Carey Gillam

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January 30, 2025

Advertising sugary cereals to children needs regulation, report says

By Carey Gillam

Food companies are continuing to push unhealthy cereals high in sugar content into the diets of young children through targeted television advertising despite pledges by leading companies to voluntarily regulate such advertising, according to a new analysis.

The report by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health at the University of Connecticut, published Thursday in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, looked at the purchases of high-sugar children’s breakfast cereals by US households over nine years and how the amount of TV advertising directed to children versus adults impacted those choices. The authors said they found that advertising to children had a significant impact on cereal purchase decisions.

“Despite promises to only advertise healthier options directly to children and the availability of nutritious cereals in their product portfolios, cereal companies continue to market their least healthy products directly to children,” Jennifer Harris, lead author and senior research advisor at the Rudd Center, said in a statement.

“Our research provides strong evidence that discontinuing all advertising of nutritionally poor foods directly to children would likely negatively impact food companies’ bottom-line, which explains why they appear to resist doing the right thing for children’s health,” Harris said.

The paper cites statistics showing that two-thirds of US children consume more than the recommended limit for added sugar, or roughly 10% of daily calories, with cereals among the top food sources for added sugar in children’s diets.

January 29, 2025

“Epidemic of chronic disease” spotlighted in Kennedy confirmation hearing

By Carey Gillam

America’s “epidemic of chronic disease” was spotlighted Wednesday in a contentious senate confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy, nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services, was grilled on multiple issues in the Senate Committee on Finance, but Kennedy and supporting senators repeatedly focused their comments on the range of diseases plaguing the US population, particularly children.

“President Trump has asked me to end the chronic disease epidemic and make America healthy again,” Kennedy said in a tense exchange with one senator who asked him if he was going to be a “rubber stamp” for Trump’s policies. “That is what I’m doing. If we don’t solve that problem senator, all the other disputes we have…. All of those are moving deck chairs around on the Titanic. Our ship is sinking.”

Kennedy said rising levels of chronic disease pose an “existential threat”.

“No other nation in the world has what we have here. We have the highest chronic disease burden of any country in the world,” he said.

Kennedy said a key culprit “poisoning the American people” is the “highly chemical intensive processed foods” regularly consumed in the US.

Scientific research is needed to more deeply understand the connections, he said.

“We don’t have good science on all these things and that is deliberate… not to study the things are truly making us sick.”

January 28, 2025

Upcoming Kennedy hearings to spotlight hotly debated public health issues

By Carey Gillam

Advocates for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda were gathered in Washington this week ahead of a senate committee hearing on Kennedy’s nomination to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – an event expected to put a spotlight on a number of hotly debated public and environmental health issues.

Kennedy is scheduled to testify before the Senate Committee on Finance on Wednesday and then will appear for questioning by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday. Senators are expected to press the nominee on his views on a wide range of issues that deeply divide Americans, including vaccines, farming practices, and food policies.

President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kennedy, a lifelong Democrat from California who ran against Biden and Trump for president as an independent, has been among Trump’s most controversial nominations, drawing opposition from both parties and from an array of powerful corporate and public health interests.

Critics say Kennedy lacks the credentials to lead HHS, which has sweeping authority over many key health and science agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And they say his positions on certain issues discount scientific research and would endanger public health.

But proponents insist that Kennedy is more than qualified given his long history as an environmental lawyer who was named one of Time Magazine’s “Heroes for the Planet” for his work cleaning up and protecting waterways, and as the founder of a group called Children’s Health Defense, which has the stated mission of “ending childhood health epidemics by eliminating toxic exposure” and holding “responsible parties accountable.”

Both sides were trying to make their voices heard in advance of Wednesday’s hearing, which was declared the “most important hearing of all Trump’s Cabinet picks” by Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, according to NBC News.

January 21, 2025

Close to 30 million Americans face limited water supplies, government report finds

By Carey Gillam

Nearly 30 million people are living in areas of the US with limited water supplies as the country faces growing concerns over both water availability and quality, according to a new assessment by government scientists.

The US Geological Survey (USGS), which is part of the Department of the Interior, issued what it said was a first-of-its-kind report last week, with USGS Director David Applegate warning of “increasing challenges to this vital resource.” The Jan. 16 report, based on data from 2010 to 2020, examines not only water supplies but also demand patterns and water quality. The report showed that most of the country had supplies that exceeded demand during the period examined, but worrisome trends were noted.

“Water availability is an issue everywhere in our country and beyond,” Lori Sprague, USGS national program manager for the water availability assessment, said in a webinar presenting the report. “It raises the question – do we have enough water to sustain our nation’s economy, ecosystems and drinking water supplies?”

