Category: Issue 307
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Researchers Allege Link Between Soft Drink Consumption and Low Potassium Levels
Greek scientists have published a study in the International Journal of Clinical Practice that reportedly examines six cases of cola-induced potassium deficiency (hypokalemia) involving muscle weakness and paralysis in adults. V. Tsimihodimos, et al., “Cola-induced hypokalemia: pathophysiological mechanisms and clinical implications,” The International Journal of Clinical Practice, June 2009. Researchers with the University of Ioannina, Greece,…
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Study Claims Dioxin Inhibits Mammary Gland Proliferation During Pregnancy
An animal study has reportedly claimed that dioxin “has a profound effect on breast tissue by causing mammary glands to stop their natural cycle of proliferation as early as six days into pregnancy, and lasting through mid-pregnancy.” Betina J. Lew, et al., “Activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) during different critical windows in pregnancy…
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Maywa Montenegro and Nikki Greenwood, “In Seeds We Trust,” Seed Magazine, June 9, 2009
This article examines the global food-security goals of Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust and “intellectual father” of the Svalbard Seed Vault, which opened in February 2008 as a bomb-proof concrete bunker deep inside the sandstone of a remote Norwegian mountain north of the Arctic Circle. The vault, the authors write, was…
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Documentary Aims to Expose Purported Dangers of Food Industry
A new documentary titled Food, Inc. apparently paints a vivid picture of the foods Americans eat–from bigger-breasted chickens fattened artificially to new strains of deadly E. coli bacteria, to a food supply controlled by a handful of corporations. The filmmakers claim these purported dangers create harmful effects on public health, the environment, and worker and…
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New Ad Campaign Wonders “Who’s Hogging Our Antibiotics?”
Commuters and visitors in Washington, D.C., metro stations are being asked, “Who’s Hogging Our Antibiotics?” in a new ad campaign featuring pigs in a trough. The series of ads by the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming is apparently part of the project’s national effort to end what it claims is the misuse…
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William McGeveran, “Disclosure, Endorsement and Identity in Social Marketing,” University of Illinois Law Review, 2009
University of Minnesota Law School Associate Professor William McGeveran discusses the problems posed by Internet marketing that collects and disseminates information about individual purchases as a form of product endorsement among the purchaser’s friends and acquaintances. The author describes how such marketing has already occurred on social networking platforms and the backlash it created. The…
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Several Diacetyl Plaintiffs Settle Claims with Mustard Oil Manufacturer
A company that manufactures mustard oil supplied to the employers of food-flavoring workers who alleged they contracted bronchiolitis obliterans from occupational exposure to diacetyl and other chemicals, is seeking court confirmation of its good faith settlement with some of the workers. Ortiz v. Flavor & Extract Mfrs. Assoc. of the U.S., No. BC364831 (Cal. Super Ct.,…
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EWW Presses Prop. 65 Acrylamide Claims Again
Environmental World Watch, Inc. (EWW) has reportedly filed litigation under California’s Proposition 65 (Prop. 65) against a number of companies that make snack foods. According to the attorneys who litigate as this advocacy organization, the companies fail to warn consumers that their products contain acrylamide, a chemical formed when certain foods such as breads, french…