Free Republic

After a bruising campaign last fall, Californians voted by a 27-point margin in favor of what was billed as an effective ban on cages for egg-laying hens. The Humane Society of the United States, which sponsored the measure, may have won that battle. But the war over Proposition 2, it seems, is just getting started. The egg industry says the proposition might allow it to use cages, and wants an interpretation from the state to support that idea. The Humane Society isn't budging. It says voters meant to enact a ban on cages, and that's what they should get. Meanwhile,...

MeMe Roth, a publicist and an Upper West Side mother of two, is getting really, really mad — “and I do not mean angry,” she clarified. “I mean mad, like crazy.” Ms. Roth is being driven mad by Public School 9, where her children are in second and fourth grades, and it seems that P.S. 9, in turn, is being driven mad by Ms. Roth. Ms. Roth, who runs a group called National Action Against Obesity, has no problem with the school lunches provided at the highly regarded elementary school on Columbus Avenue and 84th Street. What sets her off...

The Senate Finance Committee today is hearing proposals on how to pay for President Obama's proposed universal health care plan, which is expected to cost more than $1 trillion. Among the proposals, as Consumer Affairs reports: A three-cent tax on sodas as well as other sugary drinks, including energy and sports drinks like Gatorade. Diet sodas would be exempt. "While many factors promote weight gain, soft drinks are the only food or beverage that has been shown to increase the risk of overweight and obesity, which, in turn, increase the risk of diabetes, stroke, and many other health problems," Michael...

Drive-thru foods may be convenient and easy on the wallet, but they're loaded with unhealthy fats, added sugars, carbohydrates, and sodium. Translation: They're no bargain at all when it comes to your health.

The U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington ruled that the Clean Air Act authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate agriculture in the United States. The case stemmed from the American Farm Bureau Federation’s appeal of a 2006 EPA effort to hold farms to the same standards as cities with regard to particulate air pollution. EPA spokeswoman Virginia Landers lauded the court for rejecting the argument that farming naturally entails stirring up dust. “When you get right down to it, the whole agricultural process of turning over the soil to plant crops is unnatural,” Landers observed. “No plant sows...

Some say that if farmers don’t want problems from Monsanto, the simply shouldn’t buy Monsanto’s GMO seeds. But it isn’t quite that simple. Monsanto contaminates the fields, trespasses onto the land taking samples, and then sues, saying they own the crop. Meanwhile, Monsanto is taking many other steps to keep farmers and everyone else from having any access at all to buying, collecting, and saving of normal seeds: 1.  They’ve bought up the seed companies across the Midwest. 2.  They’ve written Monsanto seed laws and gotten legislators to put them through, that make cleaning, collecting and storing of seeds so...

Before taking office, President Barack Obama pledged to cut government waste: "We cannot sustain a system that bleeds billions of taxpayer dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness." Yet after signing the $410 billion omnibus (the largest annual increase in 30 years) on top of the gargantuan $787 billion spending package with questionable items to "stimulate" the economy, it seems like what is bleeding is that promise's credibility.

FDA Calls Diet Coke Plus 'Misbranded' FDA's Letter to Coca-Cola Isn't About Any Health Risks; Coca-Cola Stands By Its Label Dec. 23, 2008 -- In a warning letter to Coca-Cola, the FDA says that Diet Coke Plus is "misbranded." The FDA says that Diet Coke Plus doesn't meet the FDA's nutritional standards for the term "plus." The FDA also states that it "does not consider it appropriate to fortify snack foods such as carbonated beverages." The letter, dated Dec. 10, 2008, is posted on the FDA's web site. Diet Coke adds niacin, vitamins B6 and B12, zinc, and magnesium. Scott...

The era of the chocolate cookie, sold from a card table for 25 cents, is rapidly fading on California school campuses. Thanks to the state's tough new nutritional standards for public schools, bake sales - that age-old staple of school fundraising - are nearly obsolete. Cookies, cupcakes, pizza and other easy-to-sell goodies invariably exceed the fat, sugar and caloric limits set by the Legislature for foods sold on campus to schoolkids. And at a time when school budgets are being slashed, some parents and school staff are mourning the loss. "Bake sales are one of the quickest and easiest ways...