Among the key findings from the new analysis was that people who are considered “socially vulnerable” have a higher risk of experiencing limited water supplies. Overall, about 27 million people lived in areas where the USGS found a “high degree of local water stress.” And a higher proportion of the people living in those areas were considered socially vulnerable compared with those living in areas of more local water availability, the USGS said.

The report also added to evidence of widespread pollution in waterways across the US Midwest and High Plains regions where worrisome levels of nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations – tied in large part to large animal agriculture operations – can pose a threat to human health.

January 18, 2025

EPA moves to withdraw decision on paraquat, delays report on risks

By Carey Gillam

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving to withdraw its interim regulatory decision on paraquat, announcing that it needs more time to examine the potential health effects of the weed killing chemical that has been widely used in agriculture for decades, but also linked for years to the incurable brain ailment known as Parkinson’s disease.

The EPA had promised to issue a report by Friday, January 17 updating its position on paraquat after a petition filed by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and several other health advocacy organizations challenged the EPA’s 2021 interim registration review decision in which the agency concluded that there was “insufficient” evidence linking paraquat exposure to Parkinson’s.

That interim EPA decision did call for certain mitigation measures to reduce risks the agency said it found necessary to protect human health and the environment, and labels on paraquat products were amended in 2022 to reflect those measures. But critics have pressed the EPA to go further and ban the pesticide entirely.

The petition, filed in the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, challenged not only the agency’s position on Parkinson’s risk, but also the EPA’s analysis of respiratory and dermal exposures, exposure risks from paraquat drift, and how to balance paraquat’s risks and benefits.

As part of the process of reexamining its interim decision, the agency said a year ago that it would spend 2024 analyzing new information about paraquat health effects and considering public comments about the issue. The agency said last year it would issue a final document and potential next steps for paraquat use by the mid-January 2025 date.

Instead, on Friday, the EPA said it is delaying any action. The agency issued a statement saying it had “determined that additional data are necessary to resolve the uncertainty” surrounding certain paraquat risks. The agency cited the “potential for paraquat to volatize,” and said it would be trying to determine potential “inhalation risks to bystanders from the volatilization of paraquat.” Such data “could change the underlying human health risk assessment,” and the regulatory decision based on that assessment, the EPA said.

And on Friday, the EPA asked the 9th Circuit to allow it to withdraw its interim decision on paraquat while it further investigates the concerns surrounding the chemical.

“EPA intends to withdraw the Interim Decision and will promptly do so once the Court rules on this motion,” the agency states in its court filing. If the court agrees, the case brought by the health advocacy groups will become moot, the EPA argues in the filing.

January 16, 2025

Scientists cite disease “epidemic” in launch of new “Center to End Corporate Harm”

By Carey Gillam

Citing an “industrial epidemic of disease,” a group of scientists have launched an organization aimed at tracking and preventing diseases tied to pollution and products pushed by influential companies.

The new “Center to End Corporate Harm” is based at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and will bring together scientists to develop strategies “to counter the destructive influence of polluters and poisoners,” according to a press release announcing the launch.

“Industries that produce health-harming products, including fossil fuels, plastics, petrochemicals, tobacco, and ultra-processed foods, have waged a decades-long assault on government regulatory agencies and policymaking to rig rules in their favor at the expense of public health. At the same time, these health harming products have contributed to a rise in chronic disease. We are working to change that,” the center states on its website.

January 16, 2025

Certified “naturally grown” offers alternative to the USDA organic label

By Harshawn Ratanpal, KBIA

Prairie du Rocher, Ill. – On a cold winter day in Illinois, three little pigs are resting in a three-sided shed. They have plenty of space to trot around, as they do when Jennifer Duensing approaches. Those footsteps mean it’s feeding time. They squeal impatiently, waiting for their usual diet of organic feed, which sometimes includes vegetables like squash grown right here on the farm.

The farm, Illinois Country Harvest, had been in Duensing’s family for generations when she took it over in 2015. She was new to farming, so there was a lot to learn about how to best manage the near-12 acres now under her purview. But one thing she definitely knew was that she wanted to manage the land, crops and animals without chemical inputs.

“We use absolutely zero chemicals, which means if we have pests, we don’t spray,” she said.

There are countless certifications she could have chosen and labels she could slap on her products to try and prove her farm has good practices. In the midst of rising consumer demand for organic foods, a nonprofit called “A Greener World” which “promotes practical, sustainable solutions in agriculture by supporting farmers and educating consumers” has a 15-page guide that attempts to clear up consumer confusion around labels that use terms like “natural,” “humane” and “organic.”

Certified Naturally Grown was a perfect fit for how she was already running her farm.

