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Washington Update
*The Food and Drug Administration
wants manufacturers to start listing calories as a percent of daily
intake on their food labels and will ask
the restaurant industry to participate in a voluntary effort to include
nutritional information on their menus, according to a report out March
12. The FDA’s Obesity Working Group report also calls for more
stringent definitions of “low” and “reduced” carbohydrates
and increased enforcement of reasonable serving sizes on food labels.
To read the full report, go here. *The House of Representatives passed the “Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act” on March 10. The bill would protect fast food chains and other restaurants from class action lawsuits holding the restaurants liable for injury claims related to obesity. Most supporters of the bill called the lawsuits “frivolous” and said personal responsibility was a more important factor in the American obesity epidemic. To read the bill, go here.” *The Senate passed its version of the FY 2005 budget on March 12, including a revised amendment to bring NIH funding up to $29.9 billion. The original amendment would have added $2 billion to be split between NIH, the CDC and the Health Resources and Service Administration. To find out how your senator voted, go here. *NIH held the second meeting of its Blue Ribbon Panel on Conflict of Interest Policies on March 12 and 13. The panel heard presentations on how academic and government scientists can work with the industrial sector as well as reports from the NIH Ethics Advisory Committee and NIH Ethics Training Program. For more information on the Blue Ribbon Panel, go here. *HHS’s Health Resources and Services Administration launched a new anti-bullying campaign March 1. The campaign includes a Web-based animated story for 9- to 13 year olds, a resource kit for schools and communities and television and public service announcements. To check out the new program, go here. |
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