The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and nearly two dozen Gulf Coast organizations have requested that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) “strengthen the current protocols and data relied on to determine whether seafood is safe for consumption and when to re-open areas for fishing” after the massive oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. Now that some fisheries have reopened, NRDC is concerned that existing testing and assessment protocols are insufficient to protect human health and safety. The organizations call for the agencies to include chemical monitoring in their seafood analyses, contending that cadmium, copper, lead, and mercury have all been detected in crude oil studies. The August 17, 2010, letters request that the agencies (i) “ensure there is comprehensive monitoring of seafood contamination”; (ii) “ensure public disclosure of all seafood monitoring data and methods”; and (iii) “ensure that fishery…
A molecular biologist has allegedly found that waterborne chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) are a contributing factor to lobster shell disease, a bacterial infection linked to population die-offs in the Long Island Sound. Undertaken on behalf of the New England Lobster Research Initiative and presented during the 9th Annual Ronald C. Baird Sea Grant Science Symposium, the study reportedly suggests that alkylphenols from plastics, paint and detergents can delay new shell growth, making lobsters more susceptible to pathogens during the molting process. These substances also apparently prolong maturation in juveniles, while mothers who contract shell disease are often forced to molt midway through the reproductive cycle and thus lose their offspring. As University of Connecticut Research Professor Hans Laufer explained in an August 10, 2010, press release, “[a]lkylphenols have phenomenal juvenile hormone activity,” which affects “growth, reproduction, metamorphosis, and development.” He further noted that 90 percent of the U.S.…
Researchers from the Environmental Protection Agency, University of Arkansas and University of California, Fresno, have reportedly identified populations of genetically modified (GM) canola growing wild in North Dakota. According to results presented at the Ecological Society of America’s (ESA’s) 95th Annual Meeting, scientists found that 347 of the 406 plants collected from roadsides contained either CP4 EPSPS protein, which confers tolerance to glyphosate herbicide, or PAT protein, which confers tolerance to glufosinate herbicide. “There were also two instances of multiple transgenes in single individuals,” University of Arkansas ecologist Cynthia Sagers was quoted as saying. “Varieties with multiple transgenic traits have not yet been released commercially, so this finding suggests that feral populations are reproducing and have become established outside of cultivation.” See ESA Press Release, August 6, 2010. Sagers has reportedly called for further research, suggesting that GM canola has been “part of the landscape for several generations.” She has conceded,…
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) has issued a report showing that alcohol companies “have largely met the industry’s voluntary standards of not placing ads in magazines with 30 percent or more youth readership.” Nevertheless, the report singled out 16 brands allegedly responsible “for half of the advertising placed in publications more likely to be seen per capita by youth than adults.” Researchers apparently used gross rating points, as opposed to gross impressions alone, to measure “how much an audience segment is exposed to advertising per capita.” In addition to tracking youth exposure to alcohol advertising, the report focused on the prevalence of youth exposure coming from overexposure. According to CAMY, “Advertising in media in which youth ages 12 to 20 make up more than 15 percent of the audience generally results in these youth being ‘overexposed,’ that is, they are…
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has issued an August 12, 2010, statement and letter lambasting Ben & Jerry’s “All Natural” ice cream and frozen yogurt for allegedly containing “alkalized cocoa, corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, or other ingredients that either don’t exist in nature or that have been chemically modified.” The watchdog has threatened to take its concerns to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and state attorneys general if Unilever fails to drop the products’ marketing claim. The group singles out cocoa processed with alkali as “the most frequently used unnatural ingredient,” followed by corn syrup, dextrose, invert sugar, brown rice syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, and maltodextrin. Moreover, CSPI maintains that alkalizing cocoa changes its chemical structure and reduces acidity and flavonol content. “Indeed,” states the CSPI press release, “Unilever recently sponsored research to investigate an association between flavonol intake and incidence of…
A Russian court has reportedly given the green light to a housing development agency to build houses on a field where thousands of rare berries and other fruits have been preserved since the 1920s. The Pavlovsk Experimental Station, located near St. Petersburg, was apparently developed to serve as an historic gene bank. Scientists over the years have deemed the facility so important that 12 reportedly starved to death during the World War II siege of Leningrad rather than eat the plants they were saving. Some 90 percent of the station’s more than 5,000 plant varieties exist nowhere else and many cannot be grown from seed. The research institute that operates the station reportedly plans to appeal the ruling to the Russian Supreme Arbitration Court. See The Los Angeles Times, August 10, 2010; TheAwl.com, August 11, 2010.
The National Consumers League has filed a consumer fraud action in a Washington, D.C. court against Nestlé HealthCare Nutrition, Inc., alleging that the company falsely advertises its BOOST Kid Essentials® drinks as products that can strengthen children’s immune systems and aid their digestive systems. The Nat’l Consumers League v. Nestlé HealthCare Nutrition, Inc., No. 5772-10 (D.C. Super. Ct., filed July 30, 2010). Bringing the action on behalf of the D.C. general public, the nonprofit organization alleges one count of violating the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as “treble damages or statutory damages in the amount of $1,500 per violation, whichever is greater,” costs and attorney’s fees. The league relies on the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) complaint against the company to assert that clinical studies do not support the promotional health-related representations. Additional details about the FTC’s settlement of its complaint and Nestlé’s agreement…
A California appellate court has reversed a summary judgment order that terminated litigation involving claims that chain restaurants violated Proposition 65 (Prop. 65) by selling grilled chicken products to consumers without appropriate warnings about carcinogens created by the cooking process. Physicians Comm. for Responsible Med. v. McDonald’s Corp., No. B218089 (Cal. Ct. App., decided August 12, 2010). The carcinogens at issue are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and PhIP (2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazol[4,5-b]pyridine). The trial court had dismissed the claims in late 2008 finding that the proposed warnings, which mentioned “well cooked,” “thoroughly cooked” and “grilled” chicken, were barred by conflict preemption because they would frustrate the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) “longstanding policy of promoting the safe cooking of chicken” under the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA). The court agreed with the defendants that the warnings would have frightened consumers from properly cooking chicken. The trial court dismissed the claims again in June 2009…
Alleging that no scientific evidence supports Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.’s claim that the cardamom in its Eclipse® Breeze chewing gum “neutralize[s] the toughest breath odors,” a California resident has filed consumer fraud claims against the company in a federal court on behalf of a nationwide class of consumers. Sityar v. Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., No. 10-5965 (C.D. Cal., filed August 10, 2010). The complaint alleges that he was misled by the company’s claims and “has spent money purchasing the Product at a price premium when the Product actually had less value than was reflected in that price he paid for the Product.” Seeking restitution, disgorgement, declaratory and injunctive relief, a corrective advertising campaign, costs, and attorney’s fees, the plaintiff alleges violations of California unfair competition and false advertising laws, breach of express warranty and violation of California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act. The plaintiff alleges that the only evidence of “medicinal properties”…
Dr. David Egilman, who was excluded from testifying as an expert witness in the case of a person who claimed the fumes from microwave popcorn caused his lung disease, has reportedly filed a non-party appeal from the decision finding his testimony unreliable. More details about the case and the court ruling appear in Issue 356 of this Update. A federal district court determined in Newkirk v. ConAgra Foods, Inc. that Egilman lacked any scientifically sound basis for attempting to extrapolate workplace exposures to the diacetyl used in popcorn and other baked goods to exposures in the home. Workplace exposures, which have been extensively studied, have linked exposure to the butter-flavoring chemical to bronchiolitis obliterans, a debilitating lung condition often referred to as “popcorn lung.” Egilman, according to a news source, purportedly testified in 2005 in pharmaceutical litigation that he had earned between $2 million and $2.5 million over the previous…
