Current Events in October 2008

A federal judge has banned Kevin Trudeau from infomercials in which he has an interest for three years and ordered him to pay more than $5 million in profits from his book, "The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About."

The ruling confirms an earlier contempt finding against Trudeau -- the second time he has been found in contempt of court in the past four years.

In August, Judge Robert W. Gettleman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois stood by his conclusion in 2007 that Trudeau "clearly, and no doubt intentionally," violated a provision of a 2004 stipulated court order that prohibits Trudeau from misrepresenting the content of books in his infomercials.

The judge stated that "the Infomercial[s] falsely and intentionally led thousands (probably hundreds of thousands) of consumers to believe that the Weight Loss Book would describe an 'easy,' 'simple' protocol that, once 'finished' would allow the consumer to 'eat anything' he or she wants."

Stating that Trudeau was "not a credible witness," the judge noted several "undeniably false" statements in his infomercials, finding that, contrary to Trudeau's claims:

• The diet protocol could not be done "easily" and "at home," because the protocol described in Trudeau's book requires colonics, which must be done at the office of a licensed practitioner, as well as injection of human growth hormone (HGH);

• Dieters could not "complete" or "finish" Trudeau's four-phase program, because Trudeau's book states that "Phase 4 is for the rest of your life";

• Dieters could not eat "anything" they want, because Trudeau's book prescribes that dieters following Phase 4 must eat "only 100% organic food," and no "brand name" food, "fast food," or "food served by regional or national chain restaurants"; and

• The diet protocol did not require "no exercise," because Trudeau's book states that three of the diet's four phases, including Phase 4, require walking one hour outside every day.

Given Trudeau's "history of deception and contemptuous violation of court orders" and his "willful efforts to deceive consumers" into believing that his weight-loss book contained material that it did not, the court confirmed its ruling that found Trudeau in contempt of the 2004 order.

The Federal Trade Commission filed its first lawsuit against Trudeau in 1998, charging him with making false and misleading claims in infomercials for products he claimed could cause significant weight loss and cure addictions to heroin, alcohol, and cigarettes, and enable users to achieve a photographic memory.

A stipulated court order resolving that case barred Trudeau from making false claims for products in the future, ordered him to pay $500,000 in consumer redress, and established a $500,000 performance bond to ensure compliance.

In 2003, the Commission charged Trudeau with violating the 1998 order by falsely claiming in infomercials that a product, Coral Calcium Supreme, could cure cancer. The court subsequently entered a preliminary injunction that ordered him not to make such claims.

When Trudeau continued to make cancer-cure claims about Coral Calcium, he was found in contempt of the injunction.

In 2004, Trudeau agreed to an order that resolved the Coral Calcium matter. The order directed him to pay $2 million in consumer redress and banned him from infomercials, except for infomercials for informational publications such as books, provided that he "must not misrepresent the content" of the books.

The most recent contempt action stems from Trudeau's misrepresentations of the contents of his weight-loss book in infomercials. In November 2007, Judge Gettleman found Trudeau in contempt, stating that he had misled thousands of consumers with false claims that were "in flagrant violation" of the court's order.

In his August ruling, the court banned Trudeau "or any person acting in concert with him, from participating in the production or publication of any infomercial for any product, including books, in which Mr. Trudeau or any related entity has an interest, for a period of three years from the date of this order." The court also imposed a judgment against Trudeau of more than $5 million dollars.

A safety/risk assessment is a scientifically based methodology used to estimate the risk to human health from exposure to specified compounds. It is based on available data and certain scientific assumptions in the absence of data.

The purpose of the FDA interim safety/risk assessment was to identify the level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in food that would not raise public health concerns. The interim safety/risk assessment evaluated the melamine exposure in infant formula and in other foods.

The safety/risk assessment, prompted by reports of melamine contamination of milk-derived ingredients and finished food products containing milk manufactured in China, was conducted by scientists from FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and the Center for Veterinary Medicine. The FDA reviewed scientific literature on melamine toxicity.

Infant Formula

FDA said it is currently unable to establish any level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in infant formula that does not raise public health concerns. In large part, this is because of gaps in scientific knowledge about the toxicity of melamine and its analogues in infants, including:

• the consequences of the continuous use of infant formulas as the sole source of nutrition;

• the uncertainties associated with the possible presence and co-ingestion of more than one melamine analogue; and

• for premature infants with immature kidney function, the possibility that they may be fed these formulas as the sole source of nutrition and thus on a body weight basis experience greater levels of intake for a longer time than is experienced by term infants.

