Category: Issue 407
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Wired Blogger Questions Safety of Food Imported from China
Wired magazine’s “Superbug” blogger Maryn McKenna recently published an article questioning China’s food safety record after reports surfaced that 11 people from one Xinjiang province village died “and anywhere from 120 to 140 were sickened” by vinegar contaminated with ethylene glycol. According to McKenna, “The vinegar had been stored in barrels that previously contained antifreeze,”…
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Zoe Tillman, “Grocery bagged,” The National Law Journal, August 22, 2011
According to District of Columbia court reporter Zoe Tillman, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg is currently considering a motion to certify a class in litigation filed by a California consumer in 2008 to challenge the merger of Whole Foods Market Inc. and Wild Oats. As Tillman notes, in March 2009 the Federal Trade Commission settled…
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ACLU Raises Privacy Concerns over ID Scanning
An August 23, 2011, USA Today article has highlighted privacy concerns over how bars, restaurants and night clubs use ID scanners to track and share consumer data with other venues, including whether an individual patron “caused a problem” or “started a fight.” As the purveyor of one system explained to journalist Trevor Hughes, the new networked…
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Anti-Nanotech Group Targets Researchers
A group known as “Individualities Tending Toward Savagery” (ITS) has reportedly claimed responsibility for injuring two Mexican nanotechnology researchers with a parcel bomb, putting scientists around the world on alert. According to an August 21, 2011, Chronicle of Higher Education article, the group has a manifesto that cites Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, as an inspiration…
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Putative Class Claims Chipotle Misleads Consumers about Pinto Beans
A Jewish California resident who claims to be a vegetarian has filed a putative class action against Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., alleging that the company failed to adequately warn consumers that its pinto beans are prepared with or contain bacon or pork. Shenkman v. Chipotle Mex. Grill, Inc., No. BC467980 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles…
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POM Wonderful Claims Pompis Infringes and Dilutes Its Trademark
POM Wonderful LLC, which has created a market for pomegranate juice beverages and other products, has sued Backside Beverages, LLC, alleging that the company has infringed POM’s trademark with its Pompis energy drink. POM Wonderful LLC v. Backside Beverages, LLC, No. 11-760 (D. Utah, filed August 22, 2011). POM’s complaint includes a comprehensive description of…
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NRDC Seeks FDA Action on Its BPA Petition
The Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (NRDC), a non-profit advocacy organization, has filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), seeking an order compelling FDA to issue a final response to NRDC’s October 2008 petition calling on the…
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Del Monte Asks Court to Lift FDA Import Alert on Cantaloupes from Guatemala
Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc. has filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a federal court in Maryland alleging that the agency lacked an adequate factual basis after a Salmonella outbreak in early 2011 to conclude that the company’s Guatemalan cantaloupe supplier was the source…