Pork skin food products made by Salinas company recalled

Pork skin food products made by a Salinas company are being recalled because they were prepared without the benefit of federal inspection, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Friday.

Chicharrones, products made by Camacho's Food Processing in Salinas, are being recalled because there is a reasonable probability that they can cause serious health consequences or death, according to the food safety and inspection service of the Department of Agriculture.

About 1,450 pounds of the ready-to-eat fried pork skins are being recalled. They are in 10-pound, plastic-lined bags of "Camacho's Foods PS., URUAPAN, CHICHARRONES, (FRYED PORK SKIN)," according to the Department of Agriculture.

The products were produced between June 16 and July 29 and were repackaged for sale to consumers and distributed to retail stores in California.

The department has not received any reports of illness due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about such an illness should contact a physician, according to the department.

Consumers with questions can contact Oscar Camacho, the manager of the company, at (415) 716-4128.

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Health warning: U.S. Marshals seize Clarcon skin products

According to a statement released by the FDA, U.S. Marshals seized all skin sanitizers and skin related products, including ingredients and components, from the Clarcon Biological Chemistry Laboratory in Roy, Utah.

Clarcon Biological Chemical Laboratory products, which include skin protectants and sanitizers, are being recalled by the FDA because they could contain dangerous bacteria. Clarcon manufactured several brands, which include sanitizers and protectants under these names:

Citrushield Lotion
Dermasentials DermaBarrier
Dermassentials by Clarcon Antimicrobial Hand Sanitizer
Iron Fist Barrier Hand Treatment
Skin Shield Restaurant
Skin Shield Industrial
Skin Shield Beauty Salon Lotion
Total Skin Care Beauty

Clarcon voluntarily recalled the affected products in June. That recall came after an FDA review confirmed high levels of potentially disease-causing bacteria.

The FDA advises consumers should throw away any Clarcon products that they own.
The bacteria found in Clarcon products may cause permanent skin damage. Seek medical treatment immediately if you have used the products and have any signs of infection that include redness, swelling or painful skin.

Thus far, there have been no reported infections from using Clarcon products, however they have been produced and distributed in the U.S. since 2007. Clarcon also has an affiliate-marketing program, and the products are widely sold and marketed by bloggers and webmasters.

Swine Flu or Swine Flu Vaccine: Weighing the Dangers

Fox News makes it very clear: "The H1N1 flu virus can damage the developing brains of unborn offspring..." The article on the Fox News website goes on to elaborate: "...children born to women who have suffered flu infections during pregnancy are at increased risk of schizophrenia and possibly autism too."

What that means, of course, is "the new research simply reinforced existing advice...Pregnant women should do their best to avoid all infections, especially flu."

The obvious conclusion? Pregnant women should run, not walk, to their nearest vaccination center.

But wait. It's not that simple.

An article in Associated Content makes the arguable statement:

As it has been abundantly proven, mercury and its derivatives are responsible for autism in children and many other neurological diseases, such as the Gulf War Syndrome. Mercury in its most common form - thimerosal- is put in almost all vaccines made available to the public, usually as a preservative. As it was recently unveiled by the Washington Post, many doses of the new H1N1 vaccine will be stored in multi dose vials which will contain thimerosal.

CBS News echoes these fears:

A backlash against vaccines has picked up steam in recent years. A vocal minority fears vaccines can cause autism, despite consensus among experts that they don't. Now warnings are cropping up on the Web that the new H1N1 vaccine could be rushed to market without enough proof that it's safe.

Autism-related blogs are digging deeply into the H1N1 vaccine development process, and finding a whole range of issues to worry about. Ginger Taylor, creator of the Adventures in Autism blog, puts it this way:

Vaccines are pharmaceutical products that carry a risk of injury or death and those risks are greater for some than others. 1 in 6 children in America is learning disabled18. 1 in 9 has asthma 1 in 150 develops autism. 1 in 450 has diabetes and millions more suffer with allergies and autoimmune disorders. Will the swine flu vaccine be safe for them?