There is too much uncertainty to set a level in infant formula and rule out any public health concern. However, it is important to understand that this does not mean that any exposure to any detectable level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in formula will result in harm to infants.

Other Food Products

In food products other than infant formula, the FDA concludes that levels of melamine and melamine-related compounds below 2.5 parts per million (ppm) do not raise concerns. This conclusion assumes a worst-case exposure scenario in which 50% of the diet is contaminated at this level, and applies a 10-fold safety factor to the Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) to account for any uncertainties.

The TDI is an estimate of the maximum amount of an agent to which an individual could be exposed on a daily basis over the course of a lifetime without an appreciable health risk.

FDA continues to screen products, collaborate with foreign governments and their regulatory agencies, and monitor reports of contamination from international sources to help ensure that potentially contaminated products from foreign sources are examined if imported into the United States.

The agency said it would take appropriate actions to prevent the products from entering commerce if they are adulterated because they contain melamine and/or a melamine-related compound.

The Wall Street meltdown has many consumers worrying about their fiscal health and may leave them vulnerable to opportunistic scam artists who try to capitalize on the economic crisis with get rich quick, lending and other scams, the New York State Consumer Protection Board (CPB) warns.

New Yorkers are resilient, said Governor David A. Paterson, but we are facing difficult times and need to do everything we can to protect our assets. While we in government are working at the highest levels to ensure a sound fiscal future for the State, I have called upon State agencies to provide individual assistance for consumers. The Consumer Protection Boards 'Watch List' is a good 'heads up' for all of us as we deal with financial stress."

As scammers are salivating over this situation, we must take steps to protect ourselves from any bad apples who can potentially make matters worse, said Mindy A. Bockstein, CPBs Chairperson and Executive Director. The results of this financial storm are devastating and may be far-reaching, but we can weather the squalls if we are alert and careful. The best advice is — dont panic, use common sense, and educate yourself with accurate information before taking action. The preventive medicine approach can limit consumer risk.

Using various tools including phone calls, unsolicited e-mails or text messages to relay their information, scammers perpetrate crimes against unsuspecting consumers. They may make offers of assistance to provide loans or information, often charging fees for services or products that are never delivered or leading people to believe they have won money through lotteries, inheritances or other schemes designed to take advantage of vulnerable consumers.

While many use Phishing scams designed to obtain personal and financial information to commit identity theft and fraud, others use clever schemes to bilk consumers out of their hard-earned money. While not all offers and invitations are unscrupulous, consumers are urged to be wary of the CPBs Fiscal Crisis Watch List and note the following tips for protecting themselves as they navigate the uncharted waters of this financial crisis.

Watch List

The board has placed the following on its Fiscal Crisis Watch List for consumers.

Credit Counseling and Debt Management Scams

What to be wary of? Some credit counseling and debt management companies are charging high up-front or monthly fees, using pressure tactics for voluntary contributions, or failing to provide specific and upfront information about the services they provide unless consumers give personal financial information such as credit card and bank account numbers and balances. While reputable credit counseling agencies can help consumers better manage their money, some credit counseling services take advantage of people who are financially vulnerable.

Questionable Loans

What to be wary of? Legitimate credit and loan opportunities are becoming more and more difficult to come by in these times of financial difficulty. While most loans are bona fide, consumers are warned to be careful about some tactics that can leave them vulnerable and even worse-off in the end. The CPB urges caution on the following two loans:

Payday Loans

What to be wary of? Payday loans, also called cash advance loans are typically small ($100 - $500), short-term loans used to cover expenses between paydays. Interest rates on these loans may run as high as 400%. Payday loan creditors will often offer to extend the time to repay the loan and take that opportunity to apply additional charges to the original loan, resulting in consumers falling even deeper into debt. Consumers should be sure they can repay these loans immediately, as they are not solutions to long-term financial problems. Further, consumers should not take the first loan offered, but are advised to shop around, ask questions and negotiate terms.

Home Equity and Debt Consolidation Loan

What to be wary of? Home equity and debt consolidation loans can leave consumers vulnerable to increased debt, possible foreclosure and the loss of their home. Abusive lending practices associated with these loans include equity stripping. Equity stripping occurs in various forms of complex business transactions. A common equity stripping tactic is for a company or "investor" to grant a loan to a homeowner in exchange for the deed to their property. The homeowner is usually in or on the brink of foreclosure, and accepts the terms of the loan to stay in the property and pay "rent" as a tenant. However, the homeowner never pays down the mortgage and the property is stripped of any equity, leaving the homeowner vulnerable to eviction. Consumers are urged to check out loan institutions carefully, making sure banks are FDIC insured before taking a loan.

