- ‘Toddler Milk’ Isn’t Nutritious And Is Unnecessary For Kids And Infants, New Report Finds Forbes
- Pediatrician group warns ‘toddler milks’ are unregulated and ‘nutritionally incomplete’ Eyewitness News ABC7NY
- ‘Toddler milk’ has no nutritional benefits, American Academy of Pediatrics reports CNN
- Toddler formulas marketed as ‘nutritious’ unnecessary report shows Good Morning America
- So-called toddler milks are unregulated and unnecessary, a major pediatrician group says KSL.com
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: milk
Temecula Valley school board adopts textbooks that include Harvey Milk after warnings from Newsom – KABC-TV
- Temecula Valley school board adopts textbooks that include Harvey Milk after warnings from Newsom KABC-TV
- Temecula school board adopts state curriculum after previously banning book for LGBTQ+ figures KTLA 5
- California school board adopts social studies textbooks that include gay rights after warnings from governor CNN
- Newsom fines school district $1.5M for rejecting textbook mentioning Harvey Milk KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco
- California school district fighting back against Gov. Newsom’s $1.5M textbook fine: ‘Egregious overreach’ Fox News
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Coffee With Milk May Have an Anti-inflammatory Effect
Summary: Adding a splash of milk to your cup of coffee can have anti-inflammatory effects, a new study reports. Researchers say the combination of polyphenols and proteins doubles anti-inflammatory properties in immune cells.
Source: University of Copenhagen
Can something as simple as a cup of coffee with milk have an anti-inflammatory effect in humans? Apparently so, according to a new study from the University of Copenhagen.
A combination of proteins and antioxidants doubles the anti-inflammatory properties in immune cells. The researchers hope to be able to study the health effects on humans.
Whenever bacteria, viruses and other foreign substances enter the body, our immune systems react by deploying white blood cells and chemical substances to protect us. This reaction, commonly known as inflammation, also occurs whenever we overload tendons and muscles and is characteristic of diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
Antioxidants known as polyphenols are found in humans, plants, fruits and vegetables. This group of antioxidants is also used by the food industry to slow the oxidation and deterioration of food quality and thereby avoid off flavors and rancidity. Polyphenols are also known to be healthy for humans, as they help reduce oxidative stress in the body that gives rise to inflammation.
But much remains unknown about polyphenols. Relatively few studies have investigated what happens when polyphenols react with other molecules, such as proteins mixed into foods that we then consume.
In a new study, researchers at the Department of Food Science, in collaboration with researchers from the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, at University of Copenhagen investigated how polyphenols behave when combined with amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The results have been promising.
“In the study, we show that as a polyphenol reacts with an amino acid, its inhibitory effect on inflammation in immune cells is enhanced. As such, it is clearly imaginable that this cocktail could also have a beneficial effect on inflammation in humans.
“We will now investigate further, initially in animals. After that, we hope to receive research funding which will allow us to study the effect in humans,” says Professor Marianne Nissen Lund from the Department of Food Science, who headed the study.
The study has just been published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Twice as good at fighting inflammation
To investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of combining polyphenols with proteins, the researchers applied artificial inflammation to immune cells. Some of the cells received various doses of polyphenols that had reacted with an amino acid, while others only received polyphenols in the same doses. A control group received nothing.
The researchers observed that immune cells treated with the combination of polyphenols and amino acids were twice as effective at fighting inflammation as the cells to which only polyphenols were added.
“It is interesting to have now observed the anti-inflammatory effect in cell experiments. And obviously, this has only made us more interested in understanding these health effects in greater detail. So, the next step will be to study the effects in animals,” says Associate Professor Andrew Williams of the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, who is also senior author of the study.
Found in coffee with milk
Previous studies by the researchers demonstrated that polyphenols bind to proteins in meat products, milk and beer. In another new study, they tested whether the molecules also bind to each other in a coffee drink with milk. Indeed, coffee beans are filled with polyphenols, while milk is rich in proteins.
“Our result demonstrates that the reaction between polyphenols and proteins also happens in some of the coffee drinks with milk that we studied. In fact, the reaction happens so quickly that it has been difficult to avoid in any of the foods that we’ve studied so far,” says Marianne Nissen Lund.
Therefore, the researcher does not find it difficult to imagine that the reaction and potentially beneficial anti-inflammatory effect also occur when other foods consisting of proteins and fruits or vegetables are combined.