“Our certification process is really pretty simple, because we have zero chemical inputs,” she said. “There’s nothing we had to justify or have reasoning for, because we just do not use anything.”

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January 15, 2025

FDA announces long-awaited ban on Red Dye 3

By Carey Gillam

US regulators on Wednesday said a food additive long linked to cancer will no longer be allowed in food and drugs that are ingested, a regulatory decision health advocates have demanded for years.

The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is revoking the authorization for the use of what is known as Red Dye No. 3, a chemical used to give popular candies, cakes, cookies and other foods cherry-red colors.

The action comes in response to a 2022 petition filed by scientists and more than 20 public health organizations that cited studies finding the chemical causes cancer in laboratory animals. The petition cited a federal law that bars the FDA from allowing a color additive to be used in products that are ingested if the additive is found to induce cancer in “in man or animal.”

“This move by the FDA is long overdue, but represents a step in the right direction for consumer safety from harmful, cancer-causing chemicals. This is exactly the action we need to see from the FDA,” said Rebecca Wolf, a policy analyst with Food & Water Watch, which was among the petitioners.

In its announcement Wednesday, FDA officials said they were taking action as “a matter of law,” but stressed that the agency does not believe the dye poses an actual health risk to people. Exposure levels for humans are “typically much lower than those that cause the effects” seen in laboratory rats, the agency said.

“Claims” that the dye puts people at risk “are not supported by the available scientific information,” the agency said.

Manufacturers who use the dye in food have until Jan. 15, 2027 to reformulate products. Drug makers have until Jan. 18, 2028.

January 10, 2025

As Los Angeles fires rage, states battle over effort to make oil and gas industry accountable for climate change harms

By Dana Drugmand

As fires rage through southern California, the costs of extreme weather events linked to climate change are forecast to keep climbing – adding fuel to growing efforts by some US states to make the oil and gas industry liable for helping foot the bill despite looming legal challenges.

Vermont fired the first shot against the industry last year when it enacted a novel “climate superfund” law aimed at recovering state costs associated with greenhouse gas emissions that drive harmful climate change. New York passed similar legislation last month.

Similar legislation has been introduced in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and California, as well as at the federal level. While the federal bill is not expected to make headway in a Republican-controlled Congress, climate activists are pushing Democrat-led states to embrace the legislation as a way to show climate leadership amidst a second Trump administration that has promised to promote the interests of the oil and gas industry and roll back environmental regulations.

Supporters of the legislative moves held a Jan 7 press conference highlighting the actions. Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, told reporters at that press conference that she is “extremely optimistic” that California will enact its version of the climate superfund policy this year.
Experts have said the devastating wildfires raging through the Los Angeles area and surrounding communities in early January are directly tied to climate change as prolonged drought and higher temperatures have left vegetation highly flammable. The costs of the disaster have been estimated at more than $20 billion.

January 8, 2025

Scientists issue “call to arms” to protect children’s health from chemicals causing disease

By Carey Gillam

Children are suffering and dying from diseases that emerging scientific research links to chemical exposures, findings that require urgent revamping of laws around the world, according to a new paper published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

Authored by more than 20 leading public health researchers, including one from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and another from the United Nations, the paper lays out “a large body of evidence” linking multiple childhood diseases to synthetic chemicals, and recommends a series of aggressive actions to try to better protect children.

The paper is a “call to arms,” to forge an “actual commitment to the health of our children,” said Linda Birnbaum, former director of the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and a co-author of the paper.

In conjunction with the release of the paper, some of the study authors are helping launch an Institute for Preventive Health to support the recommendations outlined in the paper and to help fund implementation of reforms. A key player in launching the institute is Robertson Stephens Wealth Management Vice President Anne Robertson, who is a member of the family that built RJ Reynolds Tobacco.

The paper points to data showing global inventories of roughly 350,000 synthetic chemicals, chemical mixtures and plastics, most of which are derived from fossil fuels. Production has expanded 50-fold since 1950, and is currently increasing by about 3% per year – projected to triple by 2050, the paper states.

Meanwhile, noncommunicable diseases, including many that research shows can be caused by synthetic chemicals, are rising in children and have become the principal cause of death and illness for children, the authors write.

Despite the connections, which the authors say “continue to be discovered with distressing frequency,” there are very few restrictions on such chemicals and no post-market surveillance for longer-term adverse health effects.

“The evidence is so overwhelming and the effects of manufactured chemicals are so disruptive for children, that inaction is no longer an option,” said Daniele Mandrioli, a co-author of the paper and director of the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center at the Ramazzini Institute in Italy. “Our article highlights the necessity for a paradigm shift in chemical testing and regulations to safeguard children’s health.”