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World

Hong Kong is criminalizing CBD as a ‘dangerous drug’ alongside heroin

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Hong Kong
CNN
 — 

Two years ago, cannabidiol was booming in Hong Kong. The compound, known as CBD, was popping up in cafes, restaurants and stores, with businesses eager to join an exciting new market already well-established in countries around the world.

That all came to an end on Wednesday, when CBD was criminalized in the city and declared a “dangerous drug” on the same level as heroin and fentanyl.

CBD is a chemical found in hemp and marijuana plants. It’s non-psychoactive, meaning it won’t get you high; instead, CBD is often marketed for everything from helping to relieve pain and inflammation to reducing stress and anxiety.

It has surged in global popularity in recent years, with brands adding it to shampoos, drinks, body oils, gummy bears and dog treats. In the United States and Europe, you might find it sold in coffee shops and farmers’ markets, mom-and-pop and high-end department stores, and even drugstore chain CVS.

But last June, draft legislation banning CBD was introduced to Hong Kong lawmakers, and went into effect February 1.

Under the new legislation, possession and consumption of any amount of CBD is punishable by seven years in prison and a fine of 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($127,607). Manufacturing, importing or exporting CBD is punishable by life imprisonment.

Even travelers could face penalties, with the government warning people not to risk “buying these products or bringing them back to Hong Kong.”

The same penalties and conditions apply for cannabis, also known as marijuana.

The ban has forced CBD-focused businesses to close, while other brands have had to roll back or get rid of CBD products.

“It’s a shame because there’s a missed opportunity for sure,” said Luke Yardley, founder of Yardley Brothers Craft Brewery, which had previously sold four products containing CBD – a lager and three nonalcoholic drinks. “I think that anything that you can’t get intoxicated from, and helps you to relax, is probably a good thing.”

The health benefits and risks of CBD have long been debated. In the US, most CBD products are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which means that people can purchase items off the shelf.

Some research has found that the compound can ease pain and may be useful for those who have trouble sleeping. The FDA has approved one drug with CBD to treat rare, severe forms of epilepsy.

But concerns have also been raised, with some experts saying there isn’t enough scientific research into how CBD works or its potential effects.

In January, the FDA announced CBD products will require a new regulatory pathway in the US, saying: “We have not found adequate evidence to determine how much CBD can be consumed, and for how long, before causing harm.”

In Hong Kong, which has strict cannabis laws, the government’s concern revolves around the possible presence of its sister compound THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) in CBD products. THC is also found in cannabis plants and is responsible for the “high.”

In the US and Europe, CBD products can carry up to 0.3% – a trace amount – of THC, but even that is not acceptable in Hong Kong. And while CBD products could avoid this trace amount by using a pure form of CBD, most manufacturers mix other compounds for higher potency.

From 2019 to early 2022, Hong Kong authorities launched nearly 120 “operations” seizing and testing CBD products from restaurants and shops to warehouses, Secretary for Security Tang Ping-keung said last year. He added that more than 3,800 products were found to contain THC, though did not give further detail on the proportion or percentage of THC in those products.

In a written response to questions raised in the Legislative Council, Tang suggested the government’s traditionally tough stance on THC should be applied to CBD “to protect public heath.”

“We have adopted ‘zero tolerance’ towards drugs and we understand that it is a matter of public concern,” he said. “Therefore, the government plans to control CBD.”

The Action Committee Against Narcotics, a group of representatives from “the fields of social work, education, medical and community service” that advises the government on anti-drug policy, said in a statement last November that it supported the CBD ban and the government’s goal of “a drug-free Hong Kong.”

Many businesses began bracing themselves for regulatory changes in 2022, ahead of the government’s official announcement this January.

Yardley Brothers Craft Brewery stopped making its CBD beverages late last year in anticipation of the ban, and all its leftover products had sold out by December, said Yardley.

He said the CBD drinks had been “very popular,” amounting to roughly 8% of the business, as they offered adults a nonalcoholic option to enjoy when out with friends. At some bars, regulars “come in every weekend for a glass of CBD lemonade,” he said.

Now “there’s less choice for consumers in Hong Kong. That’s not necessarily a step in the right direction,” he said.

Some companies have been forced to shut down completely.

Med Chef, a restaurant that opened in 2021, once boasted of offering Hong Kong’s “first full menu of CBD-infused cocktails, appetizers and entrees.” In a news release during its launch, the restaurant founder emphasized the health and wellness benefits of CBD.

But by early November 2022, it had closed its doors. “We have worked hard in the past to present CBD in its most acceptable form and integrate our food and beverage concepts,” the restaurant wrote in a farewell post on Instagram. “It’s a pity that things didn’t go the way we hoped. Under the latest policies of those in power, we ultimately aren’t able to continue forward with everyone.”

