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Dangerous chemicals found in food wrappers at major fast-food restaurants and grocery chains, report says | CNN

Published

3 years ago

March 25, 2022

Dangerous chemicals found in food wrappers at major fast-food restaurants and grocery chains, report says | CNN

CNN
—

Alarming ranges of harmful chemical compounds referred to as PFAS have been found in meals packaging at a lot of well-known fast-food and fast-casual eating places and grocery retailer chains, a brand new report discovered.

The best ranges of indicators for PFAS have been present in meals packaging from Nathan’s Well-known, Cava, Arby’s, Burger King, Chick-fil-A, Cease & Store and Sweetgreen, in response to an investigation launched Thursday by Shopper Studies.

Usually referred to as “without end chemical compounds” as a result of they don’t break down within the surroundings, PFAS are utilized in meals packaging to forestall grease and water from soaking by meals wrappers and beverage cups. PFAS may also be discovered within the ink used to print logos and directions on meals containers.

The brand new report comes greater than two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, when the general public has relied closely on takeout and grocery deliveries.

The US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention calls publicity to PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) a “public well being concern,” citing research that discovered the human-made chemical compounds can hurt the immune system and cut back an individual’s resistance to infectious illnesses.

“There’s proof from human and animal research that PFAS publicity might cut back antibody responses to vaccines,” acknowledged the CDC and the Company for Poisonous Substances and Illness Registry. “Extra analysis is required to grasp how PFAS publicity might have an effect on sickness from COVID-19.”

The Shopper Studies investigation collected 118 meals packaging merchandise offered by 24 firms within the tristate space of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. It examined these merchandise for natural fluorine – a marker for PFAS. Researchers then despatched samples of merchandise with the very best ranges to an unbiased laboratory that would carry out extra particular exams, stated Michael Hansen, senior employees scientist for advocacy at Shopper Studies.

Regulatory limits for the way a lot PFAS meals packaging ought to comprise can range enormously. Within the US, there aren’t any federal limits, leaving motion as much as the states. Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington have handed payments banning intentional use of PFAS in meals packaging, however haven’t but specified a restrict, in response to Shopper Studies. In January 2023, a brand new legislation in California will set the restrict at lower than 100 ppm (elements per million).

Nevertheless, Denmark set a a lot decrease regulatory restrict of 20 ppm with nice success, stated Xenia Trier, a chemical compounds, surroundings and human well being knowledgeable on the European Atmosphere Company.

“In Denmark we’ve seen each a lower in noncompliance by business from 60% to about 30% and a lower in ranges of PFAS in packaging merchandise over the previous 10 years,” Trier informed CNN. “It does work to set limits and implement them. It’s doable to search out different options and if one producer could make packaging with out PFAS, then it must be doable for everyone to do it.”

The Shopper Studies investigation discovered the very best indicators for PFAS – 876 ppm and 618 ppm – in two forms of luggage for sides at Nathan’s Well-known eating places.

Excessive indicators of PFAS (within the 500s) have been additionally present in a Chick-fil-A sandwich wrapper and in fiber bowls at Cava, a Mediterranean restaurant chain.

Indicator ranges within the 300s and 400s have been present in a bag of cookies at Arby’s, bamboo paper plates at Cease & Store, and in a bag for each cookies and French toast sticks at Burger King.

Ranges of PFAS indicators within the 200s have been present in a Sweetgreen paper bag for focaccia, extra objects at Cava, and in luggage for french fries, cookies and Rooster McNuggets at McDonald’s.

Nevertheless, all the firms listed had extra meals packaging that examined at ranges under 200 ppm. 4 firms – Arby’s, Nathan’s Well-known, McDonald’s and Cease & Store – additionally offered meals in packaging that had no detectable ranges of PFAS, the report stated.

The Shopper Studies investigation didn’t check packaging from each meals product offered at every firm.

“I’d not urge customers to take these model names and solely go to this one or that one, as this investigation solely checked out simply over 100 merchandise,” stated Graham Peaslee, a professor of physics, chemistry and biochemistry on the College of Notre Dame in Indiana.

