Condannata la Nestlè e Tetrapack in Italia

Nel 2005 scoperta la presenza di un componente chimico negli alimenti: i prodotti furono ritiratiDa lì la denuncia dei genitori che avevano dato il latte alterato alle loro bambine
Latte contaminato con inchiostrogiudice condanna Nestlé e Tetra Pak
Il latte sequestrato dalla guardia forestale nel novembre 2005
CATANIA - Il Codacons ha ottenuto la prima sentenza in Italia di condanna di due multinazionali, quella del latte Nestlé e quella di confezionamento Tetra Pak. Una sentenza che, sottolinea l'associazione dei consumatori, servirà a fare giurisprudenza in una controversia importante per la salute pubblica. Soprattutto perché a rischiare sono stati i bambini, visto che il prodotto alterato era latte per la prima infanzia. Il giudice di pace di Giarre ha condannato la Nestlé Italiana e la Tetra Pak International, in solido tra loro, al pagamento dei danni, patrimoniale e non, oltre alle spese legali, a favore dei genitori di piccole che avevano utilizzato latte Nidina per le loro due figlie che conteneva Itx, un tipo di inchiostro utilizzato nella fabbricazione di imballaggi. L'inchiesta prese l'avvio il 22 novembre del 2005 da un fascicolo aperto dalla procura di Ascoli Piceno che sfociò nel sequestro di 30 milioni di litri di latte per bambini in tutto il territorio nazionale. Le analisi accertarono, nelle confezioni con scadenza maggio-settembre 2006, l'alterazione del latte e la presenza di tracce di un componente chimico utilizzato per gli inchiostri nella fabbricazione di imballaggi Tetra Pak a stampa off-set. In pratica il componente aveva contaminato gli alimenti contenuti negli involucri. I genitori di due bambine, che avevano consumato il latte in questione si rivolsero al Codacons per la tutela dei loro diritti e per chiedere al giudice il risarcimento del danno. Il giudice Salvatore Fisichella ha ora stabilito che "la commercializzazione del 'prodotto inquinato' comporta una responsabilità di natura contrattuale ed extracontrattuale in quanto si profila anche una ipotesi di responsabilità per il danno alla salute che la commercializzazione comporta". Il giudice di pace ha ritenuto che "gli attori hanno fornito prova idonea che a seguito dell'acquisto del latte Nestlé e della somministrazione dello stesso alle proprie figlie, subirono un danno di natura psicologica determinato dal turbamento e dalla preoccupazione che la prole possa essere contaminata a causa della sostanza 'inquinante'".
Nel novembre 2005 la stessa multinazionale svizzera ammise la contaminazione con la sostanza anche se non ritenne rischiosa la presenza di Itx nel latte. Non era ancora stabilita la tossicità ma l'alterazione del latte comunque c'era: da qui la necessità toglierlo dal mercato. La Nestlé annunciò quindi l'immediato ritiro del prodotto, in via cautelativa, anche in Francia, Spagna e Portogallo. Immediata la denuncia di Altroconsumo che estese le analisi e rilevò la contaminazione con la sostanza chimica anche in altri prodotti alimentari. In seguito la svedese Tetra Pak annunciò che non avrebbe più utilizzato inchiostro con Itx per realizzare le sue confezioni.