Hong Kong’s first CBD cafe, Found, had also made headlines when it opened in 2020. It sold a variety of CBD products including infused coffee and beers, oils to help sleep, powder to sprinkle into food and pet products to help ease stiff joints.

It closed at the end of September 2022, telling patrons on Instagram that their positive feedback had shown that “CBD could help to cope with the stresses of daily life.”

“Sadly, in spite of the demonstrable positive impact, it has now become apparent that the Hong Kong government intends to adopt new legislation to prohibit the sale and possession of CBD,” it wrote.

Yardley said the government’s concerns about THC were valid – but argued they could have implemented better regulations, such as requiring certifications or standards of safety around CBD samples.

“It’s quite an extreme response to just fully ban it,” he said.

And while the brewery will continue operating, with plans for alternative nonalcoholic beverages to fill the gap, Yardley hopes CBD will be back on the menu. “I hope for the future that it might become legal again,” he said.

This story has been updated to include details of the draft legislation and its introduction.



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Health

Ultraprocessed foods linked to ovarian and other cancer deaths, study finds

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CNN
 — 

Eating more ultraprocessed foods raises the risk of developing and dying from cancer, especially ovarian cancer, according to a new study of over 197,000 people in the United Kingdom, over half of whom were women.

Overly processed foods include prepackaged soups, sauces, frozen pizza and ready-to-eat meals, as well as hot dogs, sausages, french fries, sodas, store-bought cookies, cakes, candies, doughnuts, ice cream and many more.

“Ultra-processed foods are produced with industrially derived ingredients and often use food additives to adjust colour, flavour, consistency, texture, or extend shelf life,” said first author Dr. Kiara Chang, a National Institute for Health and Care Research fellow at Imperial College London’s School of Public Health, in a statement.

“Our bodies may not react the same way to these ultra-processed ingredients and additives as they do to fresh and nutritious minimally processed foods,” Chang said.

However, people who eat more ultra-processed foods also tend to “drink more fizzy drinks and less tea and coffee, as well as less vegetables and other foods associated with a healthy dietary pattern,” said Duane Mellor, a registered dietitian and senior teaching fellow at Aston Medical School in Birmingham, UK, in an email.

“This could mean that it may not be an effect specifically of the ultra-processed foods themselves, but instead reflect the impact of a lower intake of healthier food,” said Mellor, who was not involved in the study.

The study, published Tuesday in the journal eClinicalMedicine, looked at the association between eating ultraprocessed foods and 34 different types of cancer over a 10-year period.

Researchers examined information on the eating habits of 197,426 people who were part of the UK Biobank, a large biomedical database and research resource that followed residents from 2006 to 2010.

The amount of ultraprocessed foods consumed by people in the study ranged from a low of 9.1% to a high of 41.4% of their diet, the study found.

Eating patterns were then compared with medical records that listed both diagnoses and deaths from cancer.

Each 10% increase in ultraprocessed food consumption was associated with a 2% increase in developing any cancer, and a 19% increased risk for being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, according to a statement issued by Imperial College London.

Deaths from cancers also increased, the study found. For each additional 10% increase in ultraprocessed food consumption, the risk of dying from any cancer increased by 6%, while the risk of dying from ovarian cancer rose by 30%, according to the statement.

“These associations persisted after adjustment for a range of socio-demographic, smoking status, physical activity, and key dietary factors,” the authors wrote.

When it comes to death from cancer among women, ovarian cancer is ranked fifth, “accounting for more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system,” noted the American Cancer Society.

“The findings add to previous studies showing an association between a greater proportion of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in the diet and a higher risk of obesity, heart attacks, stroke, and type 2 diabetes,” said Simon Steenson, a nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation, a charity partially supported by food producers and manufacturers. Steenson was not involved in the new study.

“However, an important limitation of these previous studies and the new analysis published today is that the findings are observational and so do not provide evidence of a clear causal link between UPFs and cancer, or the risk of other diseases,” Steenson said in an email.

People who ate the most ultraprocessed foods “were younger and less likely to have a family history of cancer,” Chang and her colleagues wrote.

High consumers of ultraprocessed foods were less likely to do physical activity and more likely to be classified as obese. These people were also likely to have lower household incomes and education and live in the most underprivileged communities, the study found.

“This study adds to the growing evidence that ultra-processed foods are likely to negatively impact our health including our risk for cancer,” said Dr. Eszter Vamos, the study’s lead author and a clinical senior lecturer at Imperial College London’s School of Public Health in a statement.

This latest research is not the first to show an association between a high intake of ultraprocessed foods and cancer.

A 2022 study examined the diets of over 200,000 men and women in the United States for up to 28 years and found a link between ultraprocessed foods and colorectal cancer — the third most diagnosed cancer in the United States — in men, but not women.

And there are “literally hundreds of studies (that) link ultraprocessed foods to obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and overall mortality,” Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University told CNN previously.

While the new UK-based study cannot prove causation, only an association, “other available evidence shows that reducing ultra-processed foods in our diet could provide important health benefits,” Vamos said.