“Nevertheless, it will maintain business’s toes to the hearth, so in that sense, I believe it’s a precious report,” he added. “Measuring and saying PFAS is there and it’s harmful will get folks’s consideration, and corporations are inclined to keep away from consideration like that.”

PFAS chemical compounds are in lots of merchandise: nonstick cookware, infection-resistant surgical robes and drapes, cell telephones, semiconductors, industrial plane and low-emission automobiles. The chemical compounds are also used to make carpeting, clothes, and furnishings proof against stains, water and grease harm.

In use for the reason that Nineteen Fifties, PFAS are chemical compounds most Individuals have “of their blood,” particularly perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA),” in response to the Company for Poisonous Substances and Illness Registry, which is charged with defending the general public from hazardous substances.

Within the Shopper Studies investigation, the commonest chemical discovered within the meals packaging that was examined was PFOA, with PFOS coming in fifth, in response to the report.

Along with impacts on the immune system, the Company for Poisonous Substances and Illness Registry stated research in people and lab animals have discovered hyperlinks between sure PFAS chemical compounds and an enhance in levels of cholesterol, alterations in liver enzymes, a better threat of growing kidney or testicular most cancers, small reductions in toddler beginning weights and an extra threat of hypertension in pregnant girls.

“PFAS have additionally brought about beginning defects, delayed growth, and new child deaths in lab animals,” the company acknowledged, whereas including “not all results noticed in animals might happen in people.”

As environmental teams and the general public started to take discover of the well being impacts of the chemical compounds, producers began to voluntarily section out the usage of PFOS and PFOA within the US. Between 1999 and 2014, blood ranges of PFOS in Individuals had declined by greater than 80% and blood ranges of PFOA had declined by greater than 60%, the Company for Poisonous Substances and Illness Registry acknowledged.

Nevertheless, “as PFOS and PFOA are phased out and changed, folks could also be uncovered to different PFAS,” the company continued. Newer variations of PFAS in meals packaging look like absorbed by meals extra readily than the older variations, in response to a 2016 research.

Research in Denmark have proven that PFAS do “migrate from the paper into the meals,” Trier stated. “Despite the fact that it was not 100%, we nonetheless noticed substantial transmission. Typically, transmission from packaging to meals is elevated because the temperature of the meals rises and the time spent in wrapping supplies will increase.”

The Shopper Studies investigation mirrored outcomes of stories in 2018 and 2020 by Poisonous-Free Future and Safer Chemical compounds Wholesome Households. These stories discovered “dangerous” ranges of PFAS in fast-food packaging and in almost two-thirds of takeout containers fabricated from paper, like these used at self-serve salad buffets and scorching bars.

In response to the 2018 report, Complete Meals turned the primary grocery chain in North America to publicly decide to take away PFAS from takeout containers and deli and bakery paper. Different firms have adopted go well with, together with Ahold Delhaize, Albertsons, Amazon.com, Cava, Chipotle, Freshii, McDonald’s, Panera Bread, Sweetgreen, Dealer Joe’s and Wendy’s, in response to Poisonous-Free Future.

Within the new investigation, Shopper Studies examined 13 meals packaging merchandise from retailers that had beforehand dedicated to phasing out PFAS. Seven of the 13 had ranges of PFAS above 20 ppm, the report stated.

Burger King, which had excessive ranges of PFAS in three of six merchandise examined, had not made a public dedication to section out PFAS, in response to Shopper Studies. Early Thursday, mother or father firm Restaurant Manufacturers Worldwide introduced it would globally section out any “added” PFAS from “guest-facing packaging supplies” on the Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes manufacturers “by the top of 2025 or sooner.”

Nathan’s Well-known, which Shopper Studies stated additionally has not made a public dedication to decreasing PFAS, informed CNN the corporate had begun phasing out the baggage. “Certainly one of our objectives on this full package deal redesign is to scale back PFAS,” stated Phil McCann, vice chairman of promoting at Nathan’s Well-known. “Full transition will probably be full by December 2022.”

Chick-fil-A informed CNN it had been on a four-year journey to section out PFAS: “Chick-fil-A has eradicated deliberately added PFAS from all newly produced packaging going ahead in our provide chain. Whereas some legacy packaging should still be in eating places, it’s anticipated to be phased out by the top of this summer season,” the company tweeted Wednesday.

