belief that high fructose corn syrup is both natural and nutritionally equivalent to sugar.” Another email authored in April 2009 by the then-president of the Corn Refiners Association reportedly defended the campaign but…
The Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) has reportedly launched a new research initiative designed to monitor honey bee behavior using tiny radio frequency identification (RFI) sensors. According to a January 15, 2014, CSIRO news release, researchers have for the first time fitted 5,000 bees in Hobart, Tasmania, with 2.5-by-2.5 millimeter sensors as part of CSIRO’s efforts to improve pollination and productivity on farms as well as understand threats to hive health such as colony collapse disorder. These sensors will transmit information about each individual bee’s movements whenever it passes a data-gathering checkpoint, allowing scientists “to build a comprehensive three dimensional model and visualize how these insects move through the landscape.” “Bees are social insects that return to the same point and operate on a very predictable schedule. Any change in their behavior indicates a change in their environment,” explained lead researcher Paulo de Souza. “If we can…
A recent report issued by the U.K.’s National Obesity Forum suggests that a 2007 prediction that 50 percent of the British population would be obese by 2050 significantly underestimated the scale of the country’s obesity crisis. Titled “State of the Nation’s Waistline,” the report notes that “it is entirely reasonable to conclude that the determinations of the 2007 [report], while shocking at the time, may now underestimate the scale of the problem.” Noting that health professionals could do more, such as intervening earlier, initiating discussion with patients on obesity and weight management issues, routinely measuring children’s height and weight and adults’ waist circumferences, and encouraging citizens to take a more proactive approach regarding their own health, Forum Chair David Haslam says that these actions go hand in hand with government leadership and ensuring responsible food and drink manufacturing and retailing. “We need more proactive engagement by healthcare professionals on weight…
According to an article appearing in the January 2014 issue of the Harvard Law Bulletin, Harvard Law School has established a food law and policy clinic in light of “more and more people deeply concerned about what they’re eating and what it means for our health, the economy, the environment, social justice, and even national security.” The school has also launched the Food Law Lab that “will be a locus for research, scholarship and teaching on the legal regulation of food.” Lab director Professor Jacob Gersten has predicted that “in the next decade, food law will become as big as environmental law. In terms of sheer volume and variety of legal happenings, the field is quite vibrant right now.” Among other issues of interest are changes to food safety regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act, U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence on genetically modified seeds, state and local government regulations such as…