“Further research is needed to confirm these findings and understand the best public health strategies to reduce the widespread presence and harms of ultra-processed foods in our diet,” she added.

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Business

McDonald’s, In-N-Out, and Chipotle are spending millions to block raises for their workers

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New York
CNN
 — 

California voters will decide next year on a referendum that could overturn a landmark new state law setting worker conditions and minimum wages up to $22 an hour for fast-food employees in the nation’s largest state.

Chipotle, Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s, In-N-Out Burger and KFC-owner Yum! Brands each donated $1 million to Save Local Restaurants, a coalition opposing the law. Other top fast-food companies, business groups, franchise owners, and many small restaurants also have criticized the legislation and spent millions of dollars opposing it.

The measure, known as the FAST Act, was signed last year by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and was set to go into effect on January 1. On Tuesday, California’s secretary of state announced that a petition to stop the law’s implementation had gathered enough signatures to quality for a vote on the state’s 2024 general election ballot.

The closely-watched initiative could transform the fast-food industry in California and serve as a bellwether for similar policies in other parts of the country, proponents and critics of the measure argued.

The law is the first of its kind in the United States, and authorized the formation of a 10-member Fast Food Council comprised of labor, employer and government representatives to oversee standards for workers in the state’s fast-food industry.

The council had the authority to set sector-wide minimum standards for wages, health and safety protections, time-off policies, and worker retaliation remedies at fast-food restaurants with more than 100 locations nationally.

The council could raise the fast-food industry minimum wage as high as $22 an hour, versus a $15.50 minimum for the rest of the state. From there, that minimum would rise annually based on inflation.

California’s fast-food industry has more than 550,000 workers. Nearly 80% are people of color and around 65% are women, according to the Service Employees International Union, which has backed the law and the Fight for $15 movement.

Advocates of the law, including unions and labor groups, see this as a breakthrough model to improve pay and conditions for fast-food workers and overcome obstacles unionizing workers in the industry. They argue that success in California may lead other labor-friendly cities and states to adopt similar councils regulating fast-food and other service industries. Less than 4% of restaurant workers nationwide are unionized.

Labor law in the United States is structured around unions that organize and bargain at an individual store or plant. This makes it nearly impossible to organize workers at fast-food and retail chains with thousands of stores.

California’s law would bring the state closer to sectoral bargaining, a form of collective bargaining where labor and employers negotiate wages and standards across an entire industry.

Opponents of the law say it’s a radical measure that would have damaging effects. They argue it unfairly targets the fast-food industry and will increase prices and force businesses to lay off workers, citing an analysis by economists at UC Riverside which found that if restaurant worker compensation increases by 20%, restaurant prices would increase by approximately 7%. If restaurant worker compensation increased by 60%, limited-service restaurant prices would jump by up to 22%, the study also found.

“This law creates a food tax on consumers, kills jobs, and pushes restaurants out of local communities,” said the Save Local Restaurants coalition.

On Wednesday, McDonald’s US President Joe Erlinger blasted the law as one driven by struggling unions that would lead to “an unelected council of political insiders, not local business owners and their teams,” making key business decisions.

Opponents have turned to a similar strategy used by Uber, Lyft and gig companies that sought to overturn a 2020 California law that would have required them to reclassify drivers as employees, and not “independent contractors,” which would provide them with benefits such as a minimum wage, overtime, and paid sick leave.

In 2020, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and others spent more than $200 million to successfully persuade California voters to pass Proposition 22, a ballot measure that exempted the companies from reclassifying their workers as employees.

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Business

There’s beeen an increase in egg smuggling attempts across the border, says San Diego Customs

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CNN
 — 

High prices are driving an increase in attempts to bring eggs into the US from Mexico, according to border officials.

Officers at the San Diego Customs and Border Protection Office have seen an increase in the number of attempts to move eggs across the US-Mexico border, according to a tweet from director of field operations Jennifer De La O.

“The San Diego Field Office has recently noticed an increase in the number of eggs intercepted at our ports of entry,” wrote De La O in the Tuesday tweet. “As a reminder, uncooked eggs are prohibited entry from Mexico into the U.S. Failure to declare agriculture items can result in penalties of up to $10,000.”

Bringing uncooked eggs from Mexico into the US is illegal because of the risk of bird flu and Newcastle disease, a contagious virus that affects birds, according to Customs and Border Protection.

In a statement emailed to CNN, Customs and Border Protection public affairs specialist Gerrelaine Alcordo attributed the rise in attempted egg smuggling to the spiking cost of eggs in the US. A massive outbreak of deadly avian flu among American chicken flocks has caused egg prices to skyrocket, climbing 11.1% from November to December and 59.9% annually, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The increase has been reported at the Tijuana-San Diego crossing as well as “other southwest border locations,” Alcordo said.