Cava, which had beforehand pledged to scale back PFAS however had 5 out of six merchandise with indicators between 200 ppm and 548 ppm, informed CNN that “as a result of a large number of things associated to the pandemic, and particularly world provide chain shortages, the transition to eliminating added PFAS, which started in August of 2021, is taking longer than deliberate. Our groups are working with our suppliers to finish the transition throughout the yr.”

A McDonald’s spokesperson stated lower than 7.5% of the corporate’s world meals packaging contained added PFAS on the finish of 2020 and stated the corporate was persevering with its seek for different supplies that provided correct grease-resistant boundaries, with a purpose of decreasing intentionally added PFAS by the top of 2025.

Sweetgreen informed CNN the corporate was “proud to share that we’re at the moment within the means of rolling out new PFAS-free focaccia luggage that will probably be out there in all Sweetgreen places by the top of Q2.”

Jennifer Brogan, director of exterior communications and group relations for Cease & Store, informed CNN the corporate might “verify that these Nature’s Promise model plates have been faraway from all retailer places.”

A spokesperson from Arby’s informed CNN in an electronic mail that the corporate has “minimal packaging supplies containing PFAs and is on monitor to have PFAs faraway from all packaging merchandise by the top of 2022.”

Specialists say individuals who need to keep away from PFAS of their takeout and meals supply packaging ought to favor firms which have pledged to take away the chemical compounds.

Take meals out of the container as quickly as you obtain it, and by no means reheat meals in its unique container. As an alternative, take away your meals and warmth it in ceramic or glass containers, Trier stated.

The Shopper Studies investigation discovered among the highest ranges of PFAS have been in paper luggage (192.2 ppm) and molded fiber bowls and trays (156.8 ppm). Paper plates examined at 149 ppm, and meals wrappers and liners got here in at 59.2 ppm.

Don’t be fooled by “environmentally pleasant” claims – they don’t assure a product is PFAS-free. When Shopper Studies examined these merchandise, some had ranges of PFAS above 100 ppm, and most had some detectable ranges, the report stated.

Specialists additionally counsel decreasing the frequency of takeout meals to as soon as every week or much less, and advocate that individuals as an alternative make meals at dwelling.

You too can attain out to your congressional consultant and senators and help the bipartisan invoice Preserve Meals Containers Protected from PFAS Act, specialists stated. Designed to ban the usage of any PFAS as a meals contact substance, the invoice was launched into each chambers in November.

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2024 Was the Most Intense Year for Tornadoes in a Decade

Published

2 hours ago

December 18, 2024

Press Room

2024 Was the Most Intense Year for Tornadoes in a Decade

In late April, a slow-moving storm over Texas and Oklahoma spawned an outbreak of 39 tornadoes. That event was just a fraction of the more than 400 tornadoes reported that month, the highest monthly count in 10 years. And the storms kept coming.

Through November, there were more than 1,700 tornadoes reported nationwide, preliminary data shows. At least 53 people had been killed across 17 states.

Monthly accumulated tornadoes

Not only were there more tornadoes reported, but 2024 is also on track to be one of the costliest years ever in terms of damage caused by severe storms, according to the National Center for Environmental Information. Severe weather and four tornado outbreaks from April to May in the central and southern United States alone cost $14 billion.

We will not know the final count of this year’s tornadoes until next year — the data through November does not yet include tornadoes like the rare one that touched down in Santa Cruz., Calif., on Saturday. That’s because confirming and categorizing a tornado takes time. After each reported event, researchers investigate the damage to classify the tornado strength based on 28 indicators such as the characteristics of the affected buildings and trees. Researchers rate the tornadoes using the Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF) from 0 to 5.

But 2024 could end with not only the most tornadoes in the last decade, but one of the highest counts since data collection began in 1950. Researchers suggest that the increase may be linked to climate change, although tornadoes are influenced by many factors, so different patterns cannot be attributed to a single cause.

The year’s worst storms

In May, a mobile radar vehicle operated by researchers from the University of Illinois measured winds ranging 309 to 318 miles per hour in a subvortex of a tornado in the outskirts of Greenfield, Iowa. The event, an EF4, was among the strongest ever recorded.