Melamine in baby food sold in United States

FDA Draws Fire Over Chemicals In Baby Formula
By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff WriterThursday, November 27, 2008; A02
Public health groups, consumer advocates and members of Congress blasted the Food and Drug Administration yesterday for failing to act after discovering trace amounts of the industrial chemical melamine in baby formula sold in the United States.
"This FDA, this Bush administration, instead of protecting the public health, is protecting industry," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the FDA budget. In an interview, DeLauro said she wants the agency to disclose its findings and to develop a plan to remove melamine from formula. "We're talking about babies, about the most vulnerable. This really makes me angry."
The FDA found melamine and cyanuric acid, a related chemical, in samples of baby formula made by major U.S. manufacturers. Melamine can cause kidney and bladder stones and, in worst cases, kidney failure and death. If melamine and cyanuric acid combine, they can form round yellow crystals that can also damage kidneys and destroy renal function.
Melamine was found in Good Start Supreme Infant Formula With Iron made by Nestle, and cyanuric acid was detected in Enfamil Lipil With Iron infant formula powder made by Mead Johnson. A spokesman for Nestle did not respond to repeated calls and e-mails for comment yesterday.
Gail Wood, a spokeswoman for Mead Johnson, said the company does not think that cyanuric acid poses a health threat to infants. "Cyanuric acid is approved by the FDA to sanitize processing equipment," she said. "The risks of not sanitizing equipment are far greater than ultra trace amounts of residual cyanuric acid found in the formula."
The FDA has been testing hundreds of food products for melamine in the aftermath of a scandal this year involving Chinese infant formula tainted with melamine. Chinese manufacturers deliberately added the chemical to watered-down formula to make it appear to contain higher levels of protein. More than 50,000 Asian infants were hospitalized, and at least four died.
The FDA collected 87 samples of infant formula made by American manufacturers, tested all but 10 of them and held a conference call Monday with manufacturers to alert them to the preliminary findings, FDA spokeswoman Judy Leon said. She said she did not know when the agency was planning to inform the public.
The test results were unearthed by the Associated Press, which had filed a request for records under the Freedom of Information Act.
Leon said that the amounts discovered are safe and that parents should continue to feed formula to their children. "We know that trace levels do not pose a risk whatsoever," she said.
That contradicts the agency's recent statements about melamine, including a position paper that was on its Web site yesterday that asserted there are no safe levels of melamine for infants. "FDA is currently unable to establish any level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in infant formula that does not raise public health concerns," the document said.
Agency scientists have maintained they could not set a safe level of melamine exposure for babies because they do not understand the effects of long-term exposure on a baby's developing kidneys. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that infant formula is a baby's sole source of food for many months. Premature infants absorb an especially large dose of the chemical, compared with full-term babies.
"Just one month ago, the FDA had been very clear about how they could not set a safe level of melamine in formula for babies," said Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst at the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization. "Now they're saying trace levels are no problem. What changed?"
The FDA thinks the melamine and cyanuric acid got into the U.S. formula as a byproduct of manufacturing and not as a result of tampering, Leon said. Melamine is found in plastic food packaging and in cleaning solutions that are sometimes used in food processing equipment.
The FDA spokeswoman said no illnesses have been linked to melamine consumption in the United States.
But Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives for Consumers Union, said that may not be true. "Given that this is not a problem that American doctors are used to dealing with, we can't be sure that if a small number of these cases developed, the connection would be made," said Halloran, who wants the formulas to be recalled from store shelves. "We just don't know."
Halloran said it is also possible some babies are receiving a variety of infant formula and could be ingesting melamine in one bottle and cyanuric acid in another bottle, creating a dangerous mix.
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who is on the House Commerce and Energy Committee, is also seeking a recall. "Until they establish a safety standard, how can they say what's safe?" he said. "They need to pull this."
Critics said the FDA's reassurances about products carry less weight after the recent controversy over bisphenol-A, a chemical found in plastic baby bottles, dinnerware and the linings of food cans. The FDA dismissed a growing body of scientific evidence that has linked BPA to health problems even as worried consumers stopped buying BPA-containing products. Instead, the FDA relied on two industry-funded studies that concluded that BPA did not pose a health risk. Last month, the agency's science advisory board said the agency should no longer maintain that BPA is safe.
"When FDA claims there isn't any reason to worry, that's exactly what the consumer should do," said Ken Cook, president of Environmental Working Group. "The once-revered public health agency has morphed into a taxpayer-funded public relations arm for the very industries it was created to oversee."

Pubblicità Progresso negli Stati Uniti

Versioni proposte di Pubblicità Progresso per promuovere 'allattamento al seno

Le prime due versioni sono state contestate perchè troppo forti, la prima metteva in evidenza i rischi all'apparato respiratorio a causa del non allattamento, la seconda evidenziava i rischi di diabete: vedete le tettarelle?A qualcuno non sono piaciute le correlazioni.