See also
“I can imagine that something similar happens in, for example, a meat dish with vegetables or a smoothie, if you make sure to add some protein like milk or yogurt,” says Marianne Nissen Lund.
Industry and the research community have both taken note of the major advantages of polyphenols. As such, they are working on how to add the right quantities of polyphenols in foods to achieve the best quality. The new research results are promising in this context as well:
“Because humans do not absorb that much polyphenol, many researchers are studying how to encapsulate polyphenols in protein structures which improve their absorption in the body. This strategy has the added advantage of enhancing the anti-inflammatory effects of polyphenols,” explains Marianne Nissen Lund.
The research is funded by Independent Research Fund Denmark and conducted in collaboration with the Technical University of Dresden in Germany.
Polyphenol Facts
- Polyphenols are a group of naturally occurring antioxidants important for humans.
- They prevent and delay the oxidation of healthy chemical substances and organs in our bodies, thereby protecting them from damage or destruction.
- Polyphenols are found in a variety of fruits and vegetables, tea, coffee, red wine and beer.
- Due to their antioxidant properties, polyphenols are used in the food industry to minimize the oxidation of fats in particular, as well as the quality deterioration of foods, to avoid off flavors and rancidity.
About this inflammation research news
Author: Michael Jensen
Source: University of Copenhagen
Contact: Michael Jensen – University of Copenhagen
Image: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: The findings will appear in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
A Nutritionist Shares the Dangers of Feeding Babies Almond Milk
- Pediatric nutritionist Marina Chaparro described the dangers of not feeding babies correctly.
- She has seen a baby in ketoacidosis, a sign of starvation, due to an almond milk diet.
- Diluting baby formula can also lead to lethargy and life-threatening seizures, doctors say.
Pediatric nutritionist Marina Chaparro was working at a Children’s hospital in Miami about five years ago when an infant was admitted with symptoms including weight loss and vomiting.
The baby had ketoacidosis, a potentially fatal condition that occurs when the body starts breaking down fatty acids for energy, releasing ketones and making the blood dangerously acidic.
At first, Chaparro and her physician colleagues, who worked in the pediatric endocrinology unit, thought the baby had type 1 diabetes, a common culprit of ketoacidosis.
But after a slew of tests, the providers learned the baby’s condition wasn’t caused by diabetes, but by starvation: His mom was feeding him an almond-milk diet, presumably based on medically unsound advice she’d found online.
Chaparro, who now runs her own bilingual children and family nutrition practice, said the story has stuck with her over the years because it illustrates the dangers of medical misinformation — something that’s only become more widespread in recent years.
Nut milk isn’t a safe substitute for baby formula
While nut milk can be integrated into most toddler’s diets, it doesn’t have the right nutrients to replace breast milk or formula in babies under 1, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Neither does cow’s milk, or other non-dairy milk substitutes.
Baby formula is “really hard to remake, it’s really hard to have that balance that food scientists are studying for years,” Chaparro said on a webinar hosted by the California Strawberry Commission. “Not to mention the risk of cross-contamination and infection” when making your own formula.
The baby’s mom “was doing the best she could,” Chaparro, added, and likely thought that because almond milk worked for her, it was good for her baby.
Chaparro said the baby ended up being OK, and was discharged after a few days of being fed with an appropriate formula. The mom left better educated, too.
But the experience made Chaparro realize “how deep in our culture these diet messages sometimes come, and we listen to them and we sometimes translate them to our kids and our families,” she said. “That’s the case I’m like, ‘This could be really dangerous.'”
Doctors say that diluting formula can be dangerous as well
Other moms have turned to internet recipes for homemade formulas more recently, in light of the the past year’s formula shortages.
Dr. Owais Durrani, an East Texas emergency-room physician, previously talked to Insider about the consequences, like lethargy and seizures, he witnessed firsthand.
In some cases, he said, parents watered down their formulas in an attempt to make them last longer, but that offsets the electrolyte balance, which can lead to low sodium in infants. That, in turn, can shrink babies’ blood volume, causing low blood pressure and life-threateningly low levels of circulating oxygen.
“A formula is essentially regulated as closely as any prescribed medication when it comes to the ingredients in it to make sure a baby’s kidneys are developing, their liver, their electrolytes — everything else is in a very fine balance,” he said.
“They’re not as resilient as an adult who might be out in the sun for 12 hours and get dehydrated — we’ll still be OK for the most part, but for a baby, that’s not the case,” Durrani added. “Each electrolyte, each component, each mineral in that formula is very important.”
In the face of shortages, Durrani recommended parents switch to other available brands, if possible, or ask their pediatrician or local hospital for formula samples.
“We’re here to help. We’re not going to turn a hungry baby away from the emergency department. We’ll make sure when that baby’s discharged, there’s some type of plan in place,” Durrani said. “But please don’t use any of those other options because that can lead to life-threatening issues.”
HelloFresh accused of using coconut milk obtained from monkey labor
HelloFresh uses coconut milk obtained from monkey labor in Thailand, according to allegations from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which is calling for a boycott of the meal delivery service.
Monkeys are chained, whipped, beaten and forced to spend long hours picking coconuts, an investigation by PETA Asia alleges. Claims of animals abuse were made against 57 operations in nine provinces of Thailand, according to the findings released on Monday.
In a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, HelloFresh said the company receives written assurances from its suppliers that its coconuts are not procured using monkeys.
“HelloFresh strictly condemns any use of monkey labor in its supply chain, and we take a hard position of not procuring from suppliers or selling coconut products which have been found to use monkey labor. We have written confirmation from all of our suppliers — in the U.S. and globally — that they do not engage in these practices.”
PETA
Brokers to HelloFresh’s coconut milk suppliers showed PETA the monkeys, who were chained on trash-strewn patches of dirt and flooded areas with car tires as their only shelter, according to the animal rights group, which published photos from its investigation as well as video footage.
Most of the monkeys are kidnapped from their families in nature, even though the species exploited by the coconut trade are threatened or endangered, according to the animal-welfare group.
PETA
“Monkeys are chained around the neck and forced to toil day in and day out, all for HelloFresh and other companies that lack a conscience,” Tracy Reiman, PETA’s executive vice president, claimed Monday in an emailed statement. “PETA is calling on everyone, including HelloFresh, to stop buying canned coconut milk from Thailand until moneys are no longer used and abused for profit.”
The Berlin-based company has a global reach, operating in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S.
The company had 7.5 million active customers in the third quarter, a three-month period in which the company netted it more than $1.9 billion in revenue, it said last month.
PETA for years has urged companies and people not to purchase any canned coconut milk products manufactured in Thailand due to its abuse claims. The group in 2020 obtained such a commitment from U.S. grocery brands including Walgreens and Stop & Shop.
After the findings from an earlier PETA investigation were released in 2019, the Thai government offered assurances that monkeys would no longer be forced to pick coconuts. Among the top exporters of coconuts, Thailand in 2019 exported $396 million worth of coconut milk, according to Reuters.
Thailand’s Wildlife Friends Foundation has long called out the practice of using monkeys to pick coconuts, and routinely rescues what it calls “abused coconut monkeys.” In May, the group described how a macaque had been cast out to survive on his own after no longer being of use to pick the fruit.
Is it safe for cats to drink milk?
Cats are commonly shown lapping milk from saucers. But can they safely drink milk?
The popular image of cats drinking milk may have emerged during the 19th century, when cats and dogs became popular subjects for artists. As the Industrial Revolution progressed and more people migrated to cities, the number of cat and dog owners grew, and artists were increasingly called on to paint charming works of pets. As such, French artist Alfred-Arthur Brunel de Neuville often drew cats drinking from bowls of milk, and his work proved very popular during his lifetime, according to Rehs Galleries (opens in new tab) in New York City.
However, giving milk to adult cats might actually do more harm than good to them, according to Britain’s leading veterinary charity, the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (opens in new tab). Cats often lose their tolerance for lactose, the sugar found in milk, when they get older, just as most humans do.
“For most cats, the ability to digest lactose declines after weaning,” Nathalie Dowgray, head of the International Society of Feline Medicine in the United Kingdom, told Live Science. “As a result, milk can cause digestive issues in cats and lead to symptoms such as diarrhea or vomiting.”
Related: Is it safe to feed cats and dogs a vegetarian diet?
Some cats may keep the ability to digest lactose into adulthood, just as some people do, Dowgray noted. Still, “there are no additional nutritional benefits to giving your cat cow’s milk if they are fed a high-quality complete and balanced cat food,” she said.
In addition, cow’s milk is full of fat. A saucer of milk for a cat “is like you eating an entire 12-inch pizza,” the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals noted. As such, cow’s milk can lead a cat to become overweight, Dowgray said.
