Two powerful dairy organizations, The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), are petitioning the Food and Drug Administration to allow aspartame and other artificial sweeteners to be added to milk and other dairy products without a label.The FDA currently allows the dairy industry to use “nutritive sweeteners” including sugar and high fructose corn syrup in many of their products. Nutritive sweeteners are defined as sweeteners with calories.This petition officially seeks to amend the standard of identification for milk, cream, and 17 other dairy products like yogurt, sweetened condensed milk, sour cream, and others to provide for the use of any “safe and suitable sweetener” on the market.
They claim that aspartame and other artificial sweeteners would promote healthy eating and is good for school children.
IDFA and NMPF state that the proposed amendments would promote more healthful eating practices and reduce childhood obesity by providing for lower-calorie flavored milk products. They state that lower-calorie flavored milk would particularly benefit school children who, according to IDFA and NMPF, are more inclined to drink flavored milk than unflavored milk at school. Read More
(NaturalNews) Milk from dairy cows contains the protein s-lactoglobulin (BLG) which is not present in human milk. As it is a major milk allergen, an attempt at decreasing BLG by genetically modifying cows has gained much attention recently. According to researchers in a recent study, “analysis of hormonally induced milk from [these calves] demonstrated absence of BLG and a concurrent increase of all casein milk proteins.” It is believed that if bred in sufficient numbers, this type of genetically modified cow could one day provide milk for allergic infants and adults.
When will the madness stop?
In what seems like an attempt to distract us from the true dangers of milk, popular media and scientific sources like the one above are focusing our attention on the rare condition of milk allergies in an attempt to justify genetically modifying cows. Yet, only four percent of people are allergic to cow’s milk and doctors claim that most babies eventually outgrow this allergy. It remains clear; however, that the complications of milk consumption continue well into adulthood. It is reported that nearly 50 percent of the world’s population is lactose intolerant after childhood and that symptoms include bloating, pain or cramps, gas, diarrhea, and vomiting. If someone feels ill after consuming a dairy product once, they probably do not have lactose intolerance. However, if symptoms persist after continued dairy consumption, then the likelihood toward lactose intolerance is much higher. Humans do not have the enzymes to properly digest milk proteins like BLG and casein, it is no wonder why most people suffer after drinking milk.
In addition to these deleterious effects of drinking cow’s milk, it is important to note that all of American milk is genetically contaminated by bovine growth hormone (rBGH) to increase production unless it is clearly labelled “NO rBGH.” Monsanto Co., the manufacturer of rBGH, has influenced U.S. product safety laws permitting the sale of unlabeled rBGH milk. rBGH increases the rates of 16 different harmful medical conditions in cows, and there is substantial scientific evidence that it may increase antibiotic resistance and cancer rates in humans. The product is already prohibited in Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and in the 27 countries of the European Union and the Codex Alimentarius, the U.N.’s main food safety body, concluded there was no consensus that it’s safe for human health.
Whether considering GMOs or undigestible proteins, the risks associated with drinking processed cow’s milk far outweigh any benefits that may be gained from consuming it. Years and billions of dollars have been spent to indoctrinate our nation into thinking that “milk does a body good” and that our main source of calcium should come from it. Yet, it is commonly recognized that the best sources of calcium are green, leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, okra, and collards. Culinarily speaking, cow’s milk can easily be substituted with coconut or almond milk; both of which provide a creamy texture and are usually quite tasty depending on the brand.
About the author:
Eric is a peer-reviewed, published researcher. His work on heart disease and autism has been accepted internationally at various scientific conferences through organizations like the American Public Health Association and Australian-based Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute. Visit his blog. Track his work on facebook. Read Eric’s other naturalnews.com articles.
