A recent study funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reportedly measured internal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) from dietary sources, with results suggesting that the substance is, for the most part, metabolized and excreted by the body. Justin Teeguarden, et al., “Twenty-Four Hour Human Urine and Serum Profiles of Bisphenol A during High-Dietary Exposure,” Toxicological Sciences, September 2011. Scientists with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, and Northwest Pacific National Laboratory apparently profiled the urine and blood serum of 20 healthy adults for 24 hours (24-h) after “high-dietary” BPA exposure via meals enriched with canned foods. “From a safety perspective, the most pressing fundamental question regarding BPA is whether human blood/tissue concentrations of BPA following typical daily exposures are similar to, above, or below blood/tissue concentrations causing demonstrably adverse effects in animal models,” wrote the authors. “The main objective of this study was…
According to documents obtained by Associated Press reporter Thomas Watkins, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is currently considering a Corn Refiners Association petition to allow high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to be called “corn sugar,” has written to the association indicating concern with the trade group using the terms interchangeably. In the July 12, 2011, letter, an FDA director reportedly stated, “We request that you re-examine your websites and modify statements that use the term ‘corn sugar’ as a synonym for (high fructose corn syrup).” On behalf of the association, Audrae Erickson reportedly stated, “We do not believe that anyone could be confused or believe that the statements regarding ‘corn sugar’ on the websites refer to anything other than high fructose corn syrup.” Watkins notes that FDA has no regulatory authority over the association’s advertising because it promotes an industry and not a product. The FDA letter apparently indicated…
The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) has issued a report claiming that “almost 1 out of 11 radio ads for alcoholic beverages in 75 markets across the nation in 2009 failed to comply with the alcohol industry’s voluntary standard for the placement of advertising.” According to CAMY, “Approximately 9 percent of all alcohol product advertisements aired on programming with underage audiences in violation of the industry’s 30 percent standard,” thus accounting for 18 percent of youth exposure to alcohol advertising. The report also alleges that (i) 32 percent of advertising placements “occurred when proportionately more youth were listening than adults age 21 and above”; (ii) “these overexposing ads generated more than half of youth exposure to radio advertising for alcohol in 2009”; and (iii) “in 2009, girls ages 12 to 20 were more likely than boys in the same age group to be exposed to alcohol advertising for alcopops,…
A number of law professors, including anti-tobacco activist and Public Health Advocacy Institute President Richard Daynard, have written to the heads of four federal agencies, in their role as the Interagency Working Group on Food Marketed to Children, to support the group’s proposed nutrition principles for food marketed directly to children ages 2-17. Details about the proposed principles appear in Issue 392 of this Update. According to the September 6, 2011, letter, the principles “embody a constitutionally permissible set of government recommendations.” Written to counter a trade association letter that urged the group to withdraw the principles on constitutional grounds, the professors’ letter notes that the “recommended nutrition principles contain no mandates” and thus “do not violate the First Amendment.” Observing that the group “is better characterized as a routine governmental advisory body than an oppressive censorship panel,” the professors note, “no federal agency can impose legal repercussions on a…
A number of former employees of an animal-food flavoring maker have sued companies that make or sell the butter-flavoring chemical diacetyl, alleging that occupational exposure caused them to contract a debilitating lung disease known as bronchiolitis obliterans (or popcorn lung). Huerta v. Aldrich Chem. Co., Inc., No. 11-9461 (Ill. Cir. Ct., Cook Cty., filed September 9, 2011). The 112-count complaint alleges negligence, strict liability design defect and failure to warn, conspiracy, and loss of consortium. The plaintiffs seek unspecified compensatory damages. According to the complaint, “Defendants knew or should have known of the hazardous nature of their diacetyl and diacetyl-containing flavors both at the time of sale and when plaintiffs were exposed to such products while working at the Feed Flavors facility. [Yet], defendants failed to warn of the defective nature of their flavoring chemicals and failed to give instructions on safe use of the flavoring chemicals.”