Although it is a good idea for health officials to prepare for a worst case scenario and stockpile vaccines, it is a bad idea to turn schools into medical clinics and basically test experimental swine flu vaccines on children first. Especially when nobody has any liability. That has the potential to hurt children instead of keeping them well.

Taylor, among others, makes the point that, so far, swine flu in the US has been surprisingly mild. In fact, it's milder than many other strains of flu. She, and others, wonder whether the risk of the flu outweighs the risk of the vaccines.

Where are you on the issue of swine flu vaccine? Will you request it when it's available in early September? Will your children be among the first in line for protection against a potential epidemic?

U.K. Probes Structured-Finance Products

LONDON -- The U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office is investigating sales of structured products such as credit-default swaps and collateralized debt obligations, amid concern some bankers may have knowingly sold complex assets based on flawed valuations before the global financial crisis struck two years ago.

"Some of them are incredibly complicated and they are sold by very, very clever people," Richard Alderman, the director of the Serious Fraud Office, said. "The question is not just were they mis-sold, because that gives rise to a number of regulatory issues, but was there actually fraud. Or in other words, did those selling them actually know they weren't worth what the institution said they were?"

Credit-default swaps are insurance-like contracts designed to protect investors against losses on bonds or loans, though in recent years they have been used more often to speculate on the health of companies or countries. CDOs are packages of different slices of debt that are given a single credit rating, enabling them to be traded.

The U.K. probe is the latest sign that policymakers and regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are scrutinizing structured products, which many believe were at the heart of the financial crisis, after years of taking a mostly hands-off regulatory approach.

In recent weeks, the U.S. Justice Department has examined the credit-default-swaps market, including the dominant role of data provider Markit Group Holdings Ltd. and its bank owners. In a statement, Markit said it has "been informed of an investigation by the Department of Justice into the credit derivatives and related markets."

Meanwhile, a key Senate panel, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has issued subpoenas to such banks as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG looking for evidence of fraud in the selling of mortgage-related securities. Those banks didn't comment. Like the U.K. SFO, the Senate panel is focused on whether bankers had doubts that the mortgage-securities they were selling were as sound as marketed.

The Obama administration in recent months has moved to regulate credit-default swaps and make them safer for the financial system, and proposed changes that would make it less lucrative for banks to package consumer loans into asset-backed securities. Last month, European regulators unveiled similar proposals for the credit-derivatives industry.

In the U.K., the SFO investigates complex, international fraud cases and it can press criminal charges on its own. The Financial Services Authority, the U.K.'s top financial regulator, also will look at whether structured products were mis-sold, the SFO's Mr. Alderman said.

The SFO plans further inquiries of asset-backed securities, he said. One case that has already been made public involves structured products sold by AIG Financial Products, the unit of American International Group Inc. that is largely responsible for the parent company's struggles. It sold billions of dollars of guarantees on complicated securities tied to mortgages, and those guarantees pushed the company into the rescuing arms of the U.S. government. The unit had offices in London and Wilton, Conn. AIG said it was unwinding certain businesses and portfolios of the unit.

"Valuation cases are fraught with difficulty, but the weight that certain financial products were made to bear was untenable," said Glyn Powell, joint interim head of the SFO unit responsible for London's financial district.

As part of the SFO's work on structured products, it has put together a red-flag system to unearth risks, as it has done in other areas such as hedge funds.

In a broader move, the watchdog is responding more quickly to evidence of fraud, rather than waiting for a report to go to police or company liquidators and then taking months to decide whether to pursue it, Mr. Alderman said. In the past, it "would mean seven to nine years before it would get to court," he said.

The office also is doing more to support whistle-blowers when they come forward and taking a closer look at accounting matters, he said.

In the past year, the office has worked on cases including Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme and the collapse of U.K. hedge fund Weavering Capital. In June, it obtained an order to freeze about $100 million of Allen Stanford's assets held at "certain London financial institutions."