Associated Press/Eduardo Verdugo – From left, Chair of the International Center for Improvement of Corn and Wheat (CIMMYT) Sara Boettiger, Mexico state Gov. Eruviel Avila, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, Mexican Secretary of Agriculture Enrique Martinez, Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim and CIMMYT Director General Thomas Lumpkin cut the ribbon at inauguration of the new research center for the CIMMYT in Texcoco, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. Gates and Slim teamed up to to fund new seed breeding research which the CIMMYT says aims to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat systems to ensure global food security and reduce poverty. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
TEXCOCO, Mexico (AP) — The research center largely responsible for launching the “green revolution” of the 1960s that dramatically raised crop yields is getting support from the world’s richest men to develop genetically-modified seeds to help farmers in the developing world grow more grain in the face of a changing climatic conditions and increased demand.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim donated a total of $25 million to build a new cluster of biotechnology labs at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico.
The facilities include hothouses “with high-efficiency air particle filters and a water treatment plant to prevent pollen and genetically modified material from escaping to the outdoors,” according to a statement by the billionaires’ foundations.
Both of the philanthropists were on hand for Wednesday’s inauguration of the new labs at the research center, known as CIMMYT, located just east of Mexico City.
Bill Gates is Funding GMO Food – giving billions to the biotech industry
It was yet another coming of age moment for GM crops, because the nonprofit CIMMYT has become known over the last 50 years for providing low-cost, improved seeds through hybridization efforts, using its vast stockpiles of native corn and wheat genes from across the world to cross-breed the best attributes, like drought-resistance.
But increasingly, genetic splicing is joining the older technique of cross-pollination as “one of the tools in the toolbox,” said CIMMYT Director Thomas Lumpkin.
While Lumpkin claimed that even hybridization represents a sort of genetic modification by selective planting and breeding, he noted that CIMMYT hasn’t shipped any true GM seeds yet, and acknowledged that some countries might have concerns.
“We want to facilitate the movement of those (genetic) traits to the countries of the developing world that request them, that want them,” Lumpkin said. “Nothing is being pushed, nothing is being forced, and CIMMYT will not profit.”
Gates noted there are “legitimate issues, but solvable issues” around wider GM crop use, and that solutions could include distributing GM crops that are patented but require no royalty payments.
That alone would be a big change in the spread of GM crops, which up to now have been largely controlled by a few big biotechnology and agricultural companies that charge steep rates for GM seed and sue any farmer who uses, even accidentally, their patented GM traits, like pest resistance.
CIMMYT, with its ties to farm agencies throughout the world, could be a conduit to deliver GM benefits to the developing world, which has largely been locked out of them.
GM traits could be developed by the center and donated, or they could be bought cheaply. That’s where Gates and his foundation could come in. With his help CIMMYT, which is known for charging farmers as little as possible, could pick up some of the older traits for low prices.
“Some of these traits are getting near the end of their patent life or are available from multiple entities, so that there’s even some competition there,” Gates noted.
Lumpkin said farmers may be scared by the legal risks of GM crops, noting “you can have a law suit of a million dollars” for unauthorized use of patented crops.
“So CIMMYT is primarily focusing on getting tried and true GMO traits that are widely used around the world and bring them to the poor farmers of the developing world, so that the women of the developing world don’t have to spend the entire cropping system pulling weeds in the field … when there is such a simple modification used by all of the farmers in the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, South Africa.”
“Why can’t these poor farmers have these same traits that have been used for 15 years in the developed world?” he asked.
Still national sensitivities in Mexico, where the CIMMYT was founded in 1963, are still strong. Mexico is the birthplace of corn, and concern that GM crops might displace or contaminate genetically-valuable native strains have so far held up large-scale planting of GM corn in Mexico, even as the country has been forced to import about half of its basic grain consumption.
“Under the guise of philanthropy, what they are doing is promoting the use of transgenetic crops, with rhetoric about ending hunger in the world,” said Aleira Lara, of Greenpeace Mexico. “Those things are myths.”
“These (GM) seeds are not any kind of magic wand for increasing production, and they bring new problems to the countryside,” like developing resistance among pests and weeds, Lara said.