For the most part, travelers bringing eggs have declared the eggs while crossing the border. “When that happens the person can abandon the product without consequence,” said Alcordo. “CBP agriculture specialists will collect and then then destroy the eggs (and other prohibited food/ag products) as is the routine course of action.”

In a few incidents, travelers did not declare their eggs and the products were discovered during inspection. In those cases, the eggs were seized and the travelers received a $300 penalties, Alcordo explained.

“Penalties can be higher for repeat offenders or commercial size imports,” he added.

Alcordo emphasized the importance of declaring all food and agricultural products when traveling.

“While many items may be permissible, it’s best to declare them to avoid possible fines and penalties if they are deemed prohibited,” he said. “If they are declared and deemed prohibited, they can be abandoned without consequence. If they are undeclared and then discovered during an exam the traveler will be subject to penalties.”



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Business

Egg shortage sends New Zealanders rushing to buy their own hens

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Hong Kong
CNN
 — 

Eggs have soared in cost around the world over the past year as avian flu decimated chicken flocks and fallout from Russia’s war with Ukraine raised the prices of energy and animal feed.

In the United States, egg prices have far surpassed the increase in other grocery items, soaring nearly 60% in the 12 months to December compared to the year before. In Japan, wholesale prices have reached a record high.

In New Zealand, which consumes more eggs per person than most countries, the squeeze has been exacerbated by a change in farming regulations. And rising costs have sparked a frenzy, with people hunting for hens online so they can secure their own supplies of the pantry staple.

On Tuesday, popular local auction site Trade Me told CNN that searches for chickens, and equipment related to caring for them, had spiked 190% so far this month, compared to the same period a month ago.

“Since the start of January, we have seen over 65,000 searches for chickens and other chicken-related items, like feeders, coops and food,” said Millie Silvester, a spokesperson for the company.

The shortage has also caused a particularly acute headache for bakers in the country.

“All the public are now trying to buy chickens for home because they can’t get eggs,” said Ron van Til, a bakery owner near the city of Christchurch, who has had to adjust how he makes his cakes and muffins.

Van Til said his sister was selling “four brand new chickens” on auction through Trade Me, fetching more than double the usual price.

The trend has prompted animal welfare advocates to warn against making impulse buys.

“Chickens live for a long time,” said Gabby Clezy, CEO of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in New Zealand. “They live from eight to 10 years, sometimes even longer depending on the breed.”

Clezy also noted that hens do not produce eggs their entire lives, and their laying habits are dependent on factors including their age and local climate.

“So if people are getting chickens solely because [they think] they’ll have a permanent supply of eggs, that just isn’t the case,” she said. “We’re asking people to consider them as companion animals, which they are.”

Trade Me has also urged customers on its marketplace to think through any purchases.

“It’s important that our members are aware of the responsibilities that come with owning chickens, and are well set up to care for them,” Silvester said in a statement.

Health experts are weighing in, too. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), anyone signing up for a backyard coop should take special care when handling the animals and their eggs, particularly because of the risk of germs associated with salmonella.

New Zealand’s egg shortage has been linked to a long anticipated change in farming law, which took effect on January 1 this year.

The law prohibits the production of eggs from chickens kept in conventional or “battery cages” — typically cramped metal spaces that do not provide adequate welfare for hens, according to SPCA.

That’s why in 2012, the government announced a ban on such facilities.

But “a 10-year transition period away from conventional cages was introduced, to allow egg producers time to shift farming practices,” Peter Hyde, a representative for New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries, told CNN in a statement when asked about the current shortage.

 “Egg producers had the option to move to colony cages, barns and free-range systems,” added Hyde, the ministry’s acting national manager of animal welfare and national animal identification and tracing compliance.

Hyde said that over the last 18 months, the ministry had “been in regular contact with operators, and visited farms needing to transition.”

Even with the long lead time, however, the ban has caused supply snags, according to some businesses.

Foodstuffs, a New Zealand supermarket chain, recently placed temporary limits on how many eggs each customer can buy.

“It’s a significant change for the egg supply industry,” Emma Wooster, the company’s head of public relations, told CNN in a statement. “We’re working with egg suppliers to increase our offer in other types of eggs.”

Countdown, another major grocery retailer, said while it did not currently have limits on egg sales, it would encourage customers to “only buy what they need” to ensure enough supply for everyone.

Other businesses have been forced to switch things up.

Van Til, the bakery owner, said his team had swapped out fresh eggs in recipes for alternative ingredients.

The longtime owner of Rangiora Bakery has seen wholesale prices for fresh eggs shoot up about 50% compared to four months ago, leading him to buy more dried eggs instead.

Van Til also pointed to changes at other local eateries, saying some cafes had started taking certain dishes off their menus so “instead of having five breakfast items [with] eggs, you might only have two.”

“And the customer hopefully will pick up pancakes or waffles,” he added. “Or whatever other offerings you come up with.”