Work At Home Scams

What to be wary of? With unemployment on the rise, work-at-home scams are expected to increase. The CPB is urging consumers who receive offers to make big money while working from home to examine those offers carefully to be sure they know with whom they are dealing and get references and details before signing up. People should be especially cautious about unsolicited e-mail job offers as many of these are fraudulent and particularly skeptical of envelope stuffing schemes and offers providing payment in advance for work not yet performed. Once these paychecks are deposited, banking information becomes available to the alleged employer, who can deplete accounts. Additionally, many of these checks are fake, so consumers end up owing the bank for the full amount of the check deposited. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that con artists pitching work-at-home schemes rake in more than $400 billion dollars a year.

Online Job Search Scams

What to be wary of? The CPB has noted an increase in the number of people conducting online job searches, and is warning consumers to be very suspicious of e-mail job offers looking legitimate but containing multiple grammatical and spelling errors, asking for personal information such as Social Security numbers or bank account information and requiring upfront processing fees for things like background checks as these can lead to identity theft. Particularly troubling for job hunters is a Phishing scam involving e-mails allegedly sent from websites where, after creating an account on sites like Monster.com or Careerbuilder.com, job hunters receive a response indicating a problem. These e-mails con readers into linking to a site, which then infects computers with viruses, worms and other harmful programs, leaving consumers without a job and without a functioning computer.

Investment Scams

What to be wary of? Consumers should carefully check all investment opportunity offers they receive to be sure that the offer is not a Phishing scam. In this scenario, an e-mail may be received from an alleged financial advisor claiming to be from a reputable institution with which the consumer already does business. Consumers should not respond to unsolicited e-mails. In at least one documented case, the sender was actually a scammer looking to siphon off information to enable the direct withdrawal of funds from the consumer account.

Preventive Measures

The CPB urges consumers to follow these tips to avoid schemes or scams.

1. GET INFORMATION UPFRONT AND IN WRITING and READ THE FINE PRINT.

2. ASK QUESTIONS about all offers received - - getting details on the terms, total price including any fees, interest rates, delivery dates for purchases, return or cancellation policies, and warranties for products and services. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

3. THINK CAREFULLY about every offer before accepting it. Take time to consider what youre planning to do. Do not act in haste. DO NOT let yourself be pressured into signing agreements. Make sure to RESEARCH companies, the offers they provide and their privacy and security policies and practices, and assure that there is an actual office, not just a mailbox or a website. Make sure the phone number matches the address given.

4. NEVER DISCLOSE credit card, bank account or Social Security numbers to someone who contacts you by telephone or Internet. Be wary of offers requiring the return of information in the form of a questionnaire or survey.

5. USE CAUTION WHEN CONSIDERING A LOAN, making sure to shop for the lowest fees and penalties and to borrow only as much as can be repaid.

6. DO NOT DEPOSIT a check or money order that you receive from a work-at-home offer or a sweepstakes.

7. NEVER PAY AN UPFRONT FEE in order to collect a lottery or sweepstakes prize. If they ask you for money before you can collect a prize, then its a scam. As a rule, DO NOT PAY IN CASH.

8. KEEP PAPERWORK, including copies of any complaints you file against a business. RECORD personal information using the CPBs Personal Identification Documentation (PIDD) card. DO NOT CARRY THIS CARD WITH YOU, but store it in a safe place where it can be accessed should your wallet or personal information be misplaced or stolen.

9. PASSWORD-PROTECT ACCOUNTS including financial and utility accounts and vital personal records using complex Personal Identification Numbers (PINs). Dont share these numbers.

10. CHECK YOUR CREDIT REPORT for fraud regularly through the three major credit reporting companies: Experian, Trans-Union and Equifax.

On Friday, the FDA said that levels of melamine below 2.5 parts per million (ppm) in food does not pose a health risk to humans. The only exception is infant formula.

The FDA said it is "currently unable to establish any level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in infant formula that does not raise public health concerns. There is too much uncertainty to set a level in infant formula and rule out any public health concern."

The agency added, "It is important to understand that this does not mean that any exposure to any detectable level of melamine and melaminerelated compounds in formula will result in harm to infants."

The FDA released these findings--part of its safety and risk assessment of melamine and melamine-related companies in food--in response to the Chinese-milk scandal.

Earlier this month, Chinese officials discovered melamine in powered infant formula made it that country. That contamination is blamed for the recent deaths of four infants in China and the illnesses of 53,000 other children in that country.