Lumpkin noted that CIMMYT is already doing some GM corn research in Africa, but not in Mexico.
“We are doing some research here with wheat, which is not such a sensitive issue in Mexico,” he said.
Lumpkin warned that the world could face a recurrence of the kind of crisis that CIMMYT was able to stave off 50 years ago, this time brought about by new plant diseases, climate change, water shortages and increasing consumption of grain-intensive foods, like meat.
“On one hand, there is rapidly increasing demand … on the other hand, conditions for producing this food are deteriorating rapidly,” he said.
Without new research avenues, he warned, “we have all of the ingredients for a new global food crisis.”
British Secretary of State for the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Owen Paterson addresses the media outside his department, following a meeting with food retailers and the Food Standards Authority (FSA) after horse meat was found in beef ready meals
Owen Paterson rebuked by Downing Street for his handling of horse food scandal
Ministers are facing calls to impose a ban on meat imports from the European Union amid concerns that the extent of the contamination of the British food chain is still not fully understood.
The Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, has been criticised for his confused handling of the horse-meat scandal after he ruled out an import ban despite conceding that tainted foods could be “injurious to human health”.
Mr Paterson is going to have to address the Commons in a high-pressure performance today as his department’s public relations strategy appeared to be in disarray. The Minister’s own Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) sought to clarify its position last night and play down concerns that the horse meat scandal could pose a health risk. A Defra spokesman said: “There is currently no evidence of a risk to human health. Owen Paterson was quite clear that while we must be prepared to find more evidence of fraud, there is not a food safety risk at present. The FSA has said that unless there is advice to avoid a specific product, there is no reason for people to change their shopping habits.
“The Government and the FSA are working with authorities across Europe, including police, to get to the bottom of this unacceptable situation. If criminal activity is discovered we will take whatever action is necessary.”
Mr Paterson, who is understood to have received a dressing down from Downing Street over a lethargic initial reaction to the presence of horse meat in processed food, has warned of more “bad results” this week from further tests by retailers.
A senior Conservative MP called for a moratorium on EU meat imports until the investigation into the origins of the horse meat – which yesterday switched focus to Romania amid suggestions of links to organised crime – could be established. Mr Paterson said no such ban could be considered under EU law until a risk to human health had been identified – only to admit that such a risk could take several more days to uncover.
The Independent has established that only beef products which have already been found to contain horse meat and withdrawn from sale by companies including Findus and Aldi are currently being tested for phenylbutazone or “bute”, a veterinary drug which is banned from the human food chain.
Speaking to LBC Radio, Mr Paterson insisted there was currently “no evidence” of a health risk. He said: “As we speak this is an issue of fraud and a conspiracy against the public, I think probably by criminal elements to substitute a cheap material for that which was marked on the label.
“It is a labelling issue. Now we may find out as the week progresses and the tests begin to come in, we may find out there is a substance which is injurious to human health. We have no evidence of that at all at the moment.”
The Food Standards Agency has asked retailers and local authorities to provide results by this Friday from tests for horse meat contamination on dozens of processed beef products. Further analysis for bute, which can take a minimum of 48 hours, will be carried out only if horse meat has been found, meaning it could potentially be another week before any human health risk is established. Tests for bute on Findus beef lasagne and similar products from Aldi, both which have been withdrawn after they were found to consist of up to 100 per cent horse meat, are under way.
Anne McIntosh MP, the chairwoman of the House of Commons Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, said: “I believe there should be a moratorium on the movement of all meat until such time as we can trace the source of contamination.”
Why the long face: muddling minister
* It took 36 hours after news broke that “100 per cent horse meat” ready meals had been found on sale in the UK before the Environment Secretary Owen Paterson felt able to take to the airwaves to explain what the Government was doing. Even then it was five hours after Downing Street promised he would appear.
