Category: Other Developments
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San Francisco and Berkeley Pass Resolutions Condemning Nontherapeutic Use of Antibiotics in Livestock
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Berkeley City Council last week each passed resolutions urging federal lawmakers to pass the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2013 (H.R. 1150) and the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act of 2013 (S. 1256). “Twenty-three thousand people die each year in the United States from antibiotic-resistant infections,”…
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JAMA Publishes Viewpoint on New York City’s Soda Portion Case
Georgetown public health law professors opine in the September 15, 2014, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that New York’s high court, in striking down the New York City Board of Health’s sugary drink portion size rule, could have effectively chilled “local innovation, given local agencies’ unique position to devise innovative…
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Public Health Advocates to Promote SSB Warnings in Upcoming Webinar
California-based ChangeLab Solutions, an interdisciplinary public health advocacy group focused on policy reform, is holding a September 24, 2014, Webinar to discuss the potential impact of mandatory warning labels on sugar-sweetened beverages in reducing the rates of youth and adult obesity and diabetes. Webinar panelists will reportedly discuss lessons learned from failed California legislation (S.B.…
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Consumer Reports Challenges FDA’s Fish Intake Recommendations
In its October 2014 issue, Consumer Reports will publish an analysis of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) data that supported the agency’s recommendations for fish intake by pregnant women and children, released jointly as draft guidance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June 2014. The magazine compiled a list of low-mercury—including…
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U.S. PIRG White Paper Calls for Antibiotics Reform
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund has published a white paper titled “Ending the Overuse of Antibiotics in Livestock Production: The Case for Reform.” Contending that the use of antibiotics in healthy animals to accelerate their growth or “prevent disease caused by unhealthy and unsanitary conditions” has accelerated the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria,…
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Havelka and Farnsworth Decipher New Poultry Inspection Rules in Law360
Shook attorneys Ann Havelka and Ryan Farnsworth have authored an August 18, 2014, Law360 article detailing “the first major overhaul of the nation’s poultry inspection system in nearly 60 years.” Describing the voluntary and mandatory aspects of the final rule issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the article…
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Rabbit Meat Sales at Whole Foods Prompt Protests
Whole Foods Market has begun selling rabbit meat at select stores nationwide, and rabbit advocacy groups have planned protests in response. In a May 2014 press release, Whole Foods announced its plan to sell rabbit meat raised according to its animal-welfare standards, including the requirements that the rabbits have “continuous access to drinking water, feed,…
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Researchers Highlight Appeal of Gene Editing Techniques
A recent Trends in Biotechnology review highlighting “genetically edited organisms” (GEOs) has reportedly suggested that new techniques designed to tweak the existing genome could gain greater public acceptance than older methods, which traditionally use plant bacteria to insert foreign genetic material into fruit and vegetables. According to an August 13, 2014, Cell Press news release,…