Fraud cases that went to court in the U.K. rose last year, according to analysis by KPMG. The worst-hit sector was financial services, which suffered £388 million ($648.2 million) of fraud in 63 cases, a tenfold increase on the £37 million via 36 cases recorded in 2007. However, these figures were partly skewed by one case: an alleged £220 million attempt to hack into Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.'s computer systems, which went to court in the first half of the year. Fraud cases to date this year in the U.K. financial sector total £111 million, KPMG said.

—Neil Shah contributed to this article.

US Marshals Seize Skin Sanitizers

At the request of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), US Marshals have seized several skin products made by Clarcon Biological Chemical Products of Utah at the company facility in Roy. Seized were all skin sanitizers and protectatants as well as the ingredients used to make them. The seizure came after the company refused to destroy the products and their ingredients in a timely fashion following several FDA requests.

The action in Roy on Saturday was a follow-up to the voluntary recall of a handful of products by the company in June after FDA tests revealed contamination. The recalled and now seized products have been shown to contain harmful bacteria that might sicken humans. Contamination of the particular products recalled are thought to be particularly problematic because they are marketed to treat open wounds, damaged skin, and to protect against serious diseases.

Over 800,000 recalled Clarcon products have been distributed throughout the country since 2007. Examples of products that should be discarded are: Citrushield Lotion, Dermasentials DermaBarrier, Dermassentials by Clarcon Antimicrobial Hand Sanitizer, Iron Fist Barrier Hand Treatment, Skin Shield Restaurant, Skin Shield Industrial, Skin Shield Beauty Salon Lotion, Total Skin Care Beauty, and Total Skin Care Work.

According to the FDA no serious cases of human illness have been reported thus far. The FDA is asking that health care professionals and consumers report serious adverse events or product quality problems related to the use of these products to the FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program either online, or by regular mail, fax, or phone (MedWatch, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852-9787; Fax: 800-FDA-0178; Phone: 800-FDA-1088).

Uncle Sam must stop subsidizing obesity

It is often cheaper to prevent than to treat a problem. Nowhere is this more true than with diet and childhood obesity.

I see children in my office daily whose parents, in their struggle to make ends meet, have their kids eat school lunches. These meals are heavily subsidized by the federal government, which also decides what foods end up on the trays. Unfortunately, most of the choices are processed meat and dairy products loaded with fat, salt and cholesterol. This leaves kids nutritionally deprived and obese.

As a pediatrician, it is my duty to educate my patients and their parents about obesity. But my families have no fighting chance when their kids eat school lunches. All the good choices they might make are wiped out. This leaves the taxpayer alone to pay for the health consequences of our children's obesity.

That's why it's so crucial that new legislation help schools in California and across the country serve meals that support children's well-being and lower the long-term health care costs of obesity.

The U.S. taxpayer pays on average $175 per year to finance obesity, according to Eric A. Finkelstein, author of "The Fattening of America." We need to tell Congress that we want our tax dollars spent on providing children with healthy meals and teaching healthy eating habits, not treating their obesity-related health conditions down the road. This year, the United States spent $100 billion on obesity-related health care expenditures.

Health care and lost productivity due to obesity cost California $41.2 billion in 2006. California Controller John Chiang estimates "the economic cost to California of adults who are obese, overweight and physically inactive is equivalent to more than a third of the state's total budget."

The financial and personal burdens of obesity, with its increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and other obesity-related conditions, will only increase as these children reach adulthood .

In my practice, I have obese children with high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Many of them have skin changes called acanthosis nigricans, an early sign of type 2 diabetes. These are things we used to see only in middle-aged adults. No more, and because of it, I order more lab tests, have to see these patients more often and refer them more often to nutritionists, gastroenterologists, cardiologists or endocrinologists than their non-overweight peers.

Bottom line: We can't afford obesity. But now we have an opportunity to fight the economic and social harms of obesity.

