10/25/14 Health News: LAWSUIT FILED TO BLOCK APPROVAL OF ENLIST DUO HERBICIDE ♦ Soda Making You Age Faster ♦ Should Hospitals Withholding Care to Ebola Patients

ANOTHER LAWSUIT FILED TO BLOCK EPA APPROVAL OF ENLIST DUO HERBICIDE

The Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) challenging the approval of Dow Chemical’s Enlist Duo herbicide, a blend of 2,4-D and glyphosate. The suit was filed in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Beyond Pesticides, Center for Biological Diversity, Center... Continue Reading

Your Afternoon Soda Could Be Making You Age Faster

If the threat of heart disease, diabetes, or obesity wasn’t enough to make you put down your afternoon cola, this might: A new study published in the American Journal of Public Health reports that drinking one sugary soda a day may speed up the rate at which your body ages. Continue Reading

U.S. Hospitals Weigh Withholding Care to Ebola Patients

The Ebola crisis is forcing the American healthcare system to consider the previously unthinkable: withholding some medical interventions because they are too dangerous to doctors and nurses and unlikely to help a patient. U.S. hospitals have over the years come under criticism for undertaking measures that prolong dying rather than improve patients… Continue Read

Lawsuit against Coca Cola’s Vitaminwater

First filed in 2009 it alleges that brand’s parent company, Coca-Cola (KO), took part in “deceptive labeling and marketing for the soft drink, which included claims that the drink could reduce rise for eye disease, promote healthy joints and support ‘optimal immune function.’” The complaint also takes issue with the company’s marketing campaign, which includes words like “defense,” “rescue,” and “endurance” on various Vitaminwater labels, suggesting that their product, a non carbonated soda containing

Coca Cola’s  attorneys said “no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking Vitaminwater was a healthy beverage.” Stephen Gardner, chief litigator for the CSPI, thinks this argument is “utter nonsense.”

U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Levy in Brooklyn recommended that plaintiffs in the case should be able to litigate for declaratory and injunctive relief as a class action. but they however, seek financial damages. So all they can get is for Coca Cola to change the label to stop them from deceptive practices.

In November the CSPI filed a federal class-action lawsuit against Dr Pepper Snapple Group claiming misleading information on regular and diet varieties of 7Up Antioxidant sodas, including cherry, mixed berry, and pomegranate. Although the beverages contained small amounts of vitamin E, the labels—which featured pictures of fruit—could confuse customers, according to the CSPI, into thinking the products were fortified with antioxidants from actual fruit or fruit juice. The suit was settled out of court last week, Dr Pepper Snapple Group agreed to remove all references to “antioxidant” on the products’ labels.

In January, the Federal Trade Commission found POM Wonderful, makers of several fruit-based beverages,guilty of “deceptively advertising  their products and did not have adequate support for claims that the products could treat, prevent, or reduce the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction, and that they were clinically proven to work.”

Yet another class-action lawsuit, this one filed in 2011 against Naked Juice—owned by PepsiCo—claimed that several of Naked’s juice and smoothie products contained misleading or false information, like that the contents were “all natural” or contained “nothing artificial.” The drinks in fact included numerous synthetic ingredients, such GM soy, fructooligosaccharides and inulin. As of last week, the company agreed to a $9 million settlement, which includes removing the misleading labels and hiring an independent tester to determine just how many genetically modified organisms (if any) are in their drinks.

Will people stop drinking these products? Probably not.

Townsend Farms Berries Contained Human Feces

According to Ron Simon of the law firm Simon & Luke LLP the berries in Townsend Farms  antioxidant blend were tainted with human feces. In some parts of the world human feces have been used as fertilizer. But this may be a case of workers not washing their hands.

It was not made clear on the label that these berries were not from the United States. This is important because the FDA has cut down on the number of inspections that they do in foreign countries. In the case of Canada they inspected after the large beef recall instead of before the recall.

Simon and Luke has filed three personal injury lawsuits against Townsend Farms and Costco  for people who got sick after eating the berries. Marler Clark LLP also has filed two personal injury lawsuits and has sent a letter to Townsend Farms as the first step in starting a class action lawsuit. The Class action lawsuit is not only asking for compensation for those who got sick. It ask for compensation for the cost of testing to make sure you are not sick and It ask that costco’s and the government’s expenses from the recall be covered.

Costco is offering vaccinations to anyone who ate the berries for free.

Hepatitis A causes a disease of the liver. It is common in parts of the world where there is bad sanitation. Acute liver failure is rare with less than 0.5% dying. The majority of children have no symptoms. After getting the disease antibodies will protect you from ever getting it again.The symptoms appear from two to six weeks after the infection. The symptoms usually last less than 2 months although some people can be ill for as long as 6 months.  

The symptoms include fatigue, fever, nausea, Appetite loss, Jaundice and bile is removed from the bloodstream and excreted in the urine. The disease can cause liver damage.