From Washington Post : "Strategy being devised to protect use of BPA
Manufacturers of cans for beverages and foods and some of their biggest customers, including Coca-Cola, are trying to devise a public relations and lobbying strategy to block government bans of a controversial chemical used in the linings of metal cans and lids."

"bisphenol A, is primarily used in plastics to make them stronger and is used in many products such as baby bottles, the lining in canned goods, epoxy strengtheners for construction, dentle tools, and many others.

According to wikipedia: Global production of bisphenol A in 2003 was estimated to be over 2 million metric tonnes. In the U.S., it is manufactured by Bayer MaterialScience, Dow Chemical Company, General Electric, Hexion Specialty Chemicals, and Sunoco Chemicals. In 2004, these companies produced just over 1 million t of bisphenol A, up from just 7,260 t in 1991. In 2003, annual U.S. consumption was 856,000 t, 72% of which was used to make polycarbonate plastic and 21% going into epoxy resins.

On thursday may 7th, according to the FDA website: "At the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Marshals today seized more than $1.5 million worth of food products, including herbs and botanicals, stored under filthy conditions at the American Mercantile Corporation of Memphis, Tenn." this seizure was ordered by the US District Courts in Memphis.
"'The food and supplements industry can expect a lot more of this', says Loren Israelsen, executive director of the supplements trade group United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA)" " A Follow-up joint inspection with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture found that the owner failed to clean the facility and did not correct previous violations, despite promising to do so. No warning letter was issued," FDA said in an e-mail statement to Functional Ingredients magazine."

From the NYT: in an article about autopsies done to the corpses of fallen soldier the times finds that not even the families of the dead have rights to their loved ones :The examiner’s office has not publicized the autopsy policy and has not often discussed it. Families are informed that autopsies are being performed and that they can request a copy of the report. Occasionally, families object, but the autopsy is done anyway. About 85 percent to 90 percent of families request the reports, and 10 percent also ask for photographs from the autopsy, said Paul Stone, a spokesman for the medical examiner system.

big agribusiness pressures school curriculum in washington state

From the Washington Post: "Washington State University is drawing the wrath of the sustainable-food community after word leaked out that pressures from agribusiness had caused the school to pull Michael Pollan's best-selling book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" off the reading list for college freshmen."
According to the Spokesman Review, "political pressure apparently was brought to bear by a member of the board of regents, Harold Cochran, who disapproved of the author’s characterization of agribusiness. Cochran owns and operates a 5,500-acre farm near Walla Walla, is a founding stockholder in the Bank of the West in Walla Walla and is a member of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers."
As also noted by the Washington post, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, "an explanation on the university's Web site is vague and implies the withdrawal of the book was due to budget constraints. But some people on the campus say that the university, which has a prominent agriculture college, bowed to pressure from agribusiness interests."

Harold Cochran was appointed to the position on the Board of Regents at Washington State University (WSU) by Governor Chris Gregoire of Washington state in February of 2007.

Side note: One of the books that was also introduced into the reading curriculum in 2007 for the freshman was “Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It."written by Gina Kolata.