Chinese officials learned some dairy plants may have intentionally added melamine to milk products to make them appear to have higher protein levels.

The melamine contamination has since spread from infant formula to dozens of other food products sold around the world, including candy, coffee, and pretzels.

Melamine is a chemical used to make plastic and fertilizers. It is blamed for the illnesses and deaths of thousands of dogs and cats in the United States last year.

Doctors say melamine can cause kidney stones and lead to kidney failure. That's why Kansas consumer Mary W. is outraged by the FDA's decision to allow any levels of melamine in her food.

"I think they (the FDA) have opened a Pandora's Box," she told ConsumerAffairs.com today. "They have basically said they are going to allow the food supply to be contaminated.

"It seems to me that rather than finding a way to make our food supply safer by not allowing any toxin, the FDA has found a way to allow some to come in to the food supply," said Mary, who lives in Baldwin City, Kansas. "That just scares me."

Michael Prinster, chief operation officer of Romer Labs, said he understands Mary's concerns, but he has another view on the FDA's decision.

"I think it's a positive action because it means we (the FDA) are now going to start testing things for melamine. That is a good thing."

"My bigger concern," he added, "is that someone spiked the food products with a known contaminant--and with no regard for the consequences."

Prinster's company runs safety tests for the food, feed, and agriculture industry around the world. The Union, Missouri-based company now has a commercial kit that tests for melamine in milk and milk powder.

Prinster said his company recently tested 124 bags of Chinese-made White Rabbit Creamy candy for that chemical.

"We didn't find anything," he said. "We've tested a lot of other foods---milk or milk-power based foods--off the store shelves and did not found any melamine in them."

But melamine has been found in Chinese-made products that contain milk or power-milk ingredients in the United States and other countries around the world, including the following cases:

• Officials in California and Connecticut confirm they found melamine=-tainted White Rabbit Creamy Candy in their states. The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection said the tainted candy was primarily found in Asian markets;

• Queensway Foods Company Inc. of California -- a U.S. distributor of White Rabbit Creamy Candy--recalled the products last week because of melamine contamination. The company distributed the candy in California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington;

• Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority recalled the Chinese-made White Rabbit Creamy Candy after the products tested positive for melamine. It also said other Chinese-made food had tested positive for melamine, including Dutch Lady-brand banana and honeydew flavored milk, Silang-brand potato crackers, and two kinds of puffed rice balls;

• The New Zealand Food Safety Authority said it found high levels of melamine in Chinese-made White Rabbit Creamy Candy;

• The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) recently warn consumers not to eat, distribute, or sell White Rabbit candy because of possible melamine contamination;

• Canadian officials also warned consumers not to eat a popular brand of Chinese pretzels, which tested positive for melamine. The tainted products are Kaiser Strawberry Dressing Pretzels and Kaiser Choco Dressing Pretzels. The distributor of the pretzels, Dai Jung, has recalled the products;

• The British maker of the popular Cadbury candy has recalled 11 types of Chinese-made chocolates after the products tested positive for melamine. None of the Cadbury chocolates made in the US were involved in this action. The Hershey Company said it does not buy powered milk or other milk ingredients from China;

• The Taiwanese company that makes Mr. Brown instant coffee and milk tea has recalled seven of its products because of possible melamine contamination.

The FDA said it is not aware of any illnesses in the United States linked to the Chinese-made milk products products. It also said infant formula made in the United States is safe. Those companies are not importing formula or sourcing milk-based materials from China, the agency said.

FDA officials, however, warned consumers not to buy any Chinese-made infant formula. These products are often sold in Asian markets across the country. Meanwhile, the FDA said it will continue to screen imported products for melamine contamination.

"If products are adulterated because they contain melamine and/or a melamine-related compound, the agency will take appropriate actions to prevent the products from entering commerce," the FDA said in a written statement.

But those words offer little comfort to worried consumers like Mary in Kansas.

"I don't trust the FDA," she said, adding she has shared her concerns with her elected officials. "And now I'm struggling day-to-day on what to feed my family. When you go to the grocery story, how do you figure out what to buy?"

Mary has stopped buying any processed food and only eats meat sold by local farmers. She said she will continue to take these precautions until she is sure the food supply is safe.

But the FDA, she fears, can't give her that assurance anytime soon. "The FDA is galloping down a slippery slope."

Add auto loans to the list of headaches. A new report finds that nearly $25 billion in auto loans are past due.

Experian Automotive's analysis of lending trends found that loans 30 days past due were up 9 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, while loans 60 days past due were up 11 percent.