* Mr Paterson yesterday raised the potential for horse meat to have been contaminated by phenylbutazone. In significant doses, it can produce a potentially fatal blood condition. But nutritionists point out that a greater risk is likely to come from the high levels of salt and fat in processed meals.
* Despite pledging to provide a co-ordinated response to the scandal, Mr Paterson’s department failed to invite frozen foods giant Findus to an industry “horse meat summit” this weekend. He was forced to deny yesterday that caterers supplying schools and hospitals had also been excluded.
A law banning horses from Romanian roads may be responsible for the surge in the fraudulent sale of horse meat on the European beef market, a French politician said today.
Horse-drawn carts were a common form of transport for centuries in Romania, but hundreds of thousands of the animals are feared to have been sent to the abattoir after the change in road rules.
The law, which was passed six years ago but only enforced recently, also banned carts drawn by donkeys, leading to speculation among food-industry officials in France that some of the “horse meat” which has turned up on supermarket shelves in Britain, France and Sweden may, in fact, turn out to be donkey meat. “Horses have been banned from Romanian roads and millions of animals have been sent to the slaughterhouse,” said Jose Bove, a veteran campaigner for small farmers who is now vice-president of the European Parliament agriculture committee.
After a couple of days in which the horse meat affair was seen as a largely British problem, the scandal began to be taken seriously by French politicians and newspapers over the weekend.
The French consumer minister, Benoît Hamon, said today that he would not hesitate to take legal action if evidence emerged that the two French companies which handled the meat had been aware of the fraud.
In passing, Mr Hamon also took a swipe at the British Government. He said that London was complaining about weak European food inspection while cutting the budget for EU food-safety checks in Brussels.
His warning came as France’s biggest supermarket chains removed more of their own-label and Findus processed dishes from their shelves.
Mr Hamon said that preliminary investigation by the French agency that combats consumer fraud had uncovered the Byzantine route taken by the “fake” beef.
It came from abattoirs in Romania through a dealer in Cyprus working through another dealer in Holland to a meat plant in the south of France which sold it to a French-owned factory in Luxembourg which made it into frozen meals sold in supermarkets in 16 countries.
Burgers contaminated with horsemeat could contain a drug linked to cancer, consumers were warned today.
Five horses slaughtered in the UK last year tested positive for phenylbutazone, food safety chiefs admitted.
The anti-inflammatory is banned from the food chain over fears it causes bone marrow and liver problems in humans.
But test delays meant meat from the five contaminated horses still ended up on dinner plates.
The new scare comes after four British supermarkets, including Tesco, were found to have sold beefburgers containing horse.
The Food Standards Agency tonight stressed that no burgers had tested positive for phenylbutazone – also known as Bute.
But Shadow Environment Secretary Mary Creagh warned that contaminated horse could have ended up in other batches.
In the Commons she demanded action to ensure “illegal and carcinogenic horsemeat stops entering the human food chain”.
And she told Agriculture Minister David Heath: “I’m astonished you have not raised this. The public has a right to know.”
Risk: Meat from horses is affected. Getty
Last week supermarkets were forced to withdraw more than 10 million burgers containing Irish horsemeat.
At the time experts said it posed no health risk.
All Irish and UK horses must have a “passport” which is supposed to stop those that have had dangerous drugs from being eaten.
But 75 different UK organisations issue them and a national database has been closed by the government.
An animal treated with a drug such as Bute is worthless. But with a fake passport it can fetch more than £300 from the meat trade.
The UK Food Standards Agency said that of 8,426 horses slaughtered here last year only 145 were tested.
Of these five were contaminated with Bute but it was too late to stop them being eaten in France.
The spokesman added: “Tests take three weeks. Because suppliers want the meat fresh it did go into the food chain. We alerted the French.”
Unison, which represents meat hygiene workers, called for inspections to be stepped up.
Warning: Labour’s Mary Creagh. Rex
Spokesman Ian Adderley said: “Just a small number of horses are checked and the results take weeks to come back.