This year, Congress will vote on the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which determines what foods are served to children in school and other nutrition programs. Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, is chair of the Committee on Education and Labor. He is in the unique position to change the physical as well as financial health of California - and of the entire nation.

In order to stop the upward trend of obesity, we must focus on prevention. We must educate families and communities to buy fresh foods, prepare home-cooked meals, avoid fast food and engage in physical activity.

Yet, that alone will not be enough. Kids need fresh, wholesome food for school lunch - and a menu that complies with the USDA's food pyramid. It is time for Congress to align food policy with nutritional guidelines.

Contact Miller to get school lunches a better grade for your child's health - and our fiscal future.

Dr. Rina Shah is a pediatrician in Vallejo.

Drug, Energy Firms Buck Lobbying Decline

WASHINGTON -- Drug makers and oil-and-gas companies boosted their lobbying in Washington during the three months ended June 30 amid a flurry of congressional action on health care and climate legislation.

But overall, Washington's lobbying business continued to slump as the economy pinched budgets at some big companies and trade associations.

Companies, nonprofits, unions and other organizations spent $814.6 million to influence Congress and the Obama administration in the second quarter, down 1% from $825.3 million during the same three-month period in 2008, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of lobbying data. The data were supplied by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

The decline continues a rare recession in Washington's lobbying business. But groups at the center of big legislative pushes still invested heavily to sway lawmakers.

The campaign by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats to overhaul the nation's health-care system provided a big boost to lobbyists for health-industry interests. Drug manufacturers increased lobbying spending 13% to $68 million in the second quarter from a year earlier, according to the data.

Pfizer Inc. spent $5.6 million on lobbying in the quarter, up 82% from the quarter last year. Amgen Inc. reported a 19% increase in expenditures to $3.4 million. GlaxoSmithKline increased spending by 27% to $2.3 million in the period, according to the data.

A representative for Pfizer didn't respond to requests for comment.

Kelley Davenport, a spokeswoman for Amgen, said that as a regulated company, Amgen lobbies Washington "in an effort to effectively shape health-care policy and ensure patient safety and access to products."

Kevin Colgan, a spokesman for Glaxo, attributed the company's rise in lobbying spending to "the timing of certain annual expenditures and by some organizational changes."

Overall, the health-care sector reported a 5% increase in lobbying expenditures to $133 million, making it the single largest spender on lobbying of the 10 major industry sectors tracked by the Center for Responsive Politics. Health-insurance companies increased lobbying activity by 11% to $7.8 million, according to the data.

Labor unions increased spending by 4% in the second quarter from a year earlier, to $10.6 million, according to data from the center.

The AFL-CIO spent $1 million in the April-to-June period, an increase of 23% from a year earlier. The federation is lobbying on issues including the health overhaul and a bill that would make it easier for employees to join labor unions.

The Blue Green Alliance, a coalition of labor and environmental groups, registered to lobby for the first time in the second quarter. It reported spending $720,000 in the period, making it the second largest labor group by expenditures.

Debate over a broad-ranging climate and energy bill prompted more spending by energy interests. Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, BP PLC and other oil-and-gas companies increased spending on lobbying by 30% to $37.7 million in April, May and June of this year, compared with the same quarter in 2008. That coincided with the House debate over a sweeping climate-change and energy bill.

ConocoPhillips doubled its lobbying spending to $3.3 million during the second quarter; Chevron increased spending 88% to $6 million; and BP posted a 54% rise in lobbying spending to $4 million, according to the data.

Exxon Mobil Corp. cut quarterly lobbying expenses by 16% from the same period in 2008 to $4.3 million.

Representatives for Chevron, ConocoPhillips and BP said that part of their increase in spending is the result of an increase in dues paid for lobbying to industry trade association the American Petroleum Institute. A spokesman for Exxon didn't respond to requests for comment.

Wall Street, once a rich and fast-growing source of lobbying money, is showing the lingering effects of last year's financial crisis. Wall Street firms spent $109.4 million on lobbying in the second quarter, down 4% from the same period in 2008, according to the data.