Currently, 2.48 percent of all automotive loans are 30 days past due, compared with 2.28 percent in the second quarter of 2007. Automotive loans 60 days past due rose to 0.75 of a percent from 0.67 of a percent.

The economy continues to force lenders to tighten their loan criteria while consumers are faced with increased difficulty in repaying those loans on time, said Scott Waldron, president of Experian Automotive. Our data has shown a clear pattern of rising past-due loans in the auto industry, where even a slight increase in delinquent loans severely affects the industry by accounting for hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid debt.

The study was released in Las Vegas at the Automotive Finance Summit, where lenders, dealers and manufacturers are trying to find a road to survival during the credit crisis.

Consumer credit has worsened in the past two years, with the percentage of prime automotive loans (680 credit score and above) falling by 8 percent. In the second quarter of 2008, 56.5 percent of all open automotive loans were to people with prime credit, down from 61.1 percent in the second quarter of 2006.

It is important for financial organizations to track these trends to evaluate how current economic forces are specifically impacting their loan portfolios, said Melinda Zabritski, director of automotive credit for Experian Automotive. Using outside information and analysis can help lenders understand unique credit patterns in local markets and how these subtle nuances can impact financing in one city versus another.

In other findings:

• Market share for "captive" finance companies (those owned by auto manufacturers) has fallen from 31.1 percent of all loans opened in the second quarter of 2006 to 25.2 percent of all loans opened in the second quarter of 2008

• As auto sales have fallen, total loan originations have dropped by 14 percent

• Banks have become more cautious in their overall lending, dropping their percentage of below subprime loans from 15.7 percent in the second quarter of 2006 to 9.7 percent in the second quarter of 2008

• Finance companies specializing in automotive loans have picked up the below subprime market share from banks, growing their below subprime portfolios from 15 percent in the second quarter of 2006 to 24.6 percent in the second quarter of 2008

• Below subprime is the fastest-growing automotive loan segment, increasing from 9.4 percent in the second quarter of 2006 to 13.4 percent in the second quarter of 2008.

A landmark, multi-state settlement has been reached with Countrywide Home Loans, Countrywide Financial Corporation and Full Spectrum Lending that is expected to provide up to $8.68 billion of home loan and foreclosure relief nationally.

"With this settlement, homeowners will receive direct relief from the catastrophic damage caused by Countrywide," said Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr., a co-leader of the negotiations for the states. "Countrywide's lending practices turned the American dream into a nightmare for tens of thousands of families by putting them into loans they couldn't understand and ultimately couldn't afford."

The Countrywide settlement will likely become the largest predatory lending settlement in history, dwarfing the nationwide $484 million settlement with Household Finance Corporation in 2002.

The settlement marks a swift resolution of the lawsuit alleging that Countrywide, the nation's largest mortgage lender prior to its July 2008 acquisition by Bank of America, deceived borrowers by misrepresenting loan terms, loan payment increases, and borrowers' ability to afford loans.

In a nutshell, this settlement will enable eligible subprime and pay-option mortgage borrowers to avoid foreclosure by obtaining a modified and affordable loan. The loans covered by the settlement are among the riskiest and highest defaulting loans at the center of America's foreclosure crisis.

The modification program covers subprime and pay-option adjustable-rate mortgage loans in which the borrower's first payment was due between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2007. The program will be available for loans in default that are secured by owner-occupied property and serviced by Countrywide Financial or one of its affiliates. In addition, the borrower's loan balance must be 75% or more of the current value of the home, and the borrower must be able to afford adjusted monthly payments under the terms of the modification.

The terms of the modification will vary based on the type of loan, including:

• "Pay-option ARM loans," in which loan balances increase each month if a borrower makes only a minimum payment. Borrowers may be eligible to have their principal reduced to 95% of their home's current value and may also qualify for an interest-rate reduction or conversion to an interest-only payment.

• Subprime adjustable-rate loans, such as 2/28 loans. Borrowers may have their interest rate reduced to the initial rate. If the borrower still cannot afford it, the borrower may be eligible for further interest-rate reductions to as low as 3.5%.

• Subprime fixed loans. Borrowers may be eligible for interest-rate reductions.

• "Hope for Homeowners Program." If they qualify, some borrowers may be placed in loans made through this federal program.

• Alt-A and prime loans. Borrowers who are in default, but have Alt-A and prime loans, may also be considered for modifications, depending on circumstances.

In addition to the settlement's direct relief to borrowers, Bank of America, who negotiated the settlement following its acquisition of Countrywide, has agreed that it will suspend offering, under its own name or through Countrywide, subprime loans or loans that can negatively amortize.