NASA tracked the line of destruction of the tornado over 44 miles.

Image by Vexcel Graysky, May 28, 2024.

NOAA estimated the damage caused by the Greenfield tornado to be about $31 million. While most tornadoes this year were not as deadly or destructive, there were at least three more EF4 storms, described by NOAA as devastating events with winds ranging from 166 to 200 miles per hour. These violent tornadoes caused severe damage in Elkhorn-Blair, Neb., and in Love and Osage Counties in Oklahoma.

Here are the footprints of 1,644 buildings in the United States that were destroyed or severely damaged by tornadoes this year, according to data from FEMA and Vexcel, a private company that uses aerial imagery to analyze natural disasters.

While losses from tornadoes occur on a regular basis every year, extreme events such as hurricanes can also produce tornadoes with great destructive capacity. In October, more than 40 tornadoes were reported in Florida during Hurricane Milton, three of them category EF3. According to the The Southeast Regional Climate Center, EF3 tornadoes spawned by hurricanes had not occurred in Florida since 1972.

A vulnerable region

Tornado detection systems have improved, especially since the 1990s, allowing scientists to count tornadoes that might have gone undetected in previous years, said John Allen, a climate scientist focused on historic climatology and analysis of risk at Michigan State University. That plays a role in the historical trend showing more tornadoes in recent decades.

Change in tornado activity

Confirmed tornadoes in each county from 2002-22 compared with 1981-2001

While this year’s worst storms were concentrated in the Midwest, many counties across the South have seen an increase in tornado activity in the past 20 years, compared with the prior two decades. These same counties’ demographic conditions, including low incomes and large mobile home populations, make them especially vulnerable to major disasters.

“It only takes an EF1 to do significant damage to a home, an EF2 would throw it all over the place,” Dr. Allen said.

Prof. Tyler Fricker, who researches tornadoes at the University of Louisiana, Monroe, said we will inevitably see more losses in the region.

“When you combine more intense tornadoes on average with more vulnerable people on average, you get these high levels of impact — casualties or property loss,” Dr. Fricker said.

“If you have enough money, you can protect yourself,” he added. “You can build out safe rooms. You can do things. That’s not the case for the average person in the Mid-South and Southeast.”

The C.D.C. identifies communities in need of support before, during and after natural disasters through a measure called social vulnerability, which is based on indicators such as poverty, overcrowding and unemployment. Most counties in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi are both at high risk by this measure and have experienced an increase in tornadoes in the last 20 years, relative to the 1980s and 1990s.

County risk vs. change in tornado activity

In the states with the most tornadoes this year, most counties have better prepared infrastructure for these kinds of events.

Source: C.D.C. and NOAA

Note: Change in tornado activity compares tornado counts from 2002-22 with 1981-2001.

Stephen M. Strader of Villanova University, who has published an analysis of the social vulnerabilities in the Mid-South region and their relationship to environmental disasters, said the most vulnerable populations may face a tough year ahead. While two major hurricanes had the biggest impact on the region this year, La Niña will influence weather patterns in 2025 in ways that could cause more tornadoes specifically in the vulnerable areas in the South.

Although not completely definitive, NOAA studies suggest that EF2 tornadoes, which are strong enough to blow away roofs, are more likely to occur in the southeastern United States in La Niña years.

“Unfortunately, a La Niña favors bigger outbreaks in the southeast U.S.,” Dr. Strader said. “So this time next year we might be telling a different story.”

Sources and methodology

Damage costs estimates of tornado-involved storms as reported by NOAA as of Nov. 22.

Building footprints and aerial imagery are provided by Vexcel.

The first map shows preliminary tornado reports from January through October 2024, the latest available data from NOAA.

Historical tornado records range from 1950 to 2023 and include all EF category tornadoes as reported by NOAA. The historical activity change map counts tornadoes in each county from 1981 to 2001, and that number is subtracted from the total number of tornadoes recorded in each county from 2002 to 2022 to get the change in the most recent 20 years compared to the previous 20.

The Social Vulnerability index is based on 15 variables from the U.S. Census and is available from the C.D.C..

