The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has allowed claims filed by New Jersey blueberry farmers to proceed against the company that makes a pesticide which allegedly damaged their crops, finding that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) does not preempt their lawsuit. Indian Brand Farms, Inc. v. Novartis Crop Protection, Inc., No. 08-4484 (3d Cir., decided August 10, 2010). The company changed its pesticide in 1997, and plaintiffs used it the same way they had successfully used prior products, mixing it with fungicides before applying it to their crops. The company’s marketing brochure for the reformulated product said it was safer and more effective and had the same powerful product performance. The brochure contained no instructions for the product’s use, and the product label did not indicate that one of its inert ingredients was an ionic surfactant nor that it should not be mixed with fungicides. The product containing the…
Three elected San Francisco officials recently introduced legislation to amend the city’s health code by restricting restaurant toy giveaways to only those meals that meet stringent nutritional guidelines. The Healthy Food Incentives Ordinance (10196) would apply to all San Francisco restaurants, but mostly affect fast food establishments that offer toys linked to the purchase of meals targeted to children and high in calories, salt or fat. In April 2010, Santa Clara County, California, became the first local government to enact a similar measure, highlighted in Issue 347 of this Update. The proposed San Francisco measure would prohibit restaurants from offering an “incentive item” such as toys, trading cards or admission tickets with a single menu item containing more than 200 calories or 480 milligrams of sodium or an entire meal containing more than 600 calories or 640 milligrams of sodium. Another stipulation calls for toy giveaway meals to provide no…
The Chinese Ministry of Health has apparently announced an investigation into claims linking infant formula manufactured by Synutra International, Inc., to early onset puberty. According to state-run media, the ministry has assembled a panel of nine experts to examine whether the formula caused three infants ages 4 to 15 months to develop prematurely. The group will work with local authorities in Hubei Province to test milk powder samples taken from the homes of the infants in question. See Xinhau News Agency, August 12, 2010. The decision came after China Daily reported that doctors identified excessive levels of two hormones, estradiol and prolactin, in the children, thus sparking public speculation about tainted formula. Synutra, however, has since joined its milk powder supplier, New Zealand based Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd., in denying the rumors, which have noted that both companies were caught up in a 2008 scandal over melamine-tainted dairy products. As Synutra…
In advance of the August 30-September 3, 2010, session of the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods, draft U.S. positions will be considered during a public meeting scheduled for August 16. Written comments may be presented during the meeting or forwarded to the U.S. delegate to the Codex session, Dr. Kevin Greenlees, who works in the Office of New Animal Drug Evaluation at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Among other issues on the upcoming Codex agenda are (i) draft maximum residue limits for veterinary drugs (at step seven of an eight-step Codex process), (ii) a discussion paper on methods of analysis for these residues in foods, (iii) a draft priority list of veterinary drugs requiring evaluation by a joint Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) expert committee on food additives, (iv) a discussion paper on veterinary drugs in honey production, and (v) a discussion…
Senators Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) have issued a report, “Summertime Blues,” in which they provide information about “100 stimulus projects that give taxpayers the blues.” Among the projects is a $521,000 grant to the University of Illinois to study whether taxes on soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages can affect the incidence of obesity. According to the senators, “While it is hard to disagree that soda and other sugary drinks are contributing factors to the national obesity epidemic, it is easy to disagree whether federal dollars should be used to study the relationship between taxes and obesity.” In a related development, the CEO of a nonprofit foundation writing in The Hill’s “Pundits Blog,” called the District of Columbia’s decision to take a “soda tax” off the table “an unfortunate mistake.” Kathy Kemper opines that the proposal “would take our capital city far in reducing sugar consumption among…
