by Michele Simon
Institute of Medicine Gives Big Food Another Deadline – or else!
This week, the nation’s top public health experts are gathered at a much-trumpeted obesity conference hosted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called Weight of the Nation. (A quick glance at the agenda reveals nothing that would even begin to challenge the food industry.)
Released at this bland event was an equally uninspired report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM, an advisory arm of Congress) called, Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention: Solving the Weight of the Nation. The irony of the report’s title gets lost among the 478 pages that aim to solve “this complex, stubborn problem” with “a comprehensive set of solutions.”
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Over 150 groups and more than 365,000 citizens from across the country are urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to reject a Dow Chemical application seeking approval of a controversial genetically engineered (GE) corn that is resistant to the hazardous herbicide 2,4-D. In addition to the public comments, 154 farm, environmental, health, fisheries groups and companies will submit 
Once again mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy [BSE]) has surfaced in the U.S. This week the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed BSE in a California dairy cow. USDA has taken the position that milk from BSE-infected cattle is safe for human consumption. Dairy cattle are, however, often processed into meat for human consumption when they are no longer productive milkers. Tissue from infected cows’ central nervous systems (including brain or spinal cord) is the most infectious part of a cow. Such tissue may be found in hot dogs, taco fillings, bologna and other products containing gelatin, and ground or chopped meat.
