A New Mexico rancher has reportedly petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to operate the first horse slaughterhouse since the ban for such operations was lifted in November 2011. Since 2006, the federal government has essentially blocked horse slaughterhouses because Congress did not fund their legally required USDA inspections. Those inspections, however, were approved by lawmakers in last year’s agricultural spending bill. According to a news source, Rick De Los Santos, part-owner of Valley Meat Co. in Roswell, plans to slaughter 20 to 25 horses a day and export the meat to Mexico for human consumption. He asserts that more than 100,000 American horses are shipped to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada, with some of the meat exported to Europe and Asia. “Everyone who’s ever eaten tacos in Mexico, I guarantee you they’ve eaten horse meat down there,” De Los Santos said. “It would never be my intention to…
Category Archives Other Developments
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint alleging that a radio advertisement for Budweiser® beer violated rule 19.6 of the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice code by linking the consumption of alcohol to sexual success. According to ASA, the ad produced by AB InBev UK Ltd. featured a male speaker modeled after “the typical American football coach” giving “a motivational style speech” to other male characters preparing for the evening ahead, which would likely include meeting new people. Although InBev argued that the commercial did not explicitly link consumption of its product to sexual prowess but instead “drew upon the commonly attributed American values of optimism, free-spiritedness and a positive attitude,” ASA interpreted the message as implying that “on such nights [] unexpected and significant events, including conception, could take place.” “We considered the ad was likely to be understood as suggesting the group was preparing for…
Citizens Medical Center, located in Victoria, Texas, has reportedly instituted a prohibition on hiring any employee with a body mass index (BMI) higher than 35, or 210 pounds for an individual 5 feet, 5 inches tall or 245 pounds for someone 5-foot-10. Apparently, the hiring policy is not based on the expense of health care for the obese or purported increased absenteeism, but linked to physical appearance. The center’s chief executive officer reportedly said in an interview, “The majority of our patients are over 65, and they have expectations that cannot be ignored in terms of personal appearance.” Because weight is not a protected category in Texas, some believe the policy is not illegal, but others claim the weight-based discrimination violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. In either event, while smokers have been subject to similar policies for some time, weight restrictions are apparently virtually unknown in the medical field. The…
Canadian researchers have reportedly halted the development of genetically engineered (GE) pigs after the hog producers association sponsoring the project decided to stop funding it. Created in 1999 by scientists at the University of Guelph and financed by Ontario Pork, the so-called Enviropig™ apparently contained genes from mice and an E. coli bacterium that enabled the animal to digest plant phosphorus “more efficiently than conventional Yorkshire pigs,” thereby lessening the environmental impact of the manure. Had a company been found to take the product to market, the Enviropig™ would have become the first GE animal to enter the food supply if approved by the U.S. and Canadian governments for human consumption. According to an April 2, 2012, New York Times report, however, the Enviropig™ met much resistance from environmental and consumer groups that oppose transgenic livestock for food purposes and feared the GE pig would make large-scale farming more profitable.…
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has issued a workshop summary examining the role of obesity in cancer survival and recurrence. Held October 31-November 1, 2011, by IOM’s National Cancer Policy Forum, the workshop included presentations from experts on “the latest laboratory and clinical evidence on the obesity-cancer link and the possible mechanisms underlying that link.” Participants also discussed clinical interventions to mitigate the purported effects of obesity on cancer, as well as “research and policy measures needed to counteract the expected rise of cancer incidence mortality due to an increasingly overweight and older population.” In particular, the workshop explored “the complex web of molecular mechanisms that underlie the obesity-cancer link and whether it is obesity itself, the energy imbalance that leads to obesity, or the molecular pathways that are deregulated due to obesity, that lead to increased risk of cancer initiation or progression.” The group also considered more policy-specific research…
The U.K. Department of Health has announced a new “Public Health Responsibility Deal” signed by 17 major food and beverage companies that have agreed to cap calories in their products. According to a March 24, 2012, department press release, the pledge aims “to cut five billion calories from the nation’s diet” by asking signatories to actively promote lower-calorie options and to offer additional reduced-calorie items. The companies supporting the initiative include chain restaurants, retailers and manufacturers such as Coca-Cola Great Britain and Mars, Inc. “We all have a role to play – from individuals to public, private and nongovernmental organizations – if we are going to cut five billion calories from our national diet. It is an ambitious challenge but the Responsibility Deal has made a great start,” said Health Secretary Andrew Lansley. “This pledge is just the start of what must be a bigger, broader commitment from the food…
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has appealed a ruling made by a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel against the United States in a dispute with Mexico and Canada over country-of-origin labeling (COOL) laws for beef and pork products. Responding to complaints filed by Canada and Mexico, WTO’s Dispute Settlement Panel ruled in November 2011 that although the United States has the right to require COOL regulations, specific requirements enacted in 2008 such as those calling for segregation of imported livestock before processing provide less favorable treatment to Canadian and Mexican livestock. The ruling was covered in Issue 419 of this Update. According to the appeal, USTR found several errors in the panel’s ruling and contends, among other issues, that its COOL labeling does not impose unfavorable treatment of imported products because it “requires meat derived from both imported and domestic livestock to be labeled under the exact…
The U.K.-based Chemicals, Health and Environment Monitoring (CHEM) Trust has issued a March 2012 report claiming that recent studies have linked “hormone disrupting chemicals in food and consumer products” to obesity and Type 2 diabetes in humans. The report apparently analyzes 240 research papers offering epidemiological or laboratory evidence to suggest that certain chemicals—such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates—are obesogenic or diabetogenic. “The chemicals implicated include some to which the general population are typically exposed on a daily basis,” states the report, which also speculates that some “endocrine disrupting chemicals” (EDCs) stored in body fat “may play a role in the causal relationship between obesity and diabetes.” Based on its findings, CHEM Trust argues that obesity prevention strategies like dietary interventions “should not obscure the need for government policies within and outside the health sector” to reduce chemical exposure through the food chain, food containers…
A marketing company that bills itself as a “champion of authentic green marketing” and crusades against product “greenwashing” claims has launched a new website on which the health-related claims of food and fitness products can be rated. EnviroMedia Social Marketing created the online tool to expose “exaggerated or misleading health claims through advertising, marketing or packaging,” a practice it has dubbed “leanwashing.” When visited on March 15, 2012, the website, which uses a 1-5 rating scale with 1 corresponding to “authentic” ad claims and 5 corresponding to “bogus” product representations, listed a number of sugary cereal products at the high end of the scale and products such as POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate juice on the low end. Children’s products are rated using a separate set of criteria. Consumers are urged to post and rate ads on the site. See BusinessWire, March 13, 2012.
According to news sources, a 25-year-old trade dispute pitting European Union (EU) laws prohibiting the import of beef treated with growth hormones and U.S. and Canadian trade sanctions imposing hundreds of millions of dollars of duties on EU exports of Roquefort cheese, truffles, chocolates, and other comestibles has been resolved. The U.S. and Canadian tariffs reportedly cost EU exporters more than US$250 million annually. In exchange for lifting a 100 percent ad valorem duty against EU products, the EU has agreed to increase quotas on imports of hormone-free beef to 48,200 metric tons under the deal. The agreement will allow the EU to maintain its ban on imports of hormone treated beef. Additional details about the dispute appear in Issues 103, 255, 262, 278, and 289 of this Update. See Law 360 and European Parliament News, March 14, 2012.
