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Salt should be regulated food additive, group says
Reuters ^ | 2/24/05 | Maggie Fox

Posted on 02/24/2005 11:05:17 AM PST by anniegetyourgun

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - A consumer group sued the federal government on Thursday, saying that salt is killing tens of thousands of Americans and that regulators have done too little to control salt in food.

Despite advisories to take it easy on sodium, Americans are now consuming about 4,000 milligrams a day -- nearly double the recommended limit to keep blood pressure under control, the Center for Science in the Public Interest said.

So the CSPI renewed a lawsuit first filed in 1983 to ask federal courts to force the Food and Drug Administration to declare sodium a food additive instead of categorizing it as "generally recognized as safe." This would give the agency the authority to set limits for salt in foods.

"There is no way the FDA can look at the science and say with a straight face that salt is 'generally recognized as safe,'" CSPI executive director Michael Jacobson said in a statement.

"In fact, salt is generally recognized as unsafe, because it is a major cause of heart attacks and stroke. The federal government should require food manufacturers to gradually lower their sodium levels."

The CSPI said Americans get most of their salt in processed and restaurant foods. In 1983 the FDA had just begun requiring labels describing sodium content on some packaged foods so the court decided to wait and see how it worked.

The new lawsuit, filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, contends that it has not worked well because salt content in foods is higher than ever.

"FDA is currently evaluating CSPI's report on salt, including the recommendations it contains," Kathleen Quinn, a spokeswoman for the agency, said.

The government says Americans should try to keep sodium to about 2,300 milligrams a day. "This is about 1 teaspoon," the American Heart Association says.

Salt is not found only in the salt shaker. For example, a teaspoon of baking soda contains 1,000 mg of sodium.

Patients with high blood pressure and others at high risk are told to eat even less salt -- 1,500 mg a day. "Nevertheless, sodium intake has increased steadily since the 1970s," the CSPI said in a statement.

"The medical community has reached a consensus that diets high in sodium are a major cause of high blood pressure as well as pre-hypertension, or blood pressure just short of high blood pressure," said Dr. Stephen Havas of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

"Today roughly 65 million Americans have high blood pressure and another 45 million have pre-hypertension."

The CSPI issued a report saying that processed foods and restaurant fare contribute almost 80 percent of sodium to the U.S. diet. Frozen dinners are especially high in salt, the report finds.

Depending on the brand, some salad dressings contain nearly a quarter of the day's allowance of sodium while others are low in sodium, the report finds.

One chain restaurant's breakfast contains two days' worth of sodium -- 4,460 mg -- the CSPI report said.

Chinese restaurant meals can be especially, high too. "A typical order of General Tso's chicken with rice has 3,150 mg," the group said.

Dr. Claude Lenfant, president of the World Hypertension League and a former head of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute supported the report.

"If we could reduce the sodium in processed and restaurant foods by half, we could save about 150,000 lives per year," he said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: cspi; foodnazis; foodpolice; govwatch; health; nannystate; regulationfreaks; salt; sodium; tortreformnow; turass
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To: ladtx

Next up, learn what the CSPI means by "regulating your breathing."


21 posted on 02/24/2005 11:16:45 AM PST by anniegetyourgun
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To: anniegetyourgun
OK by me......

I use a supplement shaker.

I have one in every room of the house.:-)

Even in my SUV!

22 posted on 02/24/2005 11:18:23 AM PST by Cold Heat (What are fears but voices awry?Whispering harm where harm is not and deluding the unwary. Wordsworth)
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To: KevinDavis

Keepin' my fingers crossed that Howard Dean and his M.D. wife will be found to be on the Board of the CSPI and big contributors to these nutbags!


23 posted on 02/24/2005 11:18:46 AM PST by anniegetyourgun
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To: anniegetyourgun
Center for Science in the Public Interest is only afraid because they taste better with salt.
24 posted on 02/24/2005 11:19:08 AM PST by Caipirabob (Democrats.. Socialists..Commies..Traitors...Who can tell the difference?)
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To: anniegetyourgun

The British Empire tried to regulate salt taxes on India. A skinny little man led his people to resoundly defeat such a measure.

Before then, the British Empire tried to regulate tea in another country. That didn't work either.

There's a reason why God provided manna from Heaven to His Chosen. Starvation doesn't work on a free people. Starvation works on slaves in communist and criminal societies. When starvation is used as murder, the free republics of the world are roused with suspicion and anger.

This is the reason why Terri is going to live and get better.


25 posted on 02/24/2005 11:20:47 AM PST by SaltyJoe ("Social Justice" begins with the unborn child.)
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To: azhenfud
didn't our forefathers live off of salt pork for months at a time? Maybe they just sweated it out with all the hard work they use to do - Compared to most people these days they did more in 1 day than most of us do in a week.
26 posted on 02/24/2005 11:22:38 AM PST by Abathar (Proudly catching hell for not reading the whole article since 1999)
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To: anniegetyourgun
What's next from the FDA?

A prescription for salt? Black Market sea salt?

Or maybe a Class Action suit against Morton Salt?

When it rains, it pours, then you die!

27 posted on 02/24/2005 11:22:44 AM PST by TexasCajun
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To: anniegetyourgun

Don't want salt ? Cook from scratch; I started and now I eat healthier than I EVER have.


28 posted on 02/24/2005 11:24:21 AM PST by Centurion2000 (Nations do not survive by setting examples for others. Nations survive by making examples of others)
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To: anniegetyourgun

stupidity kills a large number of people yearly.

let's outlaw stupidity. (/s)


29 posted on 02/24/2005 11:24:24 AM PST by ken21 ( warning: a blood bath when rehnquist, et al retire. >hang w dubya.< dems want 2 divide us.)
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To: anniegetyourgun
We need to tax salt to discourage people from using it....just like tobacco. Ditto for fast foods and sugar. Since this tax revenue is for the public's own good and only affects those who use these dangerous products we can tax them without complaint and use the revenue to spend on other government do good programs.

Remember that one of the flash points for the French Revolution was a tax on salt.

30 posted on 02/24/2005 11:25:32 AM PST by The Great RJ
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To: Emmett McCarthy
Well, I guess we'll just have to go after "Big Salt" the same way we went after "Big Tobacco" because we all know that there aren't enough wealthy trial lawyers yet.

Look out Morton Salt! "When it pours, we sue!"


31 posted on 02/24/2005 11:28:17 AM PST by Yo-Yo
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To: Guillermo

I'd like to suggest that special interest groups that use the word SCIENCE in their name must include warning labels on all press releases indicating what percentage of their opinions are derived from true scientific method and what percentage is derived from political opinion.


32 posted on 02/24/2005 11:28:29 AM PST by Hessian (Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.)
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To: anniegetyourgun

CSPI, Peta, WWF, etc. all exist for one reason: To destroy the Market Economy in the USA.


33 posted on 02/24/2005 11:29:13 AM PST by Guillermo ("Now how can a Puerto Rican lose a fly ball in the sun?' - Harry Caray)
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To: anniegetyourgun

"A consumer group sued the federal government on Thursday, saying that ________ is killing tens of thousands of Americans and that regulators have done too little to control _______."

The template of the busy-bodies.


34 posted on 02/24/2005 11:30:54 AM PST by Glenn (The two keys to character: 1) Learn how to keep a secret. 2) ...)
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To: ladtx
Water is already regulated. We had the purest artesian well water in the World here in Memphis, until they made us put all of those additives in it.
35 posted on 02/24/2005 11:33:18 AM PST by Coldwater Creek ('We voted like we prayed")
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To: Guillermo; anniegetyourgun

CSPI has very close ties to PETA...............they have been seeking to destroy the hospitality industry for years.

They are nothing but lobbyists


36 posted on 02/24/2005 11:33:40 AM PST by Gabz (Wanna join my tag team?)
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To: anniegetyourgun
Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide!

The Invisible Killer

Dihydrogen monoxide is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and kills uncounted thousands of people every year. Most of these deaths are caused by accidental inhalation of DHMO, but the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide do not end there. Prolonged exposure to its solid form causes severe tissue damage. Symptoms of DHMO ingestion can include excessive sweating and urination, and possibly a bloated feeling, nausea, vomiting and body electrolyte imbalance. For those who have become dependent, DHMO withdrawal means certain death.

Dihydrogen monoxide:

* is also known as hydroxyl acid, and is the major component of acid rain.
* contributes to the "greenhouse effect."
* may cause severe burns.
* contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape.
* accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals.
* may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes.
* has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients.

Contamination Is Reaching Epidemic Proportions!

Quantities of dihydrogen monoxide have been found in almost every stream, lake, and reservoir in America today. But the pollution is global, and the contaminant has even been found in Antarctic ice. DHMO has caused millions of dollars of property damage in the midwest, and recently California.

Despite the danger, dihydrogen monoxide is often used:

* as an industrial solvent and coolant.
* in nuclear power plants.
* in the production of styrofoam.
* as a fire retardant.
* in many forms of cruel animal research.
* in the distribution of pesticides. Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical.
* as an additive in certain "junk-foods" and other food products.

Companies dump waste DHMO into rivers and the ocean, and nothing can be done to stop them because this practice is still legal. The impact on wildlife is extreme, and we cannot afford to ignore it any longer!

The Horror Must Be Stopped!

The American government has refused to ban the production, distribution, or use of this damaging chemical due to its "importance to the economic health of this nation." In fact, the navy and other military organizations are conducting experiments with DHMO, and designing multi-billion dollar devices to control and utilize it during warfare situations. Hundreds of military research facilities receive tons of it through a highly sophisticated underground distribution network. Many store large quantities for later use.

It's Not Too Late!
37 posted on 02/24/2005 11:33:46 AM PST by tang-soo (Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks - Read Daniel Chapter 9)
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To: Cold Heat

It will be the SUV that kills you not the salt!!!!!!!!!!


38 posted on 02/24/2005 11:35:20 AM PST by Coldwater Creek ('We voted like we prayed")
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To: Glenn

Cheese is naturally high in sodium...and so are tomatoes. So do we ban tomatoes? (note to the CSPI-sissies...don't rile the Italians..you will regret it!)


39 posted on 02/24/2005 11:37:42 AM PST by kaktuskid
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To: Abathar

Yeah, CSPI is throwing salt in the wounds of all us hurting from everything we eat being bad.


40 posted on 02/24/2005 11:37:55 AM PST by azhenfud ("He who is always looking up seldom finds others' lost change...")
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