A U.S. magistrate judge in New Jersey has issued an order staying a case that alleges “natural” labeling for Snapple beverages is misleading because the product contains high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which plaintiffs contend is not an all-natural ingredient. Holk v. Snapple Beverage Corp., No. 07-3018 (D.N.J., order entered August 10, 2010). The parties drew the court’s attention to a stay issued in similar litigation involving Arizona Iced Tea® beverages. Additional information about that case appears in Issue 356 of this Update. The stay will remain in effect for six months, pending a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review of the matter. “That time period may be extended for good cause shown, in the event the FDA shows a willingness to consider this issue but needs more time to do so. If, on the other hand, the FDA declines to consider the issue, counsel are directed to notify the Court promptly…
Soybeans grown in soil that contains pharmaceuticals and the chemicals found in personal care products can reportedly absorb those compounds. Chenxi Wu, et al., “Uptake of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products by Soybean Plants from Soils Applied with Biosolids and Irrigated with Contaminated Water,” Environ. Sci. Technol., July 21, 2010. The plants were apparently grown under conditions simulating fertilization with treated sewage and irrigation with recycled water. Three pharmaceuticals and two antimicrobials common in personal care products were added to the soil and water, and the plant tissues were tested just before flowering and then after they sprouted beans. The environmental scientists found that uptake “of selected compounds differed by treatment, with biosolids application resulting in higher plant concentrations, likely due to higher loading. However, compounds introduced by irrigation appeared to be more available for uptake and dislocation.”
A recent study has purportedly linked an increased risk of bladder cancer to “meatrelated compounds,” including nitrate and nitrite. Leah Ferrucci, et al., “Meat and components of meat and the risk of bladder cancer in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study,” Cancer, August 2010. Researchers apparently identified 854 transitional cell bladder-cancer cases among the 300,933 men and women enrolled in the 1995 National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. Using validated food-frequency questionnaires completed by subjects and quantitative databases of measured values, the study authors estimated “intake of nitrate and nitrite from processed meat and HCAs [heterocyclic amines] and PAHs [polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons] from cooked meat.” Their results reportedly showed that when compared to participants who ate the least amount of processed red meat, the top one-fifth had a 30 percent greater risk of contracting bladder cancer. As the study authors concluded, these findings provide “modest support for an…
A recent study has reportedly suggested that pancreatic cancer cells “can readily metabolize fructose”—but not glucose—“to increase proliferation.” Haibo Lu, et al., “Fructose Induces Transketolase Flux to Promote Pancreatic Cancer Growth,” Cancer Research, July 20, 2010. The abstract maintains that “fructose and glucose metabolism are quite different,” as fructose “induces thiamine-dependent transketolase flux and is preferentially metabolized via the nonoxidative pentose phosphate pathway to synthesize nucleic acids and increase uric acid production.” Thus fructose purportedly provides “an alternative substrate to induce pancreatic cancer cell proliferation.” These findings could have “major significance for cancer patients given dietary refined fructose consumption, and indicate that efforts to reduce refined fructose intake or inhibit fructose-mediated actions may disrupt cancer growth,” conclude the study authors. Meanwhile, the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) and others have publicly disputed the implications of these results. In an August 3, 2010, press release, CRA noted several inaccuracies in the study, which…
“Energy bars and energy drinks are just the tip of this antioxidant-enhanced, vitamin-enriched, high-fiber iceberg,” writes Anneli Rufus in an August 3, 2010, AlterNet article examining health claims based on nutraceuticals such as “vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs, other botanicals, and that amorphous category known as dietary supplements.” According to Rufus, “nutraceuticals hark back to preindustrial folk remedies,” but are not yet proven to work in people. As Stephen DeFelice of the Foundation for Innovation in Medicine told her, the functional-foods industry “is all marketing, marketing, marketing without the clinical research to back it up.” Rufus goes on to trace the history and development behind “the nutraceutical boom,” noting that consumers are again seeking “good for you” foods after a century of focusing “entirely on flavor, speed and ease.” To meet this demand, functional-food companies must walk “a tricky linguo-legislative tightrope” in marketing their products, with restrictions placed on claims linking…
