Laundry soap pods dangerous for young kids – study

Washington – Laundry detergent pods could be dangerous for young children, researchers warned Monday, as reports grow of kids under six swallowing the capsules in the United States.

The detergent pods – on US shelves since 2010 – are just the right size for a single load of laundry, eliminating the need to measure out a liquid or powder.

More than 17,000 incidents from 2012 and 2013 were reported to US poison control centers of children under six being exposed to the detergent chemicals – equivalent to one child every hour – according to the new study.

“Laundry detergent pods are small, colorful, and may look like candy or juice to a young child,” said co-author Marcel Casavant, toxicology chief at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and medical director of the Central Ohio Poison Center.

“It can take just a few seconds for children to grab them, break them open, and swallow the toxic chemicals they contain, or get the chemicals in their eyes.”

In one case, the child died, while some 769 children were hospitalized, a rate of more than one a day.

Two-thirds of the cases were among toddlers – children just one or two years old.

Children who put the capsules in their mouths can quickly swallow a large quantity of concentrated chemicals, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital researchers warned.

Nearly half the children, 48 percent, vomited after ingesting the detergent, the study found.

Other effects included coughing or choking, eye pain, drowsiness and pinkeye.

Most of the detergent capsules are sold in clear, easy-to-open containers. One manufacturer last year switched to an opaque package with an additional latch and a warning label, but the study authors said this was not enough.

“It is not clear that any laundry detergent pods currently available are truly child resistant; a national safety standard is needed to make sure that all pod makers adopt safer packaging and labeling,” said senior author Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

He urged households with young children to use traditional detergent.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

Swiss agri firm taps Filipino to head Asian operations

MANILA, Philippines—Syngenta, a leading agribusiness firm based in Switzerland, recently announced its decision to assign the head of its Philippine operations to lead its growth and market expansion strategy for the Northeast Asian market.

Syngenta has named Jose Valmayor, current Syngenta Philippines Inc. president, as head of customer marketing for Northeast Asia. Valmayor will be based in Japan and will cover the operations of the firm in that country, South Korea and Taiwan.

As head of Syngenta Philippines, Valmayor gained market leadership for its newly introduced brands and led the successful startup of its new divisions. He integrated the firm’s crop protection and seed businesses in the country and achieved a 40-percent increase in sales from 2011 to 2013.

Prior to his assignment in the Philippines, Valmayor was head of marketing for Syngenta Vietnam, general manager of Syngenta Taiwan and worked as product manager covering Asia-Pacific countries. He was also previously assigned as head of marketing for Australia and New Zealand.

Valmayor obtained his Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Business from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños where he graduated cum laude.

He earned his master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.

Syngenta, with more than 27,000 employees in over 90 countries, is ranked among the Financial Times’ global index of the top 500 most important companies in the world.

source: business.inquirer.net

Coca-Cola, Pepsi to reduce 'cancer-causing' caramel coloring content of their softdrinks

WASHINGTON - Coca-Cola said Friday it will lower levels of a chemical in caramel coloring to comply with a California law, but insisted the beverage's recipe will not change and poses no health risks.

Pepsi is making similar changes in order to avoid having to label products with a cancer warning due to what California has ruled are high levels of 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI), shown to cause cancer in lab animals, consumer advocates said.

The changes do not amount to a change to Coke's formula, spokesman Ben Sheidler told AFP.

"We are NOT changing our recipe; or our formula," he said in an email.

"What we did do is direct our caramel suppliers to make a manufacturing process modification in order to reduce the level of 4-MEI in our caramel so as to meet the requirement set by the State of California's Proposition 65."

California voters passed Proposition 65 in 1986, and the law aims to protect state residents from "chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, and to inform citizens about exposures to such chemicals."

California has a 29-microgram benchmark for 4-MEI. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a recent sampling of Coke and Pepsi drink cans in the Washington area showed levels ranging between 103 mcg and 153 mcg.

But beverage industry leaders including the American Beverage Association (ABA) argued the evidence of a cancer link is limited to one study in mice and is not recognized by major US, European and Canadian health agencies.

The ABA added that a person would need to drink massive amounts of cola to reach a risk level similar to the dosing in mice -- 2,900 cans of cola every day for 70 years -- upon which California based its decision.

"The science simply does not show that 4-MEI in foods or beverages is a threat to human health," the ABA said.

"In fact, findings of regulatory agencies worldwide, including the US Food and Drug Administration, European Food Safety Authority and Health Canada, consider caramel coloring safe for use in foods and beverages."

Executive director Michael Jacobson of the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest, applauded the move, saying the caramel coloring chemical levels would be cut by 90 percent.

"The question is, when will Coke and Pepsi make these changes around the world, not just in California?" he said.

Sheidler said Coca-Cola would begin enacting the same changes to beverages nationwide and globally "in order to streamline and simplify our supply chain, manufacturing, and distribution systems," though no timeline has been set. — Agence France Presse

source: gmanetwork.com