Category: Issue 515
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U.S. Government Study Revives BPA Debate
A recent study funded by the National Toxicology Program and conducted by researchers with the Food and Drug Administration’s National Center for Toxicological Research has reportedly found no evidence linking low doses of bisphenol A (BPA) to adverse estrogenic effects in an animal model. K. Barry Delclos, et al., “Toxicity Evaluation of Bisphenol A Administered…
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Cooked Meats Allegedly Linked to Increased Alzheimer’s Risk
A new study has concluded that advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs), which occur in heat-processed meat and animal products, can cause brain changes similar to those found in Alzheimer’s disease or metabolic syndrome, a pre-diabetic state. Weijing Cai, et al., “Oral glycotoxins are a modifiable cause of dementia and the metabolic syndrome in mice and humans,”…
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Johns Hopkins Publication Focuses on Food; Caffeinated Waffles on Prof.’s Agenda
Johns Hopkins Public Health, a magazine of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, has devoted a special issue to food topics and includes an article about Health Policy and Management Professor Stephen Teret, who founded the Johns Hopkins Clinic for Public Health Law and Policy and recently engaged law students in a project addressing caffeinated…
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Tobacco Foe Banzhaf Predicts New Onslaught of Big Food Lawsuits
George Washington University Law Professor John Banzhaf, who is known for his anti-tobacco advocacy, contends that recent court rulings involving food company defendants facing consumer-fraud and product-mislabeling allegations have opened “the door even further to a growing wave of such suits.” He argues that class action lawsuits over labeling terms such as “natural” and “all…
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New Book Focuses on Industries Affecting Health
New York Times op-ed writer Mark Bittman, who frequently writes about food-related issues and calls for changes in government policy to address over- or unhealthy-consumption problems, has found an ally in City University of New York School of Public Health Professor Nicholas Freudenberg who has authored a new book titled Lethal but Legal: Corporations, Consumption,…
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Prop. 65 Violation Claims Leveled Against Alcoholic Beverage Makers
A three-attorney, Pasadena, California-based law firm has filed numerous 60-day notice letters since March 2013 to companies that make alcoholic beverages, warning that they have failed to comply with a section of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop. 65) by selling without the required warnings (i) “alcoholic beverages, when associated…
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Appeals Court Throws Out Prop. 65 Suits over PhIP in Chicken
A California appeals court has affirmed the dismissal of Proposition 65 (Prop. 65) lawsuits filed against fast-food restaurants by the vegetarian and animal-rights advocacy organization Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), finding that the organization failed to conduct the requisite investigation into the warning signs posted in the defendants’ restaurants before certifying the merit of…
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Consumer Diacetyl Award Finalized by Settlement
According to a news source, the plaintiffs and defendants in litigation over a respiratory condition allegedly caused by the daily consumption of microwave popcorn containing the butter-flavoring compound diacetyl have settled the claims following a court’s reduction of the jury’s $7-million verdict to $5.78 million, including fees and costs. Watson v. Dillon Cos., Inc., No.…