The bank has significantly restricted the circumstances under which it will make so-called "no doc" or low-documentation loans, in which borrowers do not fully document their ability to repay their mortgages.

The settlement involved AGs in 11 states, including Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Washington. The Countrywide parties to the settlement include parent Countrywide Financial Corporation, Countrywide Home Loans and Full Spectrum Lending.

The settlement does not include Angelo Mozilo, the former Chairman and Chief Executive of Countrywide Financial Corporation or David Sambol, formerly the President of Countrywide Home Loans and the President and Chief Operating Officer of Countrywide Financial Corporation. The case against them will continue.

October 6, 2008

After numerous recalls and months of concerns about Chinese-made food products and ingredients containing melamine, the Food and Drug Administration has addressed the issue of exactly how much melamine poses a risk. Very small amounts of the substance, the agency said, poses very little risk at all.

The FDA action brought a strong rebuke from Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Chairwoman of the Agriculture-- Food and Drug Administration subcommittee.

"While other countries throughout the world, including the European Union, are acting to ban melamine-contaminated products from China, the FDA has chosen to establish an acceptable level for melamine in food in an attempt to convince consumers that it is not harmful," she said. "Not only is this is an insult to consumers, but it would appear that the FDA is condoning the intentional contamination of foods."

By not insisting on a zero-tolerance policy with melamine, DeLauro said the FDA is failing to protect consumers, and is undercutting state officials in their efforts to keep melamine-tainted products out of stores.

"Once again, the FDA is failing to act to increase inspections and remove contaminated products from store shelves," DeLauro said. And once again, the FDA is demonstrating that the Congress has significant work ahead if it is to pass legislation that reforms the food safety system and changes the culture at an agency that is failing to protect the public from potential health risks."

The FDA set 2.5 parts per million as the maximum that can be safely consumed--but there is one rather strong caveat. The FDA says it has not been able to set a safe level for melamine in baby formula, and any amount should be considered too much. In the last few weeks at least 54,000 children in China have gotten sick from melamine-tainted milk or formula.

While Chinese-made infant formula has not been cleared for import into the U.S., other products made from tainted milk have shown up on U.S. store shelves. Chinese candy found last week in California reportedly had more than 500 parts per million of the chemical.

Late last week a company in New Jersey said it was recalling a beverage imported from China called Black Cat Flavor Drink because the FDA found melamine when it tested it.

What is melamine and why does it show up in Chinese food products? The chemical is designed to make food appear to have more protein and nutrition content than it actually does, when tested.

In other words, if added to a food on purpose, it could fool inspectors, or anyone testing the product, into thinking the food was of better quality than it actually is.

Melamine first became an issue for U.S. consumers last year, when the chemical was blamed for thousands of pet injuries and deaths after being discovered in a wide range of pet food brands.

October 3, 2008
Hearing loss is a fact of life in old age, cut there are growing concerns that people will begin losing their hearing at a young age. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders has launched a new campaign to help parents teach their 8- to 12-year-olds how to avoid hearing loss from overexposure to loud noise.

The new campaign, called It's a Noisy Planet. Protect Their Hearing, features a new Web site that offers advice to parents on the causes and prevention of noise-induced hearing loss, how to recognize when a child's hearing is at risk, and ways to reduce noise exposure.

The site contains games, posters, and interactive information about noise and hearing loss tailored specifically for tweens.

"Noise is everywhere, and children and adults alike are at risk for hearing loss from overexposure," said James F. Battey, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., director of the NIDCD. "Our goal through this campaign is to increase awareness among parents and children so that it will become second nature to use protective hearing techniques when they're exposed to loud noise, just like it's become second nature for many people to wear sunscreen when they're at the beach or to snap on a helmet when they go biking."

Children often are exposed to noises that can reach harmful levels and durations. Doing yard work, such as using a power mower, playing a musical instrument, whether it's a violin or electric guitar, or attending a sports event in a large stadium can be the source of too much noise.

Noise-induced hearing loss occurs when too much noise damages small sensory cells in the inner ear, called hair cells. Once damaged, these hair cells cannot be repaired. Hair cells can be injured instantly by an intense blast of noise, such as the bang of a firecracker, or gradually from repeated exposure to excessive noise.

Overexposure to noise also may cause tinnitus, a ringing, roaring, or clicking sound in the ear. Research also suggests that genetics may play a role in increasing a person's vulnerability to noise-induced hearing loss.