Moreover, “cow’s milk contains high levels of phosphate,” Dowgray said. This means it is best for cats to avoid it if they have been diagnosed with kidney disease, she noted. Phosphorus can impair kidney health in cats with chronic kidney disease, according to a 2017 study in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery (opens in new tab).
Cats may still crave milk despite the problems it causes because they may connect it with positive memories from their time as kittens, according to Hastings Veterinary Hospital (opens in new tab) in Burnaby, British Columbia. They may also simply like the taste of the fat in it, the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals noted.
Kittens do normally drink their mother’s milk until they are fully weaned, at a few months old. Kittens that require hand-rearing, in situations such as illness or the loss of their mothers, “should be fed a carefully formulated kitten milk replacer that meets their nutritional requirements,” Dowgray said.
Other types of milk, such as cow’s or goat’s milk, are not suitable replacements for cat milk, as they don’t contain enough protein or fat to meet a kitten’s needs for growth and development, Dowgray said. Veterinarians can recommend high-quality kitten milk replacers that are safe and correctly formulated for kittens, she noted.
“Weaning onto solid foods should begin at three to four weeks of age and should take place gradually until the kittens are able to accept a complete diet of solid food,” Dowgray said.
Special milks for cats are sometimes marketed in supermarkets and pet stores. “Instead of purchasing milk products for cats, which offer no additional nutritional value, we would recommend that owners focus on making sure their cats have access to plenty of fresh clean water every day,” Dowgray said.
Pregnant Woman Diagnosed With a Clogged Milk Duct, but It Was Cancer.
- Lindsey Gritton said she was misdiagnosed with a clogged milk duct when she was 34 weeks pregnant.
- After requesting an ultrasound, Gritton said she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
- She said she wants other young women to know the importance of advocating for themselves.
Lindsey Gritton said she was 34 weeks pregnant with her second daughter when she began to experience a burning sensation in her right armpit and the outside of her right breast in April. The burning would come and go, she said, but it persisted for about a week. Shortly after, the 29-year-old said she discovered a lump on the outer right side of her breast, the size of a small marble.
Gritton said the lump felt similar to a clogged milk duct she had in her first pregnancy, but this one was a little different because she couldn’t unclog it herself, and the pain was persistent. She scheduled an appointment with her ob-gyn, who told her it was most likely a clogged milk duct causing mastitis, an inflammation of the breast tissue. The doctor prescribed her antibiotics, but Gritton said she still felt skeptical.
Gritton recalled her doctor saying: “I’ve seen this a thousand times. I have so many people with this problem when they’re pregnant.”
“And I just knew what a clogged duct felt like,” Gritton said. “And so in the back of my head, I knew that it wasn’t that.”
Gritton said she insisted on getting an ultrasound, even after her doctor told her she was too young for it to be cancer. “She didn’t even want to do an ultrasound. I had to just keep asking for it. I was like, ‘I really need to get an ultrasound because I’m really worried about it,'” she said.
Gritton said that when she went in for her appointment a few days later, she knew from looking at the ultrasound technician’s face that something was wrong.
“She kept going over it with her little wand thing, and she kept looking at the screen. They’re not allowed to say anything to you, but I could just tell by that look on her face that it just wasn’t good,” she said.
She said her ultrasound results indicated a high likelihood of cancer, and a biopsy a week later confirmed that she had invasive ductal carcinoma. She said doctors told her the cancer had likely already spread because of the size of the tumor. They couldn’t know for sure, though, until they took a PET scan, which wasn’t possible while Gritton was pregnant because of the radioactive tracers used in the scan, which can expose unborn children to radiation.
Gritton’s pregnancy was induced a week later, she said, three weeks before her original due date. After she gave birth, she said the PET scan confirmed that she had stage 4 cancer that had spread to her liver. She started chemotherapy two weeks later.
Gritton is hopeful, despite her diagnosis
Gritton said she’s been undergoing chemotherapy for four months and goes in for treatments every three weeks. She said she feels lucky to live close to her husband’s family in Gainesville, Georgia, who take care of the kids from time to time.
Lindsey Gritton
Gritton said she’s hopeful that chemotherapy can eliminate most of her cancer. Her most recent scans showed that 80% of it is gone, she said.
Advocating for herself saved her life
Gritton said she wants to let women know the importance of advocating for themselves when they’re worried about their health.
“If I wouldn’t have advocated for myself, I don’t even think I’d be here today. Because from what they told me with my blood work and everything, my liver was already failing,” she said.
Young women should also get screened for breast cancer regularly, especially when they’re pregnant, she said.