“They are playing Russian roulette with consumers.”
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs claimed that the horse database would not have helped because it did not include veterinary records.
They added: “Anyone falsifying horse passports can be prosecuted.”
Leeds University’s Prof Alastair Hay said Bute could cause anaemia and bone marrow disorders but the cancer link had not been convincingly proven.
What is Phenylbutazone?
Phenylbutazone, aka Bute, is an anti-inflammatory drug given to horses to treat lameness, pain and fever.
It is banned from entering the human food chain in Europe because it is thought to cause bone marrow disorders in extremely rare cases.
But scientists are still divided about how dangerous the drug could be to humans.
Professor Chris Elliott, director of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast, explained: “Thankfully the residues of drugs such as this that are found in meat are very low, and therefore the risk to the consumer is correspondingly low.
“However, the use of veterinary medicines in all animal species that go into the food chain is a matter of food safety and must be treated seriously.”
State news agency Xinhua has called it the coldest winter nationally for 28 years, disrupting both the growing season and supply chains, while in northern China it’s the coldest in more than 40 years.
In China’s managed-capitalist economy, the one thing they cannot control is the weather.
With gentle stimulus trickling down and the world’s second-largest economy showing signs of recovery, December’s inflation numbers were up even more than expected, due largely to unusually cold temperatures that have struck the country from the poor, forested southwestern province of Guizhou to ice-sculpture capital Harbin in the north.
State news agency Xinhua has called it the coldest winter nationally for 28 years, disrupting both the growing season and supply chains, while in northern China it’s the coldest in more than 40 years.
Emergency shelters have sprung up in Anhui province. Some 400,000 people have been left in a state of emergency in Guizhou province while workers use bamboo poles to clear ice from power lines. There are widespread disruptions in power and running water and an old debate over whether the Chinese government should supply public heating in the south as it does in the north has been resurrected.
But just as important is the cold’s effect on the food supply. Some 180,000 cattle have died from the cold in the north; thousands of hectares of crops have also been damaged.
As a result, while non-food inflation came in last month at a respectable 1.7 per cent, food prices, which make up nearly one-third of the weighting, jumped 4.2 per cent from this time last year. Vegetable prices soared 14.8 per cent year-on-year, or 17.5 per cent month-on-month.
The numbers are expected to get worse in the first two months of 2013, since prices traditionally rise ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday, also known as Spring Festival, which this year falls in mid-February. And 11 days into January, Beijing’s cold temperatures show no signs of abating yet.
“December’s CPI rebounded by more than expected, thanks to a seasonal spike of vegetable prices. However, these seasonal swings are likely to fade out by spring and China’s modest pace of growth recovery implies that inflation pressures should stay manageable. All this leaves room for Beijing to keep an accommodative monetary policy,” wrote economists Qu Hongbin and Sun Junwei at HSBC.
In a typically Chinese response to inflation, state media have reported the government will control power and water costs for wholesale agricultural markets, hog producers and transportation and storage companies, and will release vegetables from an official strategic reserve to keep prices down.
Next Friday brings the unveiling of the year’s GDP growth, expected to come in around 8 per cent. While China’s economy is seen to be recovering from the malaise brought on by the Eurozone crisis, most economists have already warned it won’t be strong enough to fuel recovery elsewhere.
(NaturalNews) Well, it’s that time of year again when McDonald’s rolls out its venerable McRib sandwich. Tens of millions of Americans will purchase one – or, judging by the nation’s ever-widening belt line, several – but most will do so without knowing all they should know about this popular sandwich.
Besides high caloric content, there are several other reasons why you should avoid the McRib, a boneless pork product smothered in BBQ sauce that famously resembles a rack of ribs, as much as you avoid most of the other “delicacies” served by this fast-food behemoth. In addition, The Blaze reports, there are several “fun facts” about the sandwich you may not have known:
A sandwich ‘built’ from scratch?: The McRib is a product of Rene Arend, who came up with the idea and design of the sandwich. That said, Richard Mandigo, a professor from the University of Nebraska, who developed the “restructured meat product” that the McRib is actually made of.