The campaign targets tweens because they are at an age when they are no longer little children, and are beginning to develop a sense of who they are and what they like to do. Reaching them at this age, while they're forming attitudes and habits related to their health, will help them understand that healthy hearing habits will benefit them for a lifetime.

• The Noisy Planet campaign advocates three ways to prevent NIHL:

• Block the noise by wearing earplugs or protective earmuffs, like those used by airport or lawn service workers.

• Avoid the noise by walking away or limiting time spent in noisy environments.

Turn down the sound on the growing number of tools, toys, and gadgets that add to the increasing noise level of daily life.

Amidst the battles over the $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, both houses of Congress passed legislation that would improve the collection of data on broadband availability in the United States, as well as new funding for groups that support increasing high-speed Internet access.

On September 27, the Senate passed the "Broadband Data Improvement Act," introduced last year by Senate Commerce Committee chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI). The House of Representatives passed companion legislation on Monday, and sent the bill to President Bush's desk for signature into law.

Inouye hailed the bill's passage as a stepping-stone to providing broadband access to the nation.

"The federal government has a responsibility to ensure the continued rollout of broadband access, as well as the successful deployment of the next generation of broadband technology," Inouye said. "But as I have said before, we cannot manage what we do not measure. This bill will give us the baseline statistics we need in order to eventually achieve the successful deployment of broadband access and services to all Americans."

The legislation would make several changes to how the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other agencies handle their collection of data on broadband Internet, including:

• A mandate for the FCC to report to Congress annually on the state of broadband adoption in America, rather than periodically. The FCC report would have to list what kind of technologies citizens use to access the Internet, the cost per month of the services, what applications or devices they use in conjunction with their service, and how fast the connection speeds really are.

• Adding a question to the Census Bureau survey asking if the respondent uses dial-up or broadband for their Internet access.

• Tasking the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to create tools to help consumers evaluate the speed and availability of broadband Internet, as well as how the United States' Internet availability compares with other countries.

• Establishing grants for nonprofit, public-private enterprises to study barriers to broadband adoption across the country.

The House and Senate bills had several differences, but were eventually whittled down, with the only remaining change being that the House version required reports to be sent to the House Commerce Committee as well as the Senate.

Media watchdog group Free Press said the legislation represented "a crucial step toward a national broadband policy."

"Our current broadband data collection system has had serious problems for years," said Free Press' policy director Ben Scott. "The absence of accurate information about the price, speed and availability of high-speed broadband has crippled our government's ability to advance innovative technology policies."

The FCC has been heavily criticized in recent years for using poor data-gathering techniques that did not accurately measure what parts of the country actually had access to broadband. Under the old system, if a single subscriber in a ZIP code had broadband Internet access, the entire region was considered covered.

The FCC in June announced major revisions to its data collection system, including setting its minimum standard for broadband from 200 kbps to 768 kbps, the average speed of a slow DSL connection.

But the agency simultaneously released a report claiming that broadband availability was on the rise for all Americans--using the old statistics.

If you've balanced a laptop computer on your lap lately, you probably noticed a burning sensation. That's because ever-increasing processing speeds are creating more and more heat, which has to go somewhere--in this case, into your lap.

Two researchers at the University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science aim to lay the scientific groundwork that will solve the problem using nanoelectronics, considered the essential science for powering the next generation of computers.

"Laptops are very hot now, so hot that they are not 'lap' tops anymore," said Avik Ghosh, an assistant professor in the Charles L. Brown Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "The prediction is that if we continue at our current pace of miniaturization, these devices will be as hot as the sun in 10 to 20 years."

To head off this problem, Ghosh and Mircea Stan, also a professor in the department, are re-examining nothing less than the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The law states that, left to itself, heat will transfer from a hotter unit to a cooler one--in this case between electrical computer components--until both have roughly the same temperature, a state called "thermal equilibrium."

The possibility of breaking the law will require Ghosh and Stan to solve a scientifically controversial--and theoretical--conundrum known as "Maxwell's Demon."

Introduced by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell in 1871, the concept theorizes that the energy flow from hot to cold could be disrupted if there were a way to control the transfer of energy between two units. Maxwell's Demon would allow one component to take the heat while the other worked at a lower temperature.

This could be accomplished only if the degree of natural disorder, or entropy, were reduced. And that's the "demon" in Maxwell's Demon. "Device engineering is typically based on operating near thermal equilibrium," Ghosh said.

But, he added, nature has examples of biological cells that operate outside thermal equilibrium.

"Chlorophyll, for example, can convert photons into energy in highly efficient ways that seem to violate traditional thermodynamic expectations," he said.