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Porsche-Piëch family pushes for Volkswagen plant closures

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4 hours ago

December 18, 2024

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Porsche-Piëch family pushes for Volkswagen plant closures

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The billionaire Porsche-Piëch family, Volkswagen’s majority owner, has taken a hardline stance in backing the company’s plans to close several German factories, as the threat of diminished dividends looms.

Lack of progress on the restructuring, initially announced in September, has become a growing concern for the Porsche-Piëch family, which has reversed its traditional stance of avoiding confrontation with VW’s powerful works council.

According to one person briefed on discussions at recent supervisory board meetings, the family has “made clear that it is necessary to rightsize the business in order to achieve long-term competitiveness”.

VW has argued for the closure of plants in Germany as its European sales have fallen sharply. However, the company’s works council, which controls half the seats on the company’s supervisory board, has promised workers that not a single German plant will be closed.

Another person with knowledge of the discussions said it was “hardly surprising” that the Porsche-Piëch family had different priorities than some other supervisory board members, especially the works council and its ally, the state of Lower Saxony, which holds 20 per cent of VW’s voting rights.

Worker representatives have argued that while cost cuts might support profit margins in the short term, they will do little to address sliding sales in both Europe and China, the company’s most profitable market.

Executives at Europe’s largest carmaker have spent weeks locked in tense negotiations with representatives of German workers, who have already downed tools twice in the past month amid fierce disagreement over planned cost cuts.

VW’s management and unions are eager to wrap up formal wage negotiations before Christmas. After 36 hours of continuous debate, the fifth round of talks broke off briefly on Wednesday morning with both sides agreeing to resume negotiations later in the day.

At VW’s supervisory board meetings in the run-up to the negotiations, discussions have been tense. The family’s de facto head, Wolfgang Porsche, last month rejected a compromise put on the table by the works council and union, making clear that anything other than “substantial action on cost efficiency [will be a] solution”, added one person briefed on the talks.

Porsche SE has already taken a hit from the crisis at VW. Last week, it warned that the uncertainty at the carmaker and the absence of financial planning data could force it to write down its stake in VW by up to €20bn, or nearly 40 per cent.

The family also faces the risk of falling VW dividends, which last year stood at €1.4bn, at a time when Porsche SE is saddled with €5.1bn in debt. The holding company borrowed heavily in 2022 to buy a 25 per cent voting stake in sports car maker Porsche AG — allowing the family to regain direct control over the company founded by its forebears.

“The plan was to finance the interest payments and to deleverage with the dividends from Porsche and VW,” said Stifel analyst Daniel Schwarz. “That’s clearly at risk now,” he added, explaining that the family’s wealthiest members “have most of their wealth invested in this one company”.

But the family’s battle with the carmaker’s workers carries other risks.

With Berlin gearing up for snap elections early next year, the hardline plan to cut tens of thousands of jobs at VW has met significant political blowback. A growing group of politicians — including Chancellor Olaf Scholz — have spoken out against factory closures.

“Some politicians have argued that VW should not pay a dividend at all and the union said that VW should consider a lower payout ratio,” Schwarz said.

The upcoming elections will also make it less likely that the state of Lower Saxony, which owns 20 per cent of VW voting rights and tends to back employment, would turn against the works council on the plant closures.

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What we learned from Elian Gonzalez, 25 years later : Code Switch

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4 hours ago

December 18, 2024

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What we learned from Elian Gonzalez, 25 years later : Code Switch

Twenty-five years ago, a six-year-old boy named Elian Gonzalez appeared off the coast of Miami. He and his mother had been traveling by boat to the U.S. from Cuba. His mother didn’t survive the journey, but remarkably, Elian did. And almost immediately, his fate became the subject of an international debate: Should he stay in the U.S. and live with relatives in Miami? Or should he return to Cuba, to live with his father, who very much wanted him back?

How people answered that question tended to reflect a lot about their larger beliefs – about the benefits of democracy, the importance of family, the distinctions between the U.S and Cuba, and immigration writ large.

This episode was originally reported and produced by our play cousins at Futuro Studios. It’s hosted by Peniley Ramirez.

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