According to Chicago magazine, citing a 1995 article by Mandigo, “restructured meat product” is described thusly:
Restructured meat products are commonly manufactured by using lower-valued meat trimmings reduced in size by comminution (flaking, chunking, grinding, chopping or slicing). The comminuted meat mixture is mixed with salt and water to extract salt-soluble proteins. These extracted proteins are critical to produce a “glue” which binds muscle pieces together. These muscle pieces may then be reformed to produce a “meat log” of specific form or shape. The log is then cut into steaks or chops which, when cooked, are similar in appearance and texture to their intact muscle counterparts. … Such products as tripe, heart, and scalded stomachs are high in protein, completely edible, wholesome, and nutritious, and most are already used in sausage without objection.
Still hungry?
Packed with calories – and ingredients: In a time of labeling, when government entities and the public are pushing for more disclosure, the package for the McRib would have to grow just to list all of its ingredients.
According to the current box labeling, the sandwich consists of just five basic components – a pork patty and BBQ sauce with pickle slices, onions and a sesame bun.
But, as Time magazine points out, a closer examination of McDonald’s own list of ingredients reveals that the sandwich contains a total of 70 ingredients, including azodicarbonamide, a flour-bleaching component that is often used to produce foamed plastics (think gym mats and the soles of shoes). In fact, “the compound is banned in Europe and Australia as a food additive,” says Time. Other ingredients include ammonium sulfate and polysorbate 80.
Besides, the sandwich itself contains an incredible amount of calories – 500 at least – along with 26 grams of fat, 44 grams of carbohydrates and 980 milligrams of sodium, nearly half the recommended daily amount of about 2,400 milligrams.
Not a good choice for your heart: The ingredients, combined with a dose of 10 mg of saturated fat (nearly half of the recommended daily allowance), make the McRib an enemy of a healthy heart, say the experts.
“Think about that for a second: When you eat a McRib, you’re eating the same chemical ingredients and compounds in those disgusting yoga mats at the gym. And that’s on top of the fact that it tastes terrible in the first place,” writes Rick Paulas, food editor for KCET, a public television network in southern California. “Which means it’s time to ask: Why are we still eating this?”
That’s a very valid question. In the meantime, that sound you hear is the further tightening of the nation’s belt line.
For microscopic animals living in the Gulf, even worse than the toxic oil released during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster may be the very oil dispersants used to clean it up, a new study finds.
More than 2 million gallons (7.5 million liters) of oil dispersants called Corexit 9527A and 9500A were dumped into the Gulf of Mexico in an effort to prevent oil from reaching shore and to help it degrade more quickly.
However, when oil and Corexit are combined, the mixture becomes up to 52 times more toxic than oil alone, according to a study published online this week in the journal Environmental Pollution.
“There is a synergistic interaction between crude oil and the dispersant that makes it more toxic,” said Terry Snell, a study co-author and biologist at Georgia Tech. Using dispersants breaks up the oil into small droplets and makes it less visible, but, “on the other hand, makes it more toxic to the planktonic food chain,” Snell told LiveScience.
Toxic mixture
That mixture of dispersant and oil in the Gulf would’ve wreaked havoc on rotifers, which form the base of the marine food web, and their eggs in seafloor sediments, Snell said.
In the study, Snell and colleagues tested ratios of oil and dispersant found in the Gulf in 2010, using actual oil from the well that leaked in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the dispersant. The mixture was similarly toxic at the various ratios tested, the study found. His group exposed several varieties of rotifers to concentrations of the oil-dispersant mixture likely seen over a large area of the Gulf.
“The levels in the Gulf were toxic, and seriously toxic,” Snell said. “That probably put a big dent in the planktonic food web for some extended period of time, but nobody really made the measurements to figure out the impact.”