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US

Locally caught fish are full of dangerous chemicals called PFAS

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CNN
 — 

Fish caught in the fresh waters of the nation’s streams and rivers and the Great Lakes contain dangerously high levels of PFOS, short for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, a known synthetic toxin phased out by the federal government, according to a study of data from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

The chemical PFOS is part of a family of manufactured additives known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, widely used since the 1950s to make consumer products nonstick and resistant to stains, water and grease damage.

Called “forever chemicals” because they fail to break down easily in the environment, PFAS has leached into the nation’s drinking water via public water systems and private wells. The chemicals then accumulate in the bodies of fish, shellfish, livestock, dairy and game animals that people eat, experts say.

“The levels of PFOS found in freshwater fish often exceeded an astounding 8,000 parts per trillion,” said study coauthor David Andrews, a senior scientist at Environmental Working Group, the nonprofit environmental health organization that analyzed the data. The report was published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Research.

In comparison, the EPA has allowed only 70 parts per trillion of PFOS in the nation’s drinking water. Due to growing health concerns, in 2022 the EPA recommended the allowable level of PFOS in drinking water be lowered from 70 to 0.02 parts per trillion.

“You’d have to drink an incredible amount of water — we estimate a month of contaminated water — to get the same exposure as you would from a single serving of freshwater fish,” Andrews said.

“Consuming even a single (locally caught freshwater) fish per year can measurably and significantly change the levels of PFOS in your blood,” Andrews said.

Chemicals in the PFAS family are linked to high cholesterol, cancer and various chronic diseases, as well as a limited antibody response to vaccines in both adults and children, according to a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

“This is an important paper,” said toxicologist Linda Birnbaum, former director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program.

“To find this level of contamination in fish across the country, even in areas not close to industry where you might expect heavy contamination, is very concerning. These chemicals are everywhere,” she said.

Read more: Doctors should test levels of PFAS in people at high risk, report says

It’s nearly impossible to avoid PFAS, experts say. Manufacturers add the chemicals to thousands of products, including nonstick cookware, mobile phones, carpeting, clothing, makeup, furniture and food packaging.

A 2020 investigation found PFAS in the wrapping of many fast foods and “environmentally friendly” molded fiber bowls and containers.

A 2021 study found PFAS in 52% of tested cosmetics, with the highest levels in waterproof mascara (82%), foundations (63%) and long-lasting lipstick (62%). Polytetrafluoroethylene, the coating on nonstick pans, was the most common additive.

Read more: Makeup may contain potentially toxic chemicals called PFAS, study finds

In fact, PFAS chemicals have been found in the blood serum of 98% of Americans, according to a 2019 report using data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

“These chemicals are ubiquitous in the American environment. More than 2,800 communities in the US, including all 50 states and two territories, have documented PFAS contamination,” Dr. Ned Calonge, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health and chair of the Academies committee that wrote the report, told CNN previously.

Read more: Dangerous chemicals found in food wrappers at major fast-food restaurants and grocery chains, report says

Scientists at the Environmental Working Group used data from the EPA’s own monitoring programs — the National Rivers and Streams Assessment, which has been periodically testing stream conditions since 2008, and the Great Lakes Human Health Fish Fillet Tissue Study, which tests lake water every five years.

“The analysis focused on EPA wild-caught fish in rivers, streams and throughout the Great Lakes from 2013 to 2015 as that was the latest data available,” Andrews said.

The contamination was widespread, impacting “nearly every fish across the country,” he said. “I believe there was one sample without detected levels of PFOS.”

The EWG created an interactive map of the results with details for each state. Fish caught near urban areas contained nearly three times more PFOS and overall PFAS than those caught in nonurban locations, the study found. The highest levels were found in fish from the Great Lakes.

The analysis showed PFOS accounted for an average 74% of the contamination in the fish. The remaining 25% was a mixture of other PFAS known to be equally damaging to human health, Andrews said.

CNN reached out to the EPA for comment but did not hear back before this story published.

Based on the study’s findings, people who fish for sport might “strongly” consider releasing their catch instead of taking the fish home for a meal, Andrews said.

Yet many people in lower socioeconomic groups, indigenous peoples and immigrants in the US rely on eating freshly caught fish.

“They need it for food or because it’s their culture,” Birnbaum said. “There are Native American tribes and Burmese immigrants and others who fish because this is who they are. This is key to their culture. And you can’t just tell them not to fish.”

Read more: Water- and stain-resistant products contain toxic plastics, study says. Here’s what to do

The predominant chemical in the fish, PFOS, and its sister perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, are known as “long-chain” PFAS, made from an 8-carbon chain.

Read more: Plastics and pesticides: Health impacts of synthetic chemicals in US products doubled in last 5 years, study finds

Manufacturers agreed in the early 2000s to voluntarily stop using long-chain PFAS in US consumer products, although they can still be found in some imported items. Due to growing health concerns, the use of PFOS and PFOA in food packaging was phased out in 2016 by the US Food and Drug Administration.