Despite its health-crazy reputation, parts of Los Angeles are plagued by obesity rates that rival any city in America. Now, the city may join a growing roster of local governments aiming to put their residents on diets by cracking down on the fast-food industry, says the Wall Street Journal. The Los Angeles city council is considering legislation that would ban new fast-food restaurants like McDonald's and KFC from opening in a 32-square-mile chunk of the city. The targeted area is already home to some 400 fast-food restaurants, possibly contributing to high obesity rates there -- 30 percent of adults, compared...

DENVER — Warning to Southern delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver this August: it will be a no-fry zone. As part of the effort to make the August 25-28 convention the greenest ever, the Democrats' guidelines for food catering include one that strikes at the heart of Southern cuisine: no fried food. No fried chicken. No fried catfish. No fried green tomatoes. No fried okra. No fried anything. In promoting healthy eating habits, the Democratic guidelines say every meal should be nutritious and include "at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, purple/blue and white."...

At a movie theater, a lot of the stuff you carry away from the concession counter is a horror show in its own right. And it comes with a sequel: When you debut in your bathing suit this summer, everyone will know what you did last night at the movies — you overate, so now you overflow. Not that I blame you, of course. I've been there, too. Engrossed by the big screen, too many of us fall victim to giant soda cups, popcorn buckets, and candy boxes, which are sneakily designed to keep the munchfest moving swiftly for the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Middle-aged men who ate seven or more eggs a week had a higher risk of earlier death, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday. Men with diabetes who ate any eggs at all raised their risk of death during a 20-year period studied, according to the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study adds to an ever-growing body of evidence, much of it contradictory, about how safe eggs are to eat. It did not examine what about the eggs might affect the risk of death. Men without diabetes could eat up to six eggs a...

FEBRUARY 1--Mississippi legislators this week introduced a bill that would make it illegal for state-licensed restaurants to serve obese patrons.

AN ACT TO PROHIBIT CERTAIN FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS FROM SERVING 1 FOOD TO ANY PERSON WHO IS OBESE, BASED ON CRITERIA PRESCRIBED BY 2 THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH; TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT TO 3 PREPARE WRITTEN MATERIALS THAT DESCRIBE AND EXPLAIN THE CRITERIA 4 FOR DETERMINING WHETHER A PERSON IS OBESE AND TO PROVIDE THOSE 5 MATERIALS TO THE FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS; TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT TO 6 MONITOR THE FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS 7 OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 8 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 9 SECTION 1. (1)...

New bill would make it illegal for restaurants to serve the obese FEBRUARY 1--Mississippi legislators this week introduced a bill that would make it illegal for state-licensed restaurants to serve obese patrons. Bill No. 282, a copy of which you'll find below, is the brainchild of three members of the state's House of Representatives, Republicans W. T. Mayhall, Jr. and John Read, and Democrat Bobby Shows. The bill, which is likely dead on arrival, proposes that the state's Department of Health establish weight criteria after consultation with Mississippi's Council on Obesity. It does not detail what penalties an eatery would...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The New York City Board of Health voted unanimously Tuesday to require all city chain restaurants to post calorie data on their menus. Chain restaurants already must make the calorie counts of their menu items publicly available, but beginning March 31 they will have to put the numbers on menu boards and menus. The change will affect restaurants with 15 or more outlets -- roughly 10 percent of all city restaurants, according to a news release from the city's health department.

TORONTO -- A group of Toronto-area children is asking the Ontario Human Rights Commission to force their school to launch mandatory lunch-bag inspections to screen out foods to which they have severe allergies, a case which could make all Ontario schools do the same. The six children, ranging in age from six to 11, contend that the local school board discriminated against them when it shut down a voluntary lunch screening program at St. Stephen's Catholic Elementary School, in Woodbridge, Ont., aimed at keeping peanuts, egg products or other potential allergy-inducing foods off school grounds entirely. Maurice Brenner, a human-rights...