The dispersant makes the oil more deadly by decreasing the size of the droplets, making it more “bio-available” to small organisms, said Ian MacDonald, a researcher at Florida State University. “The effect is specifically a toxic synergy — the sum is worse than the parts,” said MacDonald, who was not involved in the research.
A cautionary tale
This is one of the first studies to look at the impact of the oil-dispersant mixture on plankton. A decline in populations of plankton could impact larger animals all the way up to whales, he said. In general, plankton can rebound quickly, although the toxicity to larvae in sediments is concerning, since it reduces the size of the next generation. This ocean-bottom oil slurry could have also impacted other species that spend part of their life cycles here like algae and crustaceans.
“This is an important study that adds badly needed data to help us better understand the effects of oil spills and oil spill remediation strategies, such as the use of dispersants,” said Stephen Klaine, an environmental toxicologist at Clemson University who wasn’t involved in the research. “Species’ differences in the sensitivity to any toxic compounds, including the ones in this discussion, can be huge.”
The results contrast with those released by the Environmental Protection Agency in August 2010. That study found that a mixture of oil and Corexit isn’t more toxic than oil alone to both a species of shrimp and species of fish. However, several studies have found the mixture is more toxic than oil to the embryos of several fish species. The EPA could not immediately be reached for comment.
“To date, EPA has done nothing but congratulate itself on how Corexit was used and avow they would do it the same way again,” MacDonald said.
However, Snell said the dispersant should not be used. It would be better to let the oil disperse on its own to minimize ecological damage, he said.
“This is a cautionary tale that we need to do the science before the emergency happens so we can make decisions that are fully informed,” Snell said. “In this case, the Corexit is simply there to make the oil disperse and go out of sight. But out of sight doesn’t mean it’s safe in regard to the food web.”
“It’s hard to sit by and not do something,” Snell said.”But in this case, doing something actually made it more toxic.”
Ecolab Inc. (ECL)’s Nalco Holding Co. unit, which provided a chemical dispersant used to deal with the 2010 BP Plc (BP/) Gulf of Mexico oil spill, has been dismissed from lawsuits over the incident.
BP used the Nalco dispersant to break up oil and reduce the harm to the Gulf Coast following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in April 2010. Plaintiffs sued Nalco, claiming the dispersant, called Corexit, was defective and more toxic than the oil itself.
Nalco said the claims for exposure-related injuries were preempted by federal law giving the government authority to direct all actions to remove a substantial spill. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans agreed, finding today that the claims were preempted by the U.S. Clean Water Act and the National Contingency Plan, which put the government in charge of the response.
“Nalco did not decide whether, when, where, how or in what quantities Corexit was applied in response to the Deepwater Horizon/Macondo Well oil spill,” Barbier said in a 36-page opinion today.
Barbier also said allowing such claims might harm an all- out response to future spills.
“If the court were to permit” the claims against Corexit, even if the product was found to be defective or dangerous, “then during the next substantial spill or ‘spill of national significance,’ the threat of liability might cause the manufacturer of dispersant X to refuse to provide its product,” Barbier said.
‘We’re Ecstatic’
Barbier said he wasn’t considering whether Corexit was toxic or defective, just that the claims against Nalco had to be dismissed as a matter of law.
“We’re ecstatic,” Michael J. Monahan, spokesman for St. Paul, Minnesota-based Ecolab, said today. “Its a vindication of the position we’ve had all along,” he said in a phone interview.
Steve Herman, an attorney for the plaintiffs, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail for comment on the dismissal.
The lawsuit is part of In re Oil Spill by the Oil Rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, MDL-2179, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans).
(NaturalNews) Well, it’s that time of year again when McDonald’s rolls out its venerable McRib sandwich. Tens of millions of Americans will purchase one – or, judging by the nation’s ever-widening belt line, several – but most will do so without knowing all they should know about this popular sandwich.
Aftermath News 