A closely related concept, Brownian "ratchets," will also be explored. This concept proposes that devices could be engineered to convert non-equilibrium electrical activity into directed motion, allowing energy to be harvested from a heat source.

If computers could be made with components that operate outside thermal equilibrium, it could mean better computer performance. Basically, your laptop wouldn't burst into flames as it processes larger amounts of information at faster speeds. Also, because it would operate at extremely low power levels and would have the ability to harness, or scavenge, power dissipated by other functions, battery life would increase.

Combining Ghosh's command of physics with Stan's expertise in electrical engineering, the two hope to bridge the concept of tackling Maxwell's Demon and Brownian ratchets from theoretical physics to engineered technologies.

"These theories have been looked at from a physics perspective for years, but not from the perspective of electrical engineering," Stan said. "So that's where we are trying to break some ground."

Consumers often fail to get the complete picture from news media reports about medical research. An analysis of coverage of medical studies indicates that reports often fail to report pharmaceutical company funding and frequently refer to medications by their brand names -- both potential sources of bias.

News articles represent an important source of medical information for many patients, and even some physicians.

"An increasingly recognized source of commercial bias in medical research is the funding of studies by companies with a financial interest in the results," the authors write study in the October 1 issue of JAMA.

Little is known about how frequently news articles report the funding sources of the medical research they report on, or how frequently news articles use brand medication names instead of generic names, which could create commercial bias.

Researchers at the Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass., reviewed U.S. news articles from newspaper and online sources about pharmaceutical-funded medication studies to determine how frequently and prominently they indicate the funding source and how often they refer to medications by their brand vs. generic names.

The studies were published in five major general medical journals - JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Archives of Internal Medicine and the Annals of Internal Medicine. The researchers also surveyed editors at the 100 most widely circulated newspapers in the U.S. about their publications' practices on the reporting of company funding and the use of generic medication names.

The authors identified 306 news articles, of which 175 were from newspapers and 131 were from online sources. Among the 306 news articles about company-funded medication studies, the funding source for the studies was not reported in 42 percent of the articles. There was no significant difference in non-reporting rates between articles obtained from newspaper and online sources.

Of the 306 news articles, 277 concerned medications with both generic and brand names. Among these 277 articles, 38 percent used only brand names and 67 percent used brand names in at least half of the medication references.

The survey of newspaper editors found that 88 percent indicated that their publications often or always reported company funding in articles about medical research, and that 77 percent reported that they often or always referred to medications by the generic names in articles about medical research.

Three percent of editors indicated that their publication had a written policy stating that company funding should be reported in articles about medical research, while the editor at two percent of newspapers responded that their publications had a written policy stating that medications should be referred to predominantly by their generic names.

However, the editors' perceptions diverged from their publications' actual performances. A total of 104 newspaper articles were analyzed from publications for which editors reported always identifying company funding. Of these articles, 45 percent failed to cite company funding.

Additionally, a total of 75 newspaper articles were analyzed from publications for which the editors reported always using generic names. Of these articles, 76 percent used brand names in at least half of the medication references.

"Our findings raise several concerns. For patients and physicians to evaluate new research findings, it is important that they know how the research was funded so they can assess whether commercial biases may have affected the results," the authors write.

"Additionally, the use of generic medication names by the news media is preferable so that physicians and patients learn to refer to medications by their generic names, a practice that is likely to reduce medication errors and may decrease unnecessary health care costs," they conclude.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed landmark legislation that will put calorie counts on chain restaurant menus and menu boards.

Though enacted in New York City, Seattle, and several other jurisdictions, California is the first state in the country to pass such a measure.

"Ten years from now, it will probably seem strange that once upon a time, chain restaurants didn't list calories on menus and menu boards for everyone to see," said Margo G. Wootan, nutrition policy director at the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), which has been spearheading the menu labeling movement nationwide. "We hope that what California legislators and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger have done is replicated in many other state capitols, and that it eventually goes nationwide."

The California menu labeling bill applies to fast-food and other chain restaurants having 20 or more outlets in California and only to standardized menu items, not daily specials or customized orders.

The bill goes into full effect in 2011, though between now and then restaurant chains will be required to make brochures with nutrition information available in their restaurants.

The bill preempts cities and counties from enacting competing menu labeling provisions, as San Francisco and Santa Clara County have, though the bill's advocates consider that a price worth paying given how many more people will now have access to calorie information.

"Restaurant diners in California will no longer have to guess when it comes to selecting meals for themselves and their children," Wootan said. "And California chain restaurants will have an incentive to add a wider range of healthy choices to their menus. It's great news for consumers."