OLLEGE PARK, Md., Nov 29 (Reuters) - Public health advocates on Thursday called for tighter restrictions on salt content in food, arguing that cutting the nutrient's overuse by most Americans could save thousands of lives annually. Excessive salt in Americans' diets is a major factor in high blood pressure and increases risk for heart disease, while most Americans exceed recommended limits, according to health experts. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) cited these factors in urging stricter regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at a public hearing, held on Thursday at the FDA. Trimming the...

As America gets fatter, policymakers are seeking creative approaches to legislating health. They may have entered the school cafeteria -- and now they're eyeing your neighborhood. Amid worries of an obesity epidemic and its related illnesses, including high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, Los Angeles officials, among others around the country, are proposing to limit new fast-food restaurants -- a tactic that could be called health zoning. The City Council will be asked this fall to consider an up to two-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in South L.A., a part of the city where fast food is at...

The "hot doughnut experience." That's the difference between Krispy Kreme and other large doughnut chains. Dunkin' Donuts may be bigger (at least in the East), but nothing stirs the soul like the neon "Hot Doughnuts Now" sign that lights up when Krispy Kreme's famous Original Glazeds come rolling off the line. If you've ever had a doughnut hot out of the fryer, you know how tough it is to stop at just one. Just what we need: an irresistible food that's made of sugarcoated white flour fried in trans-fat-laden oil. Doughnuts are a phenomenon. Fortune magazine recently named the rapidly...

The latest battle in the raw milk wars broke out today in south-central Pennsylvania. A group of ten state police and agents from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) descended on the 100-acre Nature’s Sunlight Farm in Newville, and confiscated about $25,000 worth of raw milk products, along with packaging and equipment. Though Pennsylvania is supposedly one of the more liberal states with regard to raw milk distribution, allowing farmers with permits to sell it not only from their farms and in farmers markets, but also in retail establishments, farmers say the...

Despite objections from restaurant owners and food-industry officials, the King County Board of Health on Thursday banned artificial trans fat and required nutrition labeling for menu items in chain restaurants. With the vote, King County joins a handful of jurisdictions in the country to ban artificial trans fats in restaurant meals and becomes only the second to require nutrition labeling on menus. While most restaurant owners and their supporters testified against the trans-fat ban -- most said they're already getting rid of trans fats but they simply hate mandates -- they saved their harshest words for the nutrition-labeling requirement. Chris...

Menu labeling, trans fat ban approved by the Board of Health Thursday, July 19, 2007 KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON - People will be able to make more informed food choices and have a safer food supply as the result of today’s action by the King County Board of Health to require menu labeling in King County chain restaurants and to eliminate artificial trans fat in all King County restaurants. Board of Health members expressed strong support for the decision that will improve the dining experience and the health of the community in the fight against obesity and chronic diseases such...

LONDON (Reuters) - A "fat tax" on salty, sugary and fatty foods could save thousands of lives each year, according to a study published on Thursday. Researchers at Oxford University say that charging Value Added Tax (VAT) at 17.5 percent on foods deemed to be unhealthy would cut consumer demand and reduce the number of heart attacks and strokes. The purchase tax is already levied on a small number of products such as potato crisps, ice cream, confectionery and chocolate biscuits, but most food is exempt. The move could save an estimated 3,200 lives in Britain each year, according to...

Left-Wing Food Group Wants to Whack Toucan Sam Posted by Julia A. Seymour on June 14, 2007 - 14:17. That’s right, a food police group has turned cereal killer. What's worse, the media don't see any foul play.Fruit Loops cereal’s brightly colored mascot Toucan Sam, along with Sugar Smack’s Dig ‘Em and Rice Krispies’ Snap, Crackle and Pop are likely to be axed due to an agreement between Kellogg Company and the food police group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).“Early Show’s” Hannah Storm was happy about the announcement. She called getting rid of the popular cartoon figures...