A California court of appeal has determined that a trial court erred in allowing a spinach seller to recover $12 million under the accidental contamination portion of its insurance policy. Fresh Express Inc. v. Beazley Syndicate 2623/623 at Lloyd’s, No. H035246 (Cal. Ct. App., decided September 8, 2011) (unpublished). According to the court, the produce company’s product was not the source of the E. coli outbreak linked to spinach in 2006 and led to a nationwide recall, although when it filed its insurance claim, the company had made several sourcing errors that led it to believe it could have been implicated in the outbreak. Those errors would have brought it under the terms of the insurance agreement, if the company had been the source of the E. coli contamination. Because it was not, the appeals court concluded that “the policy’s plain language refutes the trial court’s finding that ‘the E.…
According to news sources, a man who weighs nearly 300 pounds has filed an Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit against White Castle in a federal court in New York, claiming that the stationary booth seating in a Nanuet restaurant is made for smaller people and that he hurt a knee trying to wedge into one in 2009. When he complained in writing, he purportedly received three “very condescending letters,” with offers for free hamburgers, although added cheese would have cost extra. He has since used take-out to purchase his food from White Castle or asked his wife to go into the facility to pick up his meals, while waiting almost three years for promised renovations that would have enlarged the seating spaces. Stockbroker and plaintiff Martin Kessman reportedly said, “I just want to sit down like a normal person.” See New York Post, September 11, 2011; The Wall Street Journal,…
A putative class action has been filed in a federal court in California against Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc., alleging that the company’s Skinnygirl™ Margarita beverage, purportedly created by a natural foods chef, contains sodium benzoate and other preservatives and should not be advertised and sold as a “natural” product. Bonar v. Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc., No. ___ (S.D. Cal., filed September 6, 2011). Alleging purely economic damages, the plaintiff seeks to certify a nationwide class of purchasers and claims that the company has violated California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act and Business & Professions Code Section 17200 et seq., and breached express warranties. She requests compensatory and punitive damages, restitution, disgorgement, corrective advertising, injunctive relief, attorney’s fees, and costs.
Brandeis University has filed suit against a number of cookie and biscuit manufacturers, including Keebler Co., Famous Amos Chocolate Chip and The Pillsbury Co., alleging that they have infringed patents that adjust the LDL/HDL ratio in human serum by balancing saturated and polyunsaturated dietary fatty acids. Brandeis Univ. v. East Side Ovens, Inc., No. 11-619 (W.D. Wis., filed September 7, 2011). According to the complaint, the patents (‘497 and ‘192) were issued in 1998 and 2003 and “are directed to fats and fat blends that decrease low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) and increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) in human serum,” resulting “in significant health benefits.” The university alleges that the defendants’ cookie, cookie dough, and reduced fat biscuit and crescent roll products infringe its patents. The plaintiff seeks injunctive relief, damages, costs, and a “declaration that this is an exceptional case and an award of attorneys’ fees.
After Kona coffee growers called for Safeway, Inc. to comply with Hawaiian regulations on labeling Kona coffee, a California resident filed a putative class action against the company in federal court, alleging that its Safeway Select™ “Kona Blend” coffee contains “very little Kona coffee bean content.” Thurston v. Safeway, Inc., No. 11-04285 (N.D. Cal., filed August 30, 2011). Seeking to certify nationwide or statewide classes, the plaintiff calls the company’s labeling false and misleading and contends that she “did not receive the ‘Kona Blend’ she bargained for when she purchased Safeway’s Kona Blend Coffee, and has lost money as a result in the form of paying a premium for Kona Blend coffee” instead of paying less for a non-Kona or low-Kona coffee alternative. The plaintiff alleges common law fraud, violations of various consumer fraud statutes and restitution based on quasi contract or unjust enrichment. She requests restitution, compensatory and punitive…