However, industry reworked the chemicals by making them into 4- and 6-carbon chains — today over 9,000 different PFAS exist, according to the CDC. Experts say these newer versions appear to have many of the same dangerous health effects as the 8-chain PFAS, leaving consumers and the environment still at risk.

Many of these longer-chain PFAS can be stored for years in different organs in the human body, according to the National Academies report. Scientists are examining the impact of newer versions.

“Some of these chemicals have half-lives in the range of five years,” National Academies report committee member Jane Hoppin, an environmental epidemiologist and director of the Center for Human Health and the Environment at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, told CNN previously.

Read more: FDA must do more to regulate thousands of chemicals added to your food, petitioners say

“Let’s say you have 10 nanograms of PFAS in your body right now. Even with no additional exposure, five years from now you would still have 5 nanograms,” she said. “Five years later, you would have 2.5 and then five years after that, you’d have one 1.25 nanograms. It would be about 25 years before all the PFAS leave your body.”

That’s why it’s “no surprise” to find such high levels of PFOA in freshwater fish, said the director of environmental pediatrics at NYU Langone Health, Dr. Leonardo Trasande, who was not involved in the new study.

“These truly are ‘forever chemicals,’” Trasande said. “This reinforces the reality that we need to get all PFAS out of consumer products and people’s lives.”

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Business

‘Out of control’: No one knows how much to tip

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New York
CNN
 — 

A new checkout trend is sweeping across America, making for an increasingly awkward experience: digital tip jars.

You order a coffee, an ice cream, a salad or a slice of pizza and pay with your credit card or phone. Then, an employee standing behind the counter spins around a touch screen and slides it in front of you. The screen has a few suggested tip amounts – usually 10%, 15% or 20%. There’s also often an option to leave a custom tip or no tip at all.

The worker is directly across from you. Other customers are standing behind, waiting impatiently and looking over your shoulder to see how much you tip. And you must make a decision in seconds. Oh lord, the stress.

Customers and workers today are confronted with a radically different tipping culture compared to just a few years ago — without any clear norms. Although consumers are accustomed to tipping waiters, bartenders and other service workers, tipping a barista or cashier may be a new phenomenon for many shoppers. It’s being driven in large part by changes in technology that have enabled business owners to more easily shift the costs of compensating workers directly to customers.

“I don’t know how much you’re supposed to tip and I study this,” said Michael Lynn, a professor of consumer behavior and marketing at Cornell University and one of the leading researchers on US tipping habits.

Adding to the changing dynamics, customers were encouraged to tip generously during the pandemic to help keep restaurants and stores afloat, raising expectations. Total tips for full-service restaurants were up 25% during the latest quarter compared to a year ago, while tips at quick-service restaurants were up 17%, according to data from Square.

The shift to digital payments also accelerated during the pandemic, leading stores to replace old-fashioned cash tip jars with tablet touch screens. But these screens and the procedures for digital tipping have proven more intrusive than a low-pressure cash tip jar with a few bucks in it.

Customers are overwhelmed by the number of places where they now have the option to tip and feel pressure about whether to add a gratuity and for how much. Some people deliberately walk away from the screen without doing anything to avoid making a decision, say etiquette experts who study tipping culture and consumer behavior.

Tipping can be an emotionally charged decision. Attitudes towards tipping in these new settings vary widely.

Some customers tip no matter what. Others feel guilty if they don’t tip or embarrassed if their tip is stingy. And others eschew tipping for a $5 iced coffee, saying the price is already high enough.

“The American public feels like tipping is out of control because they’re experiencing it in places they’re not used to,” said Lizzie Post, co-president of the Emily Post Institute and its namesake’s great-great-granddaughter. “Moments where tipping isn’t expected makes people less generous and uncomfortable.”

Starbucks has rolled out tipping this year as an option for customers paying with credit and debit cards. Some Starbucks baristas told CNN that the tips are adding extra money to their paychecks, but customers shouldn’t feel obligated to tip every time.

One barista in Washington State said that he understands if a customer doesn’t tip for a drip coffee order. But if he makes a customized drink after spending time talking to the customer about exactly how it should be made, “it does make me a little bit disappointed if I don’t receive a tip.”

“If someone can afford Starbucks every day, they can afford to tip on at least a few of those trips,” added the employee, who spoke under the condition of anonymity.

The option to tip is seemingly everywhere today, but the practice has a troubled history in the United States.

Tipping spread after the Civil War as an exploitative measure to keep down wages of newly-freed slaves in service occupations. Pullman was the most notable for its tipping policies. The railroad company hired thousands of Black porters, but paid them low wages and forced them to rely on tips to make a living.

Critics of tipping argued that it created an imbalance between customers and workers, and several states passed laws in the early 1900s to ban the practice.

