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Center for Science In The Public Interest
News on nutrition, food safety, and more.

• State Attorneys General Negotiate End of Caffeinated "Sparks" Beer
  Statement of CSPI Director of Litigation Steve GardnerIt was a bad idea that never should have gotten as far as it did—adding caffeine to sweetened, high-alcohol-content malt beverages and marketing them to young people via word-of-mouth and infantile web sites. Marketing caffeinated beer demonstrated a disturbing lack of restraint on the part of major companies like MillerCoors, and it put millions of young Americans in harms way. That's why we sued the company in September.
• FDA Issues Midnight Go-ahead for Potentially Harmful Stevia Sweetener
  Statement of CSPI Executive Director Michael F. JacobsonShame on the Food and Drug Administration for its midnight decision to accept industry's contention that rebaudioside A, a sweetener extracted from the herb Stevia, is "generally recognized as safe," or GRAS. That "general recognition" of safety certainly doesn't extend to the UCLA scientists who concluded that rebaudioside A is inadequately tested in terms of cancer and caused mutations in some laboratory tests. It is far too soon to allow this substance in the diet sodas and juice drinks consumed by millions of people. It looks like this is President Bush's parting gift to the soda industry.
• Stevia: What's the Rush?
  Statement of CSPI Executive Director Michael F. JacobsonCargill and Coca-Cola are sticking their thumbs in the Food and Drug Administration's eyes by rushing to market novel sweeteners based on the stevia plant. Cargill has been marketing its Truvia product as a table-top sweetener for several months, and, according to media reports this week, Coca-Cola will start marketing stevia-sweetened drinks. So far, the other main producer, Merisant, and user, PepsiCo, of a stevia-based product have held back. A small company, Wisdom Natural Brands, put SweetLeaf sweetener on the market several months ago.
• Consumer Groups Call on Obama Administration to Take Action on Food Safety During First 100 Days
  IOM Recommendation to Move Meat and Poultry to FDA QuestionedWASHINGTON—The Institute of Medicine today stated that the Food and Drug Administration's food safety system remains ill-equipped to meet emerging challenges, and the legal authority underlying all government inspection programs should be updated to emphasize prevention of foodborne illness. The IOM further suggested there would be benefits to creating a new focused food safety entity within the Department of Health and Human Services rather than continuing at FDA. Consumer Federation of America and the Center for Science in the Public Interest endorsed that action and today are urging President-Elect Barack Obama to act quickly to advance it.
• Next Ag Secretary Should Have Food Safety, Nutrition, and Environmental Focus, Groups Say
  USDA Concerned With More Than Maximizing Commodity Production, According to Consumer CoalitionWASHINGTON—Much of the media speculation on who the next Secretary of Agriculture will be focuses on candidates lacking experience with food safety, nutrition, or environmental issues—issues which are at the heart of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's mission. Consumer advocates and other public interest groups are today urging President-Elect Barack Obama to appoint an individual who appreciates the diversity of programs administered by the $95-billion-a-year department, as opposed to a candidate whose primary experience involves large-scale agricultural production.
• Naughty Brewers Sully Santa in Beer Promos
  St. Nick Used to Promote Beer, Despite Prohibition in Industry CodeWASHINGTON—MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch have been very, very naughty this holiday season, according to the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest. The watchdog group says that the companies deserve lumps of coal—if not subpoenas—in their stockings for using the iconic image of Santa Claus to promote binge drinking events in Atlanta, Boston, Washington, and other cities. Though the events are ostensibly charitable, they run afoul of the beer industry's voluntary advertising and marketing code, which has a very specific prohibition on the use of St. Nick's likeness: a Santa clause, if you will.
• GAO Calls for Greater Coordination, Monitoring of Genetically Engineered Crops
  Statement of CSPI Biotechnology Director Gregory Jaffe
• Industry Not Lowering Sodium in Processed Foods, Despite Public Health Concerns
  A Few Companies Actually Hike Salt Levels Dramatically in Some Products, Says CSPIWASHINGTON—Health experts have been ringing alarm bells about the amount of sodium, or salt, in processed foods for years. But according to discouraging new data published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, most food companies aren't listening. The average sodium content of 528 packaged and restaurant foods stayed essentially the same between 2005 and 2008, increasing by under one percent. But considering the food industry's acknowledgment that sodium levels are too high, the lack of progress is disturbing, said CSPI. The medical community has long agreed that diets high in sodium are a major cause of strokes and heart attacks.
• Nestlé Agrees to Curb Children's Marketing
  Statement of CSPI Nutrition Policy Director Margo G. WootanWe applaud Nestlé for setting nutrition standards for the products it advertises to children under 12. Switching from promoting Wonka candy to 100 percent juice and low-fat chocolate milk will be better for children and make it easier for parents to feed their children healthfully.
• Eating as if Your Life Depends on It
  Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson to speak at the 92nd Street Y in New York CityMichael F. Jacobson, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, will speak about eating healthfully as food costs continue to rise at the 92nd Street Y in New York City on Tuesday, December 9th.
• Fish & Shellfish Top CSPI Outbreak List
  As Thanksgiving Approaches, Group Urges Obama Administration to Make Food Safety Top PriorityWASHINGTON—Outbreaks involving produce, including E. coli on spinach, and Salmonella on jalapeno peppers and fresh tomatoes grabbed headlines this year and last. But when you look at relative rates of outbreak-related illnesses caused by various foods, fish and shellfish turn out to cause more sicknesses per bite than any other category. Turkey is linked to three times as many illnesses as chicken—no doubt in part because many harried home cooks might not as be as familiar with how to safely thaw and cook a whole big bird, or to store the leftovers
• Longer Tests on Lab Animals Urged for Potential Carcinogens
  WASHINGTON— Current government regulatory agencies typically require that industrial chemicals, including food additives and environmental pollutants, be administered to lab rodents beginning shortly after birth and ending after two years to test whether those substances might cause cancer in humans. But a new peer-reviewed paper published in Environmental Health Perspectives argues that those tests sometimes understate human risks and should start in utero and continue as long as three years, the approximate life spans of rats and mice. The longer, more sensitive tests would provide a more reliable picture of the risk that various chemicals pose to humans throughout their lifespan, the authors say. The authors charged that practically all rodent tests submitted to regulatory agencies are insufficiently sensitive.
• CSPI's Director of Litigation Named Advocate of the Year
  WASHINGTON—The nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest is pleased to announce Stephen Gardner, director of its litigation project, was named Advocate of the Year by the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA). That organization presented the award at its annual meeting in Portland, Oregon on Oct. 25.
• How Should the Next Administration Address Genetically Engineered Food Animals?
  Audio and Transcript Now AvailableWASHINGTON—The Center for American Progress and the Center for Science in the Public Interest will convene a moderated panel discussion on the commercialization of genetically engineered animals on Monday, November 10, 2008 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. at the National Press Club in Washington.
• Philadelphia Passes Strongest Nutrition Labeling Requirements for Chain Restaurant Menus
  Statement of CSPI Nutrition Policy Director Margo G. Wootan