Junk food will head to the junk heap in Bay State schools if a bill to be pushed by top health experts on Beacon Hill today succeeds in banning fatty and sugary foods from school vending machines, bake sales and fund-raisers. Backers of the junk food bill say it sets statewide standards, forces students to eat better and cuts down on ads kids see each day. “These are habits that last a lifetime,” said Eric Weltman, spokesman for the Massachusetts Public Health Association, one of the backers of the bill, which would also ban corporate food and soda marketing inside...

In Harlem, fast-food restaurants are more prevalent than shops selling fresh vegetables, according to a city health report. Food stores in the area in upper Manhattan are mostly bodegas, and the small groceries are half as likely to carry low-fat dairy products as their counterparts in swankier neighborhoods and seven times less likely to sell fresh vegetables, the report said. Only 3 percent of corner stores in Harlem sell leafy green vegetables, compared to 20 percent on the nearby Upper East Side, it said. "Large health disparities exist between Harlem and other New York City neighborhoods, but we can close...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The typical Chinese restaurant menu is a sea of nutritional no-nos, a consumer group has found. A plate of General Tso's chicken, for example, is loaded with about 40 percent more sodium and more than half the calories an average adult needs for an entire day. The battered, fried chicken dish with vegetables has 1,300 calories, 3,200 milligrams of sodium and 11 grams of saturated fat. That's before you add the rice (200 calories a cup), and the egg rolls (200 calories and 400 milligrams of sodium). "I don't want to put all the blame on Chinese...

My local liquor store is selling Girl Scout cookies, and last week I chose Thin Mints over gin, thinking myself quite virtuous. Little did I know… According to MeMe Roth, who is the head (and may be the sole member) of National Action Against Obesity: Girl Scouts have an economic, medical and moral imperative to dump junk food as their $700 million fundraising source….Girl Scout Cookies are high-calorie, high-sugar, high in saturated fat and nearly devoid of nutrition. Using young girls as a front to push millions of cookies onto an already bloated population further exacerbates an alarming [obesity] crisis,...

An advocacy group that once lobbied for mandatory nutrition labels for groceries has set it sights on restaurant chains and is asking the federal government to require large chains to offer calorie, fat and sodium information on menus. The Center for Science in the Public Interest on Monday criticized several food chains for promoting what the group calls "x-treme eating" with dishes that include more calories and fat than most people should eat in one day. The government recommends that the average American consume around 2,000 calories per day, with less than 10 percent of the calories coming from saturated...

A large majority of Americans say they support changes in public policy to stem the rising tide of obesity among adults, a new survey shows. "There is a lot of support for employer and health policies aimed at preventing obesity," said lead researcher Bernard Fuemmeler, an assistant professor in the department of community and family medicine at Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, N.C. "This study provides tangible evidence that people support wide-scale policy changes that can affect obesity in the U.S.," Fuemmeler added. The findings appear in the January issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Approximately 60...

"MSNBC has acquired basic cable rights to Dick Wolf's 'Crime and Punishment' series and Morgan Spurlock's 'Super Size Me' to help fill the pipeline for its primetime 'doc block,'" Variety reveals. Also: Indie docs "acquired to air during December" include "Beyond Conviction," about a rape victim who confronts her attacker, and "For God and Country: A Marine Sniper's Story," about a young veteran of Iraq. MSNBC longform VP Michael Rubin says "there is really nothing in the documentary world we don't want to look at or get our hands on..."

Without a doubt not all diners who order a Burger King Whopper or a Domino’s pepperoni pizza or a Taco Bell chalupa really want to know exactly how many calories they are consuming. Whatever the amount, it is probably more than they should be eating. But the New York City Board of Health, the city’s powerful arbiter of public health rules, is considering a plan to make it much harder to avoid the cold, hard numbers by requiring some of New York’s 20,000 restaurants, including outlets of the nation’s fast-food chains, to list calories on menus and on clearly displayed...

A boy aged 10 has been banned from his school dining hall because his packed lunch broke the government's healthy eating guidelines. The father of Ryan Stupples is protesting after his son was forced to eat in the headmaster's office at Lunsford primary school, Larkfield, Kent, because his lunch contained two snacks, instead of one. Ryan's lunch consisted of a sandwich, fruit, fromage frais, cake, mini cheese biscuits and a bottle of water. The cake and the biscuits broke the snack limit. They were discovered when a teacher checked his lunch box. Michael Stupples, 41, said: "What 10-year-old boy won't...

New Jersey and D.C. Catch Trans Fat Ban Fever The New York City Board of Health's support for a restriction on the amount of trans fat that can be used by the city's restaurants garnered them a few new acolytes today. And if the paternalistic rhetoric used by these newly inspired do-gooders is any indicator, the Big Apple's chief food scolds better load up on robes and Kool-Aid, because the gathering of true believers is only going to get bigger. As we told you yesterday, we've launched an ad campaign to act as an antidote to the trans fat ban...

Nutritionist: Tax Sugary Drinks To Fight Obesity Drinks Should Be Taxed Like Cigarettes, Alcohol, Popkin SaysPOSTED: 7:46 am EDT September 4, 2006 SYDNEY, Australia -- A leading nutritionist said we're "drinking ourselves into obesity" and sugary drinks should be taxed like cigarettes and alcohol. The University of North Carolina's Barry Popkin said Americans are gulping down more sodas, fruit juices and sugar-laden energy drinks than ever before. But he added, people aren't cutting their food intake to compensate for the extra calories. Popkin thinks one way to slow that trend is to put a high tax on the high-calorie sweeteners...

TUESDAY, Aug. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Adult obesity rates increased in 31 states during the past year, leaving an estimated two-thirds of Americans vulnerable to fatal diseases such as diabetes, stroke and cancer.This, despite federal and state government efforts to curb the overweight epidemic, according to a new report from the Trust for America's Health.The report, titled F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing America, 2006, was released Tuesday and is the third in a series of annual reports by the trust detailing state obesity rates as well as the effectiveness of government policies to fight the problem.According...

Fat is not a feminist issue, as Susie Orbach once claimed. Fat is a class issue. Rich, educated people are not fat; you see almost no children in private schools who are overweight. Fatness and obesity are directly related to lower education and lower incomes. What is sad is that at a time when this country is richer than ever and ought to have better schools than ever, we have far more fat people than ever — a dangerous explosion of flab. Last week the Department of Health issued a report grimly called Forecasting Obesity to 2010 and its findings...

Photo Gallery: Chef Gaspard Caloz prepares foie gras(please enable pop-ups to see the gallery)Foie gras? Au revoir.    Pate? Passe.One day, restaurant patrons might hear just that if New Jersey lawmakers join a growing movement against the fatty prepared livers of ducks and geese, the stuff of epicures' dreams -- and animal advocates' nightmares -- for 5,000 years.  On Tuesday, Chicago began enforcing a ban on the dish. California is phasing it out by 2012, and similar laws have been under consideration in New York, Massachusetts, Illinois and Oregon. Even Philadelphia -- famously fond of the cholesterol-loaded cheese steak --...

They wanted to sue over sodas in school, they even complained about 2 percent milk, and now they’re after fruit juices. But to the Washington Post, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is just another health-conscious consumer advocacy group. The June 28 Washington Post featured CSPI’s latest complaints about fruit drinks on the front page of its weekly Food section. Staff writer Candy Sagon began by reporting on the additional business juice vendors are enjoying as the nation’s three largest soft drink makers agreed to end soda sales to public schools. But Sagon quickly shifted to complaints...

A doctor and a consumer group have sued KFC in an effort to stop the chicken chain from cooking with high-fat partially hydrogenated oil. Dr. Arthur Hoyte, a retired physician from Rockville, Md., and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, want a judge to order Kentucky Fried Chicken to use other types of cooking oils or make sure customers know about trans fat content immediately before they make a purchase. KFC spokeswoman Laurie Schalow called the lawsuit frivolous and said the company will fight it in court. Schalow said KFC is looking at using other types of oil...

A Boston Legal episode had a case against a snack food manufacturer using high fructose corn syrup, claiming it caused obesity and diabetes in a client. OK, it's entertainment. But with a significant seed of truth in it. Corn seed. Corn products now saturate the American diet: as a dinner vegetable; as the primary ingredient in breakfast cereals and many snack foods; as the primary sweetener in beverages, candies, snacks and processed foods; as the bulk whitener/sugar/starch in coffee creamers and powdered infant formulas; as the oil in many foods and the oil many foods are cooked in; as a...

NEW YORK — The nation's largest beverage distributors have agreed to halt nearly all soda sales to public schools, according to a deal announced Wednesday by the William J. Clinton Foundation.

Cupcakes, Bake Sales May Be Banned At SchoolPOSTED: 11:44 am EST March 10, 2006 SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Cupcakes for kids' birthdays could become a thing of the past in Santa Clara, Calif. School district officials are considering a 24-7 ban on all junk food. That would mean no more PTA bake sales or classroom birthday parties with cake and ice cream. District officials said the proposal is prompted by the rise in fat kids. Students would still be able to bring junk food from home as part of their lunches, but wouldn't be allowed to share it. The school...

MONTREAL (CP) - It may take a special tax to help fight what one Canadian sociologist calls the "obesogenic food environment" - the junk food that's prominently displayed in supermarkets and schools. Anthony Winson of the University of Guelph said high-sugar and high-fat products are "aggressively promoted" every week in grocery stores. "You can have maybe 20 special displays in a supermarket that are around every corner promoting types of high-sugar, high-fat products, whether they be candy bars or soft drinks," Winson said in an interview. He said the displays are advantageous for retailers because they bring in extra revenue....

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- For more than a year, some children at North Side Elementary School learned about the health dangers posed by candy and empty snacks. So when Monique Manigat's gifted class of fourth- and fifth-graders was asked to sell chocolate bars, potato chips and hard candy to fund class trips, the 19 children decided that would be hypocritical and refused. "If they tell us to don't eat junk food and then after school we sell it, that disobeys what they said," said Daphnie Auguste, the 10-year-old ringleader. She hasn't raised one dollar toward her personal $455 goal. "I'm...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A consumer group wants to keep Tony the Tiger from promoting sugary cereals on the SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon show or anywhere else kids are watching.   The Center for Science in the Public Interest said on Wednesday it would sue Kellogg Co., the maker of cereals such as Frosted Flakes, and Viacom Inc., which runs the Nickelodeon cable network, if the companies do not change some marketing practices aimed at children. The Center said letters had been sent to Kellogg and Viacom saying it would settle for a commitment from the companies within 30 days rather than sue....

A consumer group is demanding that Frito-Lay put warning labels on chips with the fat substitute olestra or face a lawsuit by a Massachusetts woman who says she got stomach cramps and had to use the bathroom quickly after eating the snacks. The Center for Science in the Public Interest said Wednesday that 30-year-old Lori Perlow of Braintree, Mass., would sue Frito-Lay under a consumer-friendly deceptive-advertising law in the Bay State. Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo Inc., said warning labels are not needed for its Light lines of potato and corn chips. "It's an extremely safe product, well-tested," said Frito-Lay...

The State Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to begin phasing out sales of junk foods, including sugary soft drinks, bubble gum and candy, in public school vending machines this fall. Mobile and Baldwin county school officials said they have not seen the state's official plan, yet. But they said Tuesday they would begin working with their vendors over the next month to make the required changes by the time classes start in August. Jean McCutchen, chief financial officer for Baldwin County Public Schools, said that district is already in compliance with another new state rule that...