In “The Itching Palm,” a 1916 diatribe on tipping in America, writer William Scott said that tipping was “un-American” and argued that “the relation of a man giving a tip and a man accepting it is as undemocratic as the relation of master and slave.”

But tipping service workers was essentially built into law by the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, which created the federal minimum wage that excluded restaurant and hospitality workers. This allowed the tipping system to proliferate in these industries.

In 1966, Congress created a “subminimum” wage for tipped workers. The federal minimum wage for tipped employees has stood at $2.13 per hour — lower than the $7.25 federal minimum — since 1991, although many states require higher base wages for tipped employees. If a server’s tips don’t add up to the federal minimum, the law says that the employer must make up the difference. But this doesn’t always happen. Wage theft and other wage violations are common in the service industry.

The Department of Labor considers any employee working in a job that “customarily and regularly” receives more than $30 a month in tips as eligible to be classified a tipped worker. Experts estimate there are more than five million tipped workers in the United States.

Just how much to tip is entirely subjective and varies across industries, and the link between the quality of service and the tip amount is surprisingly weak, Lynn from Cornell said.

He theorized that a 15% to 20% tip at restaurants became standard because of a cycle of competition among customers. Many people tip to gain social approval or with the expectation of better service. As tip levels increase, other customers start tipping more to avoid any losses in status or risk poorer service.

The gig economy has also changed tipping norms. An MIT study released in 2019 found that customers are less likely to tip when workers have autonomy over whether and when to work. Nearly 60% of Uber customers never tip, while only about 1% always tip, a 2019 University of Chicago study found.

What makes it confusing, Lynn said, is that “there’s no central authority that establishes tipping norms. They come from the bottom up. Ultimately, it’s what people do that helps establish what other people should do.”

You should almost always tip workers earning the subminimum wage such as restaurant servers and bartenders, say advocates and tipping experts.

When given the option to tip in places where workers make an hourly wage, such as Starbucks baristas, customers should use their discretion and remove any guilt from their decision, etiquette experts say. Tips help these workers supplement their income and are always encouraged, but it’s okay to say no.

Etiquette experts recommend that customers approach the touch screen option the same way they would a tip jar. If they would leave change or a small cash tip in the jar, do so when prompted on the screen.

“A 10% tip for takeaway food is a really common amount. We also see change or a single dollar per order,” said Lizzie Post. If you aren’t sure what to do, ask the worker if the store has a suggested tip amount.

Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage, which advocates to end subminimum wage policies, encourages customers to tip. But tips should never count against service workers’ wages, and customers must demand that businesses pay workers a full wage, she said.

“We’ve got to tip, but it’s got to be combined with telling employers that tips have to be on top, not instead of, a full minimum wage,” she said.

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In wake of baby formula crisis, critical report recommends major food safety changes at FDA

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CNN
 — 

To help prevent outbreaks of food-related illness and problems like the formula shortage that left many parents in the US without adequate access to food for their babies, the US Food and Drug Administration needs a clearer mission and a different kind of leadership, and it has to act with more urgency, according to a highly critical new report.

After the agency faced serious criticism for its handling of the formula shortage, FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf commissioned the review of the Human Foods Program in July from the Reagan-Udall Foundation, an independent group of experts.

The need for a review was considered so urgent that Califf asked the group to submit the report in 60 business days – lightning speed for government-focused reports. It was submitted to the FDA on Tuesday.

About 48 million Americans get some kind of foodborne illness every year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die. Produce alone in 2019 was responsible for 46% of foodborne illness outbreaks, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

The FDA oversees the safety of 78% of the US human food supply.

It enforces food safety regulations, works with local governments on food safety information, promotes dietary guidelines, and develops food safety information and education, as well as overseeing nutrition labels on most food and being responsible for promoting good nutrition practices to the US public.

The US food supply is generally recognized as safe, the Reagan-Udall Foundation’s report said, but the FDA needs to be much more proactive in dealing with foodborne pathogens in order to protect Americans.

“An approach that is primarily focused on identifying and reacting to acute outbreaks of foodborne illness and death is unacceptable,” the report says.

Americans’ nutrition can also improve, the report says. Most people don’t follow the US dietary recommendations, and more than a million die of diseases that can be linked to diet such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer each year, according to the FDA

“Relying solely on food labeling and consumer education to drive the needed changes in the food supply is also an unacceptable strategy for reducing diet-related chronic diseases,” the new report says.

The report suggests that the agency needs major reform in order to do a better job managing food in the US. Some of the proposed changes would require congressional approval.

The report has several suggestions for ways to reach these goals. One would create a separate Center for Nutrition within the US Department of Health and Human Services. Another would have the FDA develop a strategy to increase funding for the Human Foods Program, with help from Congress. The agency could also connect its technology systems so they better communicate with each other.