Oatly almond milk among 53 products recalled over bacterial infection
correction
The recall includes Oatly’s Oat-Milk Barista Edition. An earlier version incorrectly identified it as almond milk.
The maker of Oatly and other specialty drinks has issued a recall for 53 of its products because of potential microbial contamination, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Fresno, Calif.-based Lyons Magnus issued the voluntary recall after a preliminary analysis showed it did not meet commercial sterility benchmarks, raising the risk of contamination from Cronobacter sakazakii. Though no illnesses have been reported in connection with the issue, the agency advises against consuming any of the products.
The recall extends to various protein drinks, coffee products and other beverages, including Oatly’s Oat-Milk Barista Edition, Stumptown Cold Brew Coffee with Oat Milk and Aloha plant-based protein drinks, as well as offerings from Lyons, Glucerna, Pirq, Intelligentsia, Kate Farms, Premier Protein, MRE and Imperial.
Although cronobacter infections are rare, vulnerable populations and those who are immunocompromised are more susceptible to illness. Common symptoms include fever, vomiting and urinary tract infection.
Cronobacter was found in infants who were sickened or died after consuming formula from an Abbott factory in Michigan. Although the illnesses could not be traced to the plant, and the company said bacteria tied to the illnesses did not originate there, the factory was closed for months after the FDA cited unsanitary conditions, leading to a nationwide shortage of baby formula.
None of the products in the Lyons recall are intended for infants.
The FDA published a list of specific lot codes and product codes to identify the recalled products, which were distributed nationally. More information can be found at fda.gov or by calling the company’s recall support line at 800-627-0557.
Ancient Europeans were lactose intolerant but drank milk, study finds
People who could tolerate milk, that theory goes, gained a new source of calories and protein and passed on their genes to more healthy offspring than those without the genetic trait — known as lactase persistence — that allows them to digest the sugar in milk into adulthood.
But a new study has offered a radically different theory, arguing that side effects such as gas, bloating and intestinal cramps weren’t enough on their own to move the evolutionary needle on the genetic mutation.
“Prehistoric people in Europe may have started consuming milk from domesticated animals thousands of years before they evolved the gene to digest it,” the study’s authors said.
The study, published in the journal Nature, was produced in collaboration with more than 100 scientists across a range of fields including genetics, archaeology and epidemiology. The scientists mapped out estimated milk consumption in Europe from approximately 9,000 years ago to 500 years ago.
By analyzing animal fat residues in pottery from hundreds of archaeological sites, alongside DNA samples harvested from ancient skeletons, the researchers concluded that lactase persistence was not common until around 1,000 B.C., nearly 4,000 years after it was first detected.
And, rather than in times of abundance, they argue that it was during famine and epidemics that having the mutation became critical to survival: when undigested lactose could lead to serious intestinal illnesses and death.
Using archaeological records to identify periods where populations shrank, they concluded that people were more likely to drink milk when all other food sources had been exhausted, and that during those periods, diarrhea was more likely to escalate from a mild to a deadly condition.
George Davey Smith, an epidemiologist at the University of Bristol, who teamed up with the researchers on an analysis of contemporary data on milk and lactase persistence in current populations, said the study raises “fascinating questions” about whether some people who believe they are lactose intolerant “might actually be fine if they drank milk.”
About a quarter of Americans are lactose intolerant. In a lawsuit filed last year, a group of American doctors asked why the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s dietary guidelines recommend so much dairy — suggesting that the federal agency is looking out for the interests of the meat and dairy industries rather than the health of Americans.
Previous studies have suggested that populations had to rely heavily on dairy before individuals adapted to tolerate it in abundance. A smaller study in 2014 found the variation that allows humans to digest lactose didn’t appear in Hungarian DNA samples until 3,000 years ago, whereas it may have cropped up as far back as 7,000 years in places such as Ireland where cheesemaking became abundant.
Amber Milan, an expert in dairy intolerance at the University of Auckland, said the idea that the lactase mutation became important to survival only when Europeans began enduring epidemics and famines is a “sound theory” and “supported by previous research of drivers of genetic selection.”
She added, however, that she is not sure the new study “entirely rules out that widespread milk consumption was the evolutionary force behind lactose tolerance” — partly because the genetic data was collected from Biobank, a British biomedical database of genetic and health information from some 500,000 people.
The authors have also focused on the major European genetic variant for lactase persistence — which, while appropriate for this study, “does potentially miss other genetic variants that result in lactase persistence,” Milan said.
