According to the Associated Press, the city of Cleveland sued the state of Ohio on Tuesday for the right to ban the sale of prepared foods that contain artery-clogging trans fats. The city filed suit in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court seeking to invalidate the state law blocking the ban. Mayor Frank Jackson said in announcing the lawsuit that the law unconstitutionally takes away the city’s home rule rights. The city ordinance passed last year would ban industrially produced trans fats in restaurant meals and grocery and bakery takeout items.
Altria: A Good Stock Buy for 2012?
The shares of Altria Group, the leading cigarette maker in the U.S., rose 20% in 2011’s flat market, and it’s up 50% over the past two years, nearly four times the market’s gain, reports Barron’s this week. Two weeks ago, the stock of Altria, the parent of Philip Morris USA, hit a 52-week high. But, warns Barron’s, investors have largely ignored the risks accompanying the domestic tobacco business. U.S. cigarette sales are in a severe long-term decline. Shipments are down by a third over the past 10 years. In 2011 alone, cigarette volumes fell an estimated 3.8%, reflecting the weak economy and an ever-growing public backlash against smoking. “Operating conditions in the U.S. cigarette industry are more difficult than generally recognized,” says David Adelman, long-time tobacco analyst at Morgan Stanley. He isn’t recommending any of the stocks.
The Champion of Pain Killers
Overdoses from painkillers now kill nearly 15,000 people a year and many experts doubt that they are effective in reducing long term pain. Yet a new investigation by Pro Publica, also published in the Washington Post, finds that an influential champion for painkillers is the American Pain Foundation, the nation’s largest advocacy group for pain patients. But 90% of the Foundation’s 2010 income came from the drug and medical device industry and its positions closely follow those of its corporate donors.
Food and Media Companies Lobby to Weaken Guidelines on Marketing Food to Children
A major lobbying push by a powerful group of food and media companies appears to be working, with a federal agency indicating it would back off on parts of proposed voluntary guidelines for marketing food to children. The guidelines are meant to combat childhood obesity. In a report for the Sunlight Foundation published earlier this month, Nancy Watzman found that in 2011, 26 food and beverage and media companies spent more than $37 million on lobbying the federal government on food and marketing issues.
Surge in Gun Ownership Boosts Gun Industry
Bloomberg News reports that domestic handgun production and imports more than doubled over four years to about 4.6 million in 2009, citing the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun-industry trade group. In addition, reports USA Today, on this year’s Black Friday, the holiday shopping bonanza that follows Thanksgiving, gun retail sales surged to 129,166, far surpassing the previous single day high of 97,848 on Black Friday of 2008.
McDonalds Fined in Brazil for Happy Meal Toy Giveaways
According to Ad Age, McDonald’s is being fined $1.8 million by the government of Sao Paulo for giving away toys with Happy Meals, following a complaint by a consumer defense group, reported Brazilian trade publication Meio & Mensagem, Ad Age’s editorial partner in Brazil. The Instituto Alana, a Brazilian nonprofit, claimed that the free toy with a McLanche Feliz (“Happy Meal” in Portuguese) “distorts values” and encourages “unhealthy eating habits” among children. The institute’s Children and Consumption Project filed a complaint with Procon-SP, part of the Sao Paulo government’s Department of Justice and Defense of Citizens.
Brazil Widens War on Tobacco
Fox News Latino reports that the Brazilian government is a presidential signature away from passing a law that would not only ban smoking in enclosed public places nationwide, but also further extend smoking restrictions. The new law makes it illegal to light up in smoking rooms, in airports and bars, bans cigarette advertisements everywhere cigarettes are sold, and increase taxes on cigarettes by up to 300 percent.
How the Food Industry Eats Your Kid’s Lunch
In an opinion essay in the New York Times, Lucy Komisar describes an increasingly cozy alliance between companies that manufacture processed foods and companies that serve the meals in public schools. This partnership, she writes, “is making students — a captive market — fat and sick while pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars in profits. At a time of fiscal austerity, these companies are seducing school administrators with promises to cut costs through privatization. Parents who want healthier meals, meanwhile, are outgunned.”
Global NGOs Call on Namibia to Stand Strong against Tobacco Industry Bullying
In response to British American Tobacco (BAT)’s threats to sue the government of Namibia, a global network representing more than 50 countries is calling on the government to make public health a priority and stand strong in the face of industry bullying. The Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT) sent a letter to Minister of Health and Social Services Dr. Richard Kwemi urging the government to protect current and future generations from tobacco addiction, disease, and death. NATT members are also calling on Dr. Kwemi to invoke Article 5.3 of the global tobacco treaty (formally known as the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control), which obligates ratifying countries to protect their health policies from tobacco industry interference, as a tool to stand up to BAT.
Freedom Group Leads in Gun Sales
In the 12 months that ended in March 2010, the Freedom Group, a new company created by the private investment group Cerberus Capital Management, sold 1.2 million long guns and 2.6 billion rounds of ammunition. Its rapid growth makes it a major player in the international arms market. In an in-depth report, the New York Times profiles the creation and growth of this new weapons behemoth. Stephen Feinberg, the founder and CEO of Cerberus, specializes in buying companies cheap, restructuring them and selling at a profit. In the first nine months of 2011, gun sales at the Freedom Group were up 5.6 percent.
Corporations and Health Watch 