The FDA could seek to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to allow the disclosure of more information to local agencies. Or it could get regulatory authority to request records from food manufacturers in advance or in lieu of inspection.

The report recommends that the FDA explore applying its authority to require infant formula manufacturers, for instance, to keep microbiological testing records that are available on request so there is real-time disclosure of results.

It also suggests that the FDA use its mandatory recall authority more often and that there should be a process by which accommodations are made for products that are considered life-sustaining, like formula. At the moment, food recalls are usually voluntarily initiated by a manufacturer or food distributor.

The report also notes that the food program is run under the leadership of several managers. This “lack of a single, clearly identified person” to lead the program has led to a culture of “constant turmoil” and “indecisiveness and inaction” that has created “disincentives for collaboration,” according to the report.

That turmoil was partly to blame for the agency’s problematic handling of the formula shortage, the report says.

Experts have said the agency failed to act quickly enough on sanitation complaints at an Abbott Nutrition formula manufacturing facility in Michigan, and because of a lack of communication across departments, it didn’t circumvent what became a massive shortage of formula after the plant shut down.

“A review of events indicates that lack of communication and engagement across the Agency accounted, in part, for missteps,” the new report says. “There was little motivation, and apparently no requirement, to share information and interact across the Agency to facilitate critical thinking and proactive decision-making.

“This is especially problematic in a crisis, where decisions should be made quickly and be vetted properly.”

The report suggests that the FDA create a new structure with clear roles and leaders. It also encourages development of a culture that is more transparent, that acts quickly and collaborates.

“The current culture of the FDA Human Foods Program is inhibiting its ability to effectively accomplish this goal” of protecting public health,” the report says.

Califf said Tuesday that the agency has not had the opportunity to review the report in depth but that the report provides “significant observations” and options to consider.

“The work of these independent evaluators will help to inform a new vision for the FDA Human Foods Program,” Califf said in a news release.

Some critics have suggested that food safety takes a back seat to the FDA’s regulations of drugs and medical devices. Califf acknowledged that food policy was important to the agency, citing the decline in life expectancy in the US largely due to chronic diseases that can be improved with good nutrition.

“The Human Foods Program is a top priority for the agency. America’s food supply is as safe as it’s ever been,” he said. “That said, over the past several years, the program has been stressed by the increasing diversity and complexity of the nation’s food systems and supply chain, the ongoing impacts associated with climate change and rapid advances in the science underlying many of the foods we eat today.”

The FDA will inform the public about how it is moving forward on the panel’s suggestions by the end of January and will provide additional updates at the end of February, including on any structural or procedural changes it will make, Califf said.

He said he’s putting together a group of leaders at the FDA that will advise him on how to “operationalize these findings,” and he expects these leaders to be “bold and focused on the transformative opportunities ahead for the FDA’s food program.”

In April, a coalition of 30 organizations that represent industry, local regulators and consumers sent a letter to the FDA asking for the creation of a deputy commissioner for foods with direct line authority over all the agency’s food components.

One of the organizations, Consumer Reports, has called for months for more accountability and focused leadership from the FDA.

“We need strengthened leadership and accountability at the FDA to implement a culture of prevention, respond more quickly to problems as they arise, and take timely action on proposed food safety rules and initiatives,” Brian Ronholm, Consumer Reports’ director of food policy, said Tuesday.

Ronholm called the new report a “very encouraging first step.”

“We cannot afford to tolerate the status quo and let this moment go by without adopting fundamental changes to improve the FDA’s ability to protect the public and ensure our food is safe,” he said in a statement.

The Consumer Brands Association, a trade association for food manufacturers that also signed the April letter, said Tuesday that the lack of a single leader on food policy leads to “a lot of inefficiencies.”

“A siloed approach across FDA makes it harder for industry to engage,” said Sarah Gallo, the organization’s vice president for product policy. “It is just really complicated when you don’t have somebody looking over the different parts of the agency that have some form of jurisdiction over all those things.

“We can’t ignore what happened with the formula crisis,” Gallo added, a tangible example of what can happen when the FDA is not functioning at its best.

Roberta Wagner, vice president of regulatory and technical affairs for the Consumer Brands Association, agreed that if there were one person in charge, they could make sure the inspection and policy parts of the FDA would work together.

Wagner added that the food industry has embraced a more prevention-oriented kind of philosophy when it comes to safety. “Quite frankly, the problem is, FDA’s inspection force has not modernized itself or its approaches to basically mirror that prevention-oriented system and philosophy,” Wagner said.

The FDA food division has its work cut out for it, though, added Wagner, who worked with the agency in several capacities before joining the association.

“Think about it: The FDA has to keep up with hundreds of thousands of farms and facilities,” she said. “If you have these siloed operations, you’re not having these really critical conversations about where we should be and what should we be doing out there.

“We all want an FDA with a strong foods program. We want consumers not to worry about what they’re eating or whether they’re going to be able to get that certain needed food product,” Wagner added.

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