Category: Other Developments
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WHO Issues Antimicrobial Resistance Report
The World Health Organization (WHO) has published its first global report on antimicrobial resistance, warning that the threat has spread to every region in the world and is attributable, in part, to inappropriate use of antibiotics in animal husbandry. Among the report’s key findings are (i) “standard treatments no longer work”; (ii) “infections are harder…
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Powdered Alcohol Garners Media Interest
After the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) reportedly granted and then rescinded labeling approval for a powdered alcohol product created by Lipsmark LLC, the company has fielded a number of consumer and media questions about Palcohol’s® marketing, safety and availability. Created by wine critic Mark Phillips, Palcohol® is described as “a…
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NRDC Claims GRAS Process Is Flawed
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has issued a report claiming that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) generally recognized as safe (GRAS) process for identifying food additives not required to undergo premarket approval is flawed and calling for legislation to change the process. According to NRDC, minimal FDA supervision and “a gaping loophole…
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UK Campaign Calls for Extended Junk-Food Ad Ban
A recent analysis conducted by University of Liverpool researchers and commissioned by the campaign group Action on Junk Food Marketing has suggested that children in the United Kingdom are “bombarded” with as many as 11 junk-food advertisements during one hour of prime-time, family-oriented TV. Noting that almost one out of four TV ads shown between…
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Incomplete Products Linked to Increased Consumption
The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business recently interviewed Marketing Professor and Jay H. Baker Retailing Center Director Barbara Kahn about her research on food consumption habits for the March 20, 2014, edition of its Knowledge@Wharton series. Describing how product shape and size affect consumer perception, Kahn noted that individuals will eat more of…
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Roosevelt House to Host Book Release Event Focused on Corporations and Public Health
The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College has announced an April 8, 2014, event touting the release of Lethal But Legal: Corporations, Consumption and Protecting Public Health by City University of New York’s School of Public Health Professor Nicholas Freudenberg. Moderated by former New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner…
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Consumer Reports Finds 4-MEI in Pancake Syrups
Following up its testing of soft drinks for the caramel-coloring ingredient 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI) by testing for its presence in pancake syrups, Consumer Reports tested several products, including pure maple syrup which had just 0.7 micrograms in a one-quarter cup serving, and found relatively low levels in light of the amount of syrup generally consumed in the…
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NEPC Report Faults Policymakers for Failing to Curb School Marketing
The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) has published a March 2014 report titled Schoolhouse Commercialism Leaves Policymakers Behind, which claims that the education system and its policymakers continue “to grant corporate marketers ‘widespread access to students’… through mechanisms that range from delivering marketing messages through appropriated school space and property to a variety of other strategies.”…