Posted on 08/19/2012 7:20:33 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Don Barrett, a Mississippi lawyer, took in hundreds of millions of dollars a decade ago after suing Big Tobacco and winning record settlements from R. J. Reynolds, Philip Morris and other cigarette makers. So did Walter Umphrey, Dewitt M. Lovelace and Stuart and Carol Nelkin.
Ever since, the lawyers have been searching for big paydays in business, scoring more modest wins against car companies, drug makers, brokerage firms and insurers. Now, they have found the next target: food manufacturers.
More than a dozen lawyers who took on the tobacco companies have filed 25 cases against industry players like ConAgra Foods, PepsiCo, Heinz, General Mills and Chobani that stock pantry shelves and refrigerators across America
The suits, filed over the last four months, assert that food makers are misleading consumers and violating federal regulations by wrongly labeling products and ingredients. While there has been a barrage of litigation against the industry in recent years, the tobacco lawyers are moving particularly aggressively. They are asking a federal court in California to halt ConAgra’s sales of Pam cooking spray, Swiss Miss cocoa products and some Hunt’s canned tomatoes.
“It’s a crime — and that makes it a crime to sell it,” said Mr. Barrett, citing what he contends is the mislabeling of those products. “That means these products should be taken off the shelves.”
The food companies counter that the suits are without merit, another example of litigation gone wild and driven largely by the lawyers’ financial motivations. Mr. Barrett said his group could seek damages amounting to four years of sales of mislabeled products — which could total many billions of dollars.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
One must wonder if this woman has ever used , hairspray, or spray deodorent, perfume, furniture polish, bathroom cleaner etc
Hillary’s dreams coming true.
I thought these lawyers were gone so to speak.
Sounds good. Since gall bladder removal, can’t eat anything. I envy anyone who can eat. Olive oil, lemon and water I hear is recommended for people who have had this surgery. Don’t remember why.
“After digging deeper, she learned that “propellant” included petroleum gas, propane and butane.” From the article, so no I didn’t just make that up, FreedomPoster. Graduated with a bachelors degree in environmental engineering 13 years ago, so it’s been a while since I’ve had a chemistry class.
I really did not want to get into a debate about the safety of GM foods. Do the research if you want to, if not, then don’t. It doesn’t bother me one way or another if anyone else eats them. But if a manufacturer wants to sell me a product then I deserve for them to disclose the actual ingredients. There is some research that shows that GM foods may be harmful. Some of them are GM’d to allow the crops to be sprayed with Round Up to control weeds but not kill the crops. Soy is a big RoundUp Ready crop and soy is in so many things these days. It’s my belief that the Round Up stays on/in the food, in minute quantities yes, but I don’t want to eat Round Up in any quantity. Like I said, didn’t intend to debate, wasn’t fearmongering, just using the GM foods as an example of why I think all ingredients should be disclosed, and stating my opinion in the whole matter.
I understand that propellants are used in pressurized cans. Pam was just one example from the story. The woman freaking out because she used it to make muffins for her grandkids is a bit much, but what’s the harm in stating exactly what that propellant is, so there’s no guessing? Yes, manufacturers will eventually have to change their packaging slightly, but they do that all the time; new and improved this, better tasting that.
I wasn’t thinking that every product must immediately change all their packaging, but something that happens within the next 5 years (just throwing a number out there) Really what’s the big deal of full disclosure? The info is there for people that care, and everyone else that doesn’t care doesn’t have to look. To me it’s the same thing as stating where a food product originated from; I avoid food from China, I’m glad stuff is labeled.
It’s the lawsuits, which I plainly said I disagree with in my original post, that will add cost to the products.
Well, I guess if you spray it in your eyes, it hurts.
And if you spray it in your mouth and inhale, it can
make you cough and gag.
Oh, and if you hold up a match while spraying it into your eyeballs,
well, there go your eyeballs.
See? It's a very unsafe product.
I'd wager she also buys things that are labelled "organic", paying more for them, while receiving a generally lesser quality.
I'd wager she also buys things that are labelled "organic", paying more for them, while receiving a generally lesser quality.
There is a list of FDA-acceptable propellants. They are part of the contents, but they are not part of the product which is consumed. Therefore, they don't need to be specified.
Moreover, manufacturers are free to arbitrarily change their propellant formula based on the cost and availability of ingredients -- without having to re-label.
Finally, if you put the propellant ingredients in the ingredient statement, you'd be having women like this one having a cow in the middle of the supermarket aisle.
Most people are perfectly satisfied with this arrangement, trusting the FDA and the food manufacturers that they're not interested in killing off their customers.
Unfortunately, you're not. But you're free to complain about it. The Center for Science and the Public Interest (which has little to do with science and nothing to do with the public interest) would be happy to receive your donation -- as their primary business is fund-raising.
Those propellants are so volatile they evaporate almost instantly.
I would not take that wager
You mean those aren't real raspberries in the cereal? Really fooled me. /s
As for Pam. I use the stuff for convenience but don't care for it.
Mainly because it leave a sticky residue that's very difficult to remove.
Most propellants used to be some form of Freon but ,alas, Freon is destroying the atmosphere and was removed.
Okay, let’s take one example from the whole story, which might not be the best example or best idea, and kill the whole point of listing ingredients because of that. For me the bigger issue are the GM foods. If the propellents can be changed at will due to availabiity, cost, etc. then fine, explain that to me and move on. No need to be an ass while doing so. How about listing the propellents like they do oils on the list of ingredients which are commonly listed similar to “cottonseed and/or sunflower oil” because they use them interchangably. Aren’t oils also arbitrarily changed based on cost and availability? Why is this any different? Because the propellent isn’t directly consumed? Then why is it listed in the ingredients at all?
Just because you’re happy to go along with whatever the government tells you is fine doesn’t mean that everyone else should be. I’m still not seeing what the big deal of listing all ingredients is. But you’re free to complain about me wanting to know them.
Yeah, that one kinda threw me. I sat there and tried to parse it figuring out what you meant, LOL!
Inquiring minds want to know!
Actually given her ignorance and degree of intelligence (or lack thereof), I'm pretty sure she drinks all that stuff. Not sure which is cause and which is effect though! ;)
Roundup (glyphosate) works on an enzyme that doesn't exist in humans, so as far as I know, you could drink the stuff and it wouldn't hurt you. That said, I agree with you that manufacturers owe you the information to make your own choice.
Nope, didn’t see this coming....The same as it ever was...
The questions that should be asked are:
-How much and what exactly is left behind?
-How toxic are they?
-Does the average consumer using the product get far more exposure to these chemicals than someone simply standing outside or drinking tap water?
Android is the operating system of my tablet. Every time I type ‘and’ it ALWAYS pops up ‘ANDROID’ as the FIRST choice of words for the autocomplete. If I hit ‘space’ then it assumes I want that word...............
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