Category: Issue 281
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Effort to List Bisphenol A Under Prop. 65 Slows Due to Staffing Shortages
California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has reportedly delayed a decision about whether to list bisphenol A (BPA) under Proposition 65 because it lacks sufficient staff to complete needed research. OEHHA’s Developmental & Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee (DART) was apparently scheduled to decide whether to include BPA on the list of chemicals…
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California Passes Animal Welfare Legislation
California residents this week voted overwhelmingly in favor of Proposition 2 (Prop. 2), an animal welfare measure banning the use of some crates for hens, pregnant pigs and veal calves that do not allow the animals to turn around, lie down or extend their limbs. In addition, the law will require farmers to build pens…
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China Initiates Food Safety Crackdown on Melamine-Tainted Animal Feed
The Chinese government has reportedly deployed 369,000 inspectors in a nationwide crackdown on melamine-tainted animal feed. Regulators apparently destroyed more than 3,600 tons of animal feed and shuttered 239 feed operations after food safety tests revealed that eggs in three provinces contained high levels of the industrial plasticizer, which some unscrupulous manufacturers use as an…
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U.K. Food Regulator Advises Pregnant Women to Reduce Caffeine Intake
The U.K. Food Standards Agency (FSA) has advised pregnant women to reduce their daily caffeine consumption to 200 milligrams – or approximately two mugs of coffee. The agency previously suggested a maximum intake of 300 mg, but lowered its recommendation after the British Medical Journal published an FSA-funded study concluding that a further reduction would lessen…
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Canada Beef and Pork Producers Seek Changes to U.S. COOL Law
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and the Canadian Pork Council, representing some 100,000 producers, are reportedly calling on their government to bring legal challenges under the North American Free Trade Agreement and WTO rules to the new country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law that took effect in the United States on October 1, 2008. According to the beef…
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Comments Sought on EU Products to Consider for Increased Duty Rates
The Office of U.S. Trade Representative has issued a request for comments about potential alternative products imported from the European Union (EU) that are under consideration for the imposition of increased duties. The action arises from an ongoing dispute with the EU over its refusal to allow imports of U.S. meat and meat products produced…
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Nanotechnology Offers Hope of Rapid and Reliable BSE Test
Cornell University researchers have reportedly developed a nanoscale application that could lead to rapid testing for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES), which partly funded the project, recently highlighted the National Research Initiative (NRI) as a step toward improving the safety of the food…
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Study Shows Increasing Rates of Medication Use in Children
Researchers in Kansas and Missouri report that chronic medication use in children increased over a three-year period across all therapies studied, with the prevalence rate for type 2 antidiabetic agents doubling. Emily Cox, et al., “Trends in the Prevalence of Chronic Medication Use in Children: 2002-2005,” Pediatrics, November 2008. The study involved a sampling of commercially…