Activision Blizzard Devs Don’t Want Any More Breast Milk Stolen
10 months after a California lawsuit alleged widespread sexual harassment and discrimination at Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard, employees at the company don’t feel like it’s made the necessary changes and have created a worker committee to demand further reforms. Chief among them are calls for independent investigations, an end to retaliation, trans-inclusive healthcare, and protections for breastfeeding.
“We believe it is imperative that workers have a voice in Activision Blizzard’s anti-discrimination policies—without that, the company’s culture of harassment and abuse will continue to go unchecked,” senior motion graphic designer and member of the Worker Committee Against Sex & Gender Discrimination, Emily Knief, said in a statement today. “We hope to have a productive conversation with leadership where they acknowledge these growing concerns and enact the demands brought forth by the committee.”
The list of demands, as first reported by The Washington Post, includes things like the committee having a say in how policies are developed, witnesses at HR meetings, and more resources for customer support and community managers facing harassment by customers. It also calls for, in regard to cases of sexual harassment or discrimination, more clear-cut ends to mandatory arbitration and corporate retaliation which go beyond the company’s existing concessions in those areas.
“We appreciate that these employees want to join with us to further build a better Activision Blizzard and continue the progress we have already made,” Activision Blizzard spokesperson Jessica Taylor said in a statement. “We have, for example, already upgraded our lactation facilities, waived arbitration, hired new DEI and EEO leaders, and collaborated with employees to make our policies and processes more Trans inclusive, just to name a few issues the letter raises.”
Activision Blizzard has promised to waive mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment and discrimination claims when employees request it, but the committee is calling for the practice to be ended in its entirety. Similarly, Activision Blizzard says it has a strict policy against retaliation, but the committee is calling on “retaliation” to be more specifically defined.
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“Within 180 days of filing a claim, or until resolution of the dispute, if an employee is demoted or removed from their team or their work changes in other ways (work gets taken away from them for instance, or they are disciplined) that action is presumed to be retaliation,” it writes. The company is currently being sued by an employee who alleges that in addition to facing sexual harassment and misconduct, she was retaliated against by managers after reporting it in the form of missed promotions and bad performance reviews.
The committee also has a detailed list of demands specifically around breastfeeding, and cites a number of concerns shared by employees over the years:
1. The chairs in the private rooms would rock backward and could not be locked in position to properly position oneself to pump. Many workers were sitting on the floor to pump.
2. The tables were made of wood, were porous and textured so even though they were cleaned, breast milk built up and caked on the table discoloring and leaving trapped milk on the table.
3. The outlet situation was a fire hazard. There are only two plugs per room, one plug being used by a lamp with a USB jack for phones and another outlet was for the pump. There are no outlets for laptops or extra space to place a laptop if workers would like to work from this room. This resulted in extension cords being used.
4. Insufficient storage space: there were no locked cubbies for workers to keep their pump safe. Many workers had to lug them across campus multiple times a day as they didn’t want to leave them behind.
5. Refrigerators had padlocks that were not consistently locked or could be accessed by other workers. Workers were also using the refrigerators to store their beer in but the reason there were locks on them in the first place was due to workers’ breastmilk being stolen.
6. Sanitation standards were not being kept up. It did not appear that housekeeping was cleaning those rooms consistently the way the rest of the offices were.
Similar issues have been reported previously, and were shared on social media last December when a former Blizzard developer said their breast milk had been stolen from the work fridge. According to Activision Blizzard, there are more pumping locations that are properly equipped, “Quiet Rooms” now have pin codes, and the fridges have locks on them.
“We encourage any employees witnessing or experiencing inappropriate behavior to report it so it can be investigated,” the company said. Responses like that are part of the issue, however. While the committee is asking for direct involvement in the decision-making process, the company has stopped short of offering it.
Nowhere is that more clear than in the committee’s request around HR interactions. The employees want all of them to be documented, and for employees to have the option of bringing another coworker along. It’s a practice not uncommon among unionized workers. Instead, Activision Blizzard suggested employees who have concerns “approach a senior leader whom they trust.” Last fall, thousands of employees at the company called on its most senior leader, CEO Bobby Kotick, to resign.
The committee’s demands come a day after quality assurance developers at one of Activision’s Call of Duty studios successfully formed the first-ever union at a major U.S. gaming company. Today, the company announced that Modern Warfare 2 will come out on October 28.