Le lobby produttrici di latte artificiale sono potenti, molto potenti!

L'ultima, edulcorata, è stata accettata!

NB Se "cliccate" sulle immagini le vedrete ingrandite con la scritta originale.

Heat Accelerates Release of Toxic Plastics Chemicals From Baby Bottles

Heat Accelerates Release of Toxic Plastics Chemicals From Baby Bottles, Food Packagingby David Gutierrez (NaturalNews) Plastic water bottles release the toxic chemical bisphenol A at a rate 55 times greater when filled with boiling water than when filled with room temperature water, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and published in the journal Toxicology Letters."Previous studies have shown that if you repeatedly scrub, dish-wash and boil polycarbonate baby bottles, they release bisphenol A," said researcher Scott Belcher. "But we wanted to know if 'normal' use caused increased release."Bisphenol A is used to make the hard, transparent polycarbonate plastics that are used in a wide variety of consumer products, including water and baby bottles. But concerns have been raised that the chemical might leach into water or infant bottles from the normal use of such bottles."There are a lot of concerns surrounding bisphenol A," said David Santillo a scientist at the Greenpeace research laboratory in Exeter, England. "It is a hormone disrupter able to mimic and interfere with hormone systems in animals. Newborn babies are at a very sensitive stage of their development and the last thing you want to be doing is dosing them with a very potent hormone disruptor."Hormone disruptors can interfere with the development of infants, as well as causing reproductive problems and cancers in adults.Researchers tested reusable polycarbonate water bottles for seven days with room temperature water and then with boiling water. The bottles were shaken in such a way as to simulate regular outdoor activities such as backpacking.When filled with room temperature water, bisphenol A leached from the bottles at a rate of 0.2 to 0.8 nanograms per hour. After being exposed to boiling water, the bottles leached the chemical at a rate of 8 to 32 nanograms per hour."A nanogram is a fairly small amount, but given that a lot of hormones work at levels far below that ... you are in the range there which could be contributing to adverse effects," Santillo said.
Tratto da "Natural News" on line

Plastic chemicals for babies

Tainted infant formula

FDA: Infant formula from China tainted by chemical

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tainted infant formula from China may be on sale at ethnic groceries in this country, even though it is not approved for importation, federal officials warned on Thursday.

However, the Food and Drug Administration stressed that the domestic supply of infant formula is safe.

FDA officials are urging U.S. consumers to avoid all infant formula from China, after several brands sold in that country came under suspicion of being contaminated with melamine, a chemical used in plastics. Officials said there have been reports from China of babies developing kidney stones as a result. There have been no reports of illnesses in the U.S.

"We're concerned that there may be some infant formula that may have gotten into the United States illegally and may be on the ethnic market," said Janice Oliver, deputy director of the FDA's food safety program. "No infant formula from China should be entering the United States, but in the past we have found it on at least one occasion."

After hearing of the latest food safety scandal in China, the FDA checked with formula manufacturers who have approval to market here. But none receive formula or ingredients from China. Formula manufacturers get close scrutiny from the government. They are required to register with the FDA and comply with specific nutritional standards.

"We want to assure the American public there is no threat of contamination to the domestic supply," said Oliver.

But officials are concerned that some Chinese formula may be on sale at Asian groceries, particularly in places like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston that have large numbers of Chinese immigrants. The FDA is working with state officials to spread the word in immigrant communities to remove any Chinese formula from store shelves and to warn consumers not to feed it to their children.

"We want people in those communities, if they are in the habit of buying those Chinese products, not to use them," said FDA spokeswoman Judy Leon. "We are doing this to be proactive."

Melamine is the same chemical involved in a massive pet food recall last year. It is not supposed to be added to any food ingredients, but unscrupulous suppliers in China sometimes mix it in to make foodstuffs appear to be high in protein. Melamine is nitrogen rich, and standard tests for protein in bulk food ingredients measure levels of nitrogen.

Proprietà dell'articolo

autore:	RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR