Category: Issue 350
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Harvard Researchers Suggest Preservatives in Processed Meats Increase Risk of Adverse Health Effects
A study recently published in the American Heart Association’s Circulation journal purportedly shows that consumption of processed meats “is associated with higher incidence of [coronary heart disease] and diabetes mellitus.” Renata Micha, et al., “Red and Processed Meat Consumption and Risk of Incident Coronary Heart Disease, Stroke, and Diabetes Mellitus. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” Circulation, May…
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NGO Coalition Tests Canned Foods, Allegedly Finds BPA at Levels Linked to Health Effects in Lab Animals
A coalition of public interest organizations has issued a report, “No Silver Lining, An Investigation into Bisphenol A in Canned Foods,” that purportedly detected levels of the chemical in more than 90 percent of the cans from consumers’ shelves that were tested. While the highest levels of BPA, at 1,140 parts per billion (ppb), were…
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Daniela Perdomo, “Big Soda Wants to Keep America Fat: Here’s How to Fight Back,” AlterNet, May 21, 2010
AlterNet staff writer and editor Daniela Perdomo takes a look in this article at the money that the beverage industry is purportedly spending to oppose federal and state efforts to impose a tax on soft drinks. According to the article, the American Beverage Association increased its lobbying nearly 4,000 percent over the last quarter of…
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Anneli Rufus, “Why Caffeine Is the Perfect Addiction for a Worker Bee Society,” AlterNet, May 19, 2010
This article by book author Anneli Rufus discusses a recently issued scientific study that purports to show that caffeine can “significantly reduce [] the number of errors” made by shift workers and can, in fact, be more effective at preventing errors than a nap. Rufus further explores how widespread U.S. consumers’ alleged addiction to coffee,…
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Alice Lichtenstein, David Ludwig, “Bring Back Home Economics Education,” Journal of the American Medical Association, May 11, 2010
Tufts University Professor Alice Lichtenstein and Harvard Medical School Professor David Ludwig team up in this commentary to advocate bringing back home economics to school classrooms as a way to combat the country’s childhood obesity epidemic. “Instruction in basic food preparation and meal planning skills needs to be part of any long-term solution,” they write.…
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Rick Berman Exposé Tries to One Up Rachel Maddow Interview
In an article reprinted by AlterNet with the permission of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), journalist and freelance writer Ian Shearn provides an in-depth look at public relations guru/lobbyist Rick Berman. Shearn contends that Berman is making a fortune taking money from large corporations to attack the charities that criticize big business…
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Neil Buchanan, “Why New York’s (and Other Jurisdictions’) Food Regulations Do Not Violate Freedom of Choice: The False Notion That Our Tastes Are of Our Own Making,” FindLaw.com, May 20, 2010
Authored by a Cornell Law School visiting scholar with a Ph.D. in economics, this legal commentary suggests that government critics err when they call efforts to address obesity an infringement on their freedom of choice. According to the article, this objection has “no meaning in the context of a modern economy” where “we are being…
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Jennifer Pomeranz, “Television Food Marketing to Children Revisited: The Federal Trade Commission Has the Constitutional and Statutory Authority to Regulate,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Spring 2010
Authored by the director of legal initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, this article purports to demonstrate that food and beverage advertising to children is deceptive and misleading speech and therefore not protected under the First Amendment. According to the author, because this speech is not protected, the Federal…