Tag: mercury
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Consumer Group Issues Seafood Mercury Report
GotMercury.org recently released a report claiming that “nearly one-third of the fish purchased at [California] grocery stores contains levels of mercury the United States has deemed unsafe for consumption and more than half of theretailers did not post mercury advisory signs.” The authors based their findings on 98 samples of swordfish, halibut, salmon, and tuna…
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Consumer Reports Claims Some Protein Drinks Laden with Lead
Consumers Union (CU) has issued the results of its investigation into protein drinks, concluding that many products are at best superfluous and at worst unsafe. Published in the July 2010 edition of Consumer Reports, the findings allegedly support the watchdog’s position that Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education…
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GAO Testimony Takes Aim at Herbal Dietary Supplements’ Marketing Practices, Contaminants
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has delivered testimony before the U.S. Senate’s Special Committee on Aging that highlights examples of deceptive or questionable marketing practices involving certain dietary supplements. GAO also reported that some herbal dietary supplements contained contaminants, including trace amounts of lead. According to GAO Managing Director of Forensic Audits and Special Investigations…
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Court Refuses to Allow Vanilla Maker’s Cross Claims in Mercury-Contamination Insurance Coverage Litigation
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a district court’s decision not to allow a flavoring company to file cross claims in litigation between an insurance carrier and the company that supplied vanilla beans tainted with mercury to the flavoring company. The Travelers Ins. Co. v. Dammann & Co., Inc., No. 09-1225 (3d Cir.,…
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Rachel Maddow Takes Aim at Rick Berman and Center for Consumer Freedom
Noting that Washington, D.C.-based industry lobbyist Rick Berman will be on her MSNBC-TV program during the week of October 5, 2009, Rachel Maddow this week discussed the most recent campaign Berman’s Center for Consumer Freedom has undertaken on behalf of the producers of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Maddow showed viewers the clip of a new TV…
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Certiorari Denied in Tuna Warnings Class Action
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to hear a putative class action lawsuit involving claims that Tri-Union Seafoods LLC fails to warn consumers about mercury concentrations in its canned tuna fish products. Tri-Union Seafoods, L.L.C. v. Fellner, No. 08-889 (U.S., cert. denied April 20, 2009). The plaintiff filed her claims in 2006, alleging that she…
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New Study Challenges FDA Draft Assessment of Mercury in Fish
A new study from the Connecticut Department of Health has challenged a recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) draft assessment weighing the benefits of fish consumption against the risks associated with mercury exposure. Gary L. Ginsberg and Brian F. Toal, “Quantitative Approach for Incorporating Methylmercury Risks and Omega-3 Fatty Acid Benefits in Developing Species-Specific Fish…
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Two Separate Reports of Mercury in High Fructose Corn Syrup Spur Calls for Regulation
A recent study published in Environmental Health has allegedly identified mercury in nearly 50 percent of sampled commercial high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Renee Dufault, et al., “Mercury From Chlor-Alkali Plants: Measured Concentrations in Food Product Sugar,” Environmental Health, January 2009. The study authors apparently detected mercury in nine of 20 HFCS samples from 2005, concluding…