The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has reportedly revised Health Code Article 16 to allow residents to keep Apis mellifera hives within the city limits. Previously outlawed as too dangerous or venomous for urban life, the common honeybee is currently cultivated by hundreds of clandestine city beekeepers, many of whom quietly flaunted the prohibition. “People fear that if there’s a beehive on their rooftop, they’ll be stung,” one spokesperson for the New York City Beekeepers Association told the media. “Honeybees are interested in water, pollen and nectar. The real danger is the skewed public perception of the danger of honeybees.” In light of this evidence, the health board revisited the ban, which once imposed fines of up to $2,000 per citation and reinforced fears of sting-related litigation. The new regulations require beekeepers to register their hives with the city, but do not compel them to carry…
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Over the past two years, little has taken place in Pelman v. McDonald’s Corp., the putative class action litigation brought in 2002 on behalf of obese and overweight teenagers who alleged that the fast food restaurant is responsible for their weight-related health conditions. On March 10, 2010, the case was reassigned to U.S. District Court Judge Donald Pogue. Since Judge Robert Sweet recused himself in 2008 from the case he had heard through two trips to the U.S. Court of Appeals, the matter has been passed to three different judges. Currently pending before the court is plaintiffs’ motion to certify the class. Pelman v. McDonald’s Corp., 02-7821 (S.D.N.Y., filed September 30, 2002).
New York Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn) has reportedly introduced legislation (A.B. A10129) that would bar restaurants from using salt “in any form” during food preparation. According to the bill, which cites the World Health Organization, “three quarters or more of the sodium intake in the United States comes from processed or restaurant foods.” Proposing to fine restaurants $1,000 for each violation, the law aims to “give customers the option to add salt after the meal has been prepared for them,” allowing them “more control over the amount of sodium they intake, and . . . the option to exercise healthier diets and healthier lifestyles.” Meanwhile, the legislation has drawn swift criticism from consumers, nutritionists, restaurateurs, and chefs, the latter of whom have noted the important chemical role of salt in baked goods and other dishes. “Chefs would be handcuffed in their food preparation, and many are already in open rebellion…
Facing budget shortfalls in the upcoming fiscal year, several state and city legislatures are reportedly considering a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. Kansas Senator John Vratil (R-Leawood) this week proposed a bill (S.B. 567) that would tax such products, including energy and sports drinks, at the rate of one penny per teaspoon of sugar. According to its proponents, the measure would add a dime to the cost of a typical 12-ounce soft drink and raise approximately $90 million per year. “The thinking is No. 1, we need money,” Vratil was quoted as saying. “But perhaps just as importantly, obesity is a real, growing problem.” See The Kansas City Star, March 9, 2010. In addition, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has introduced a FY 2010-11 budget that includes a 2-cent-per-ounce tax on the distribution of sugary drinks. Media sources have apparently likened the measure to current excise taxes or the 10 percent “liquor-by-the-drink” tax.…
New York Assemblyman Nelson Castro (D-86) has proposed an amendment (A09754) to the state’s agriculture and markets law that would require a warning label on all energy drinks. Citing “serious health risks including heart attack, stroke and even heart disease,” the provision calls for product warnings to appear in a black box and in letters “not less than eight point type.” It would also impose civil liability fines of $1,000 per violation. But unlike a similar proposal in Kentucky that reportedly focuses on caffeine content, the New York law defines an energy drink as containing “a combination of some or all of the following ingredients: sugar, methylkanthines, caffeine, vitamin E, herbs, guarana, açai, taurine, ginseng, maltodextrin, inositol, carnitine, creatine, glucuro-nolactone and ginkgo biloba.” This definition would exclude coffee, according to a January 26, 2010, article in Law360, which noted that the American Beverage Association has questioned the practicality of enforcing…
New York Governor David Paterson (D) has released a 2010-11 executive budget proposal that calls for “a new excise tax of approximately one penny per ounce on sugared beverages linked to obesity ($465 million).” According to the proposal, which claims that obesity-related disease costs the state’s health care system $7.6 billion annually, the so-called soda tax “will discourage consumption of those unhealthy products and improve long-term health outcomes.” The legislature has until April 1, 2010, to enact a budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Past efforts to institute a levy on sugar-sweetened beverages have met with opposition. “[Paterson] has proposed a soda tax before, then caved, after orchestrated industry protests across the state,” noted a January 19 New York Times editorial that urged the governor to “resist and keep the tax.” In addition, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has praised the initiative, deeming it a “courageous…
Plaintiffs who brought personal and economic injury claims against Topps Meat Co. for an E. coli outbreak that led to the recall of more than 20 million pounds of ground beef in 2007 have filed a motion for class certification. Patton v. Topps Meat Co., No. 07-654 (W.D.N.Y., motion filed October 15, 2009). While the proposed classes, a “consumer class” of persons who purchased ground beef subject to the recall and allege economic losses and an “injury class” of persons who consumed the ground beef and allege personal injury, are national in scope, the plaintiffs contend that New York law will apply to the case. According to the named plaintiffs, each of whom was allegedly sickened by consuming contaminated meat, federal investigators confirmed 40 E. coli cases linked to the outbreak strain and estimate that for every reported case, 20 cases go unreported. Thus, they suggest that the number of injury…
The New York City Planning Commission has reportedly approved a proposal that would offer zoning and tax incentives “to encourage the development of full-service grocery stores that devote a certain amount of space to fresh produce, meats, dairy and other perishables,” according to a September 24, 2009, article in The New York Times. The plan would apparently relax zoning restrictions in some areas to permit supermarket construction and would include tax abatements and exemptions for approved stores in parts of northern Manhattan, central Brooklyn, the South Bronx, and downtown Jamaica in Queens. In addition, the regulations would require new store owners to display entrance signs stating that their establishments sell fresh food. Based on a similar Pennsylvania program, the proposal has purportedly garnered support from food policy experts, supermarket executives and City Council members, who must also vote on the plan. “This is about being able to walk to get your…
The chair of the California Senate’s Select Committee on Obesity and Diabetes has reportedly announced a November 2009 hearing to discuss the purported link between sweetened beverage consumption and obesity. An author of the state’s menu labeling laws, California Senator Alex Padilla (D-San Fernando Valley) issued the September 17, 2009, press release in response to a report published by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy (CCPHA) and UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Titled Bubbling Over: Soda Consumption and its Link to Obesity in California, the study used data from the 2005 California Health Interview Survey to conclude that “41 percent of children (ages 2-11), 62 percent of adolescents (ages 12-17) and 24 percent of adults drink at least one soda or other sugar-sweetened beverage every day.” It also apparently found that “adults who drink one or more sodas or other sugar-sweetened beverages every day are 27 percent more likely…
A new anti-obesity ad unveiled by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene depicts globs of human fat gushing from a soda bottle and asks the question: “Are you pouring on the pounds? Don’t drink yourself fat.” The ad urges viewers to choose water, seltzer or low-fat milk instead of high-calorie sodas and juice drinks. The $277,000 ad, which will run in 1,500 subways subway cars for three months, was apparently denounced by the American Beverage Association as “counterproductive to serious efforts to address a complex issues such as obesity.” ABA spokesperson Kevin Keane said the ad campaign is “over the top and unfortunately is going to undermine meaningful efforts to educate people about how to maintain a healthy weight by balancing calories consumed from all foods and beverages with calories burned through exercise.” But Cathy Nonas, a dietitian for the city’s health and mental hygiene department,…
