,4 8A - Thursday, October 27, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Companies sued for calling bottles biodegradable California law makes mislabeling of bottles illegal LOS ANGELES (AP) - The California attorney general's office yesterday sued three com- panies over allegations they misled consumers by marketing plastic water bottles as biode- gradable. The lawsuit - said to be the first government action to enforce the state's environmen- tal marketing law - accuses ENSO Plastics of Mesa, Ariz., of falsely claiming their bottles will biodegrade in less than five years, leaving behind no harm- ful materials. It is illegal in California to labela plastic food or drink con- tainer as biodegradable when such materials can take thou- sands of years to break down, if at all. "Californians are committed to recycling and protecting the environment, but these efforts are undermined by the false and misleading claims these compa- nies make when they wrongly advertise their products as 'bio- degradable,"' Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a state- ment. Environmental groups have long griped about plastic bot- tles, which typically wind up in the trash after a single use and can only be recycled a num- ber of times before the plastic degrades. In 2008, the state Legislature enacted a law banning com- panies from false advertising on plastic food and beverage containers after finding that "littered plastic bags and plas- tic containers have caused and continue to cause significant environmental harm and have burdened local government with significant environmental cleanup costs." The bill banned the use of words like "biodegradable," "degradable" or "decompos- able" in the labeling, a law that will expand to all plastic prod- ucts beginning in 2013. Harris' lawsuit states that ENSO claimed in marketing materials to have developed a resin additive that contains microbial agents that speeds up the centuries-long process required to break down plastic. The suit also said the compa- nies are calling the bottles recy- clable when, in reality, plastic recyclers consider such bottles a contaminant and will pull them out of recyclable plastics. The suit names two compa- nies that sell water in ENSO's bottles: Aquamantra, of Dana Point, Calif., and Balance Water, of West Orange, N.J. The prod- ucts are found in stores across the country, ranging from small shops to major grocery store chains and health food stores such as Whole Foods. ENSO didn't immediately return two calls for comment. Passengers are welcomed by lion dance to celebrate tbe airplane'sinaugaral commercial tbigbt tram Japan, at Hong Kong International Airport yesterday. Boein g77s inaugural flight lanldsin Hong Kon Pb del AB( (AP) - ed 78 gers y 8-min pictur aviatio The chang think windo and a that cl groun It's larges named ing Co mater matica The fi Hong aviatio asts - sands "It's ne's debut was of history. New cars come out all the time but how often do new ayed more than planes come out?" said Stepha- nie Wood. She and her husband three years Dean, of Davie, Fla., won a char- ity auction, paying nearly $18,700 CARD ANA FLIGHT 7871 for two business-class seats. - Boeing's much-anticipat- Another passenger paid $32,000. 7 carried its first passen- The most noticeable feature of yesterday on a four-hour, the plane is its windows, which ute flight filled with cheers, are 30 percent larger than older e-taking and swapping of jets. Passengers no longer need to tn stories. hunch forward to see the ground. new long-haul jet aims to Those in the middle of the plane e with the way passengers can even glance out part of about flying with larger the windows. The shades are ws, improved lighting replaced with a glare-reducing, ir pressure and humidity electrical dimming system that oser resembles that on the adds tint to the window within d. 30 seconds. not the fastest jet or the "The windows are absolutely t jet but the plane, nick- amazing. You're not confined. I The Dreamliner by Boe- You've got the outside inside," trp., is built of lightweight Wood said. ials that promise to dra- The $193.5 million plane's lly improve fuel efficiency. debut was more than three years rst flight, from Tokyo to delayed because of manufactur- Kong, was filled with 240 ing problems. But that didn't tn reporters and enthusi- bother the fans who broke out in some of whom paid thou- applause at every opportunity. of dollars for the privilege. The highlight for many was a silly, but it's a little piece rainbow-colored light show that transformed the sedate white interior into something closer to the Las Vegas strip. Many of the 106 enthusiasts on board the flight by Japan's All Nippon Airways were carrying memorabilia from past inaugu- ral flights and snapping photos of everything from the overhead bins to the bathroom with a win- dow and bidet. Thomas Lee, of Los Angeles, handed out his own press release and biography. There was his first inaugural flight - the Boe- ing 747 as a 17-year-old boy in 1970 - and then the Airbus A380 four years ago. "I'm not crazy," he said. "For an aviation enthusiast, this is as high as it gets. It's like going to a movie on opening day." He and the rest of the coach passengers paid the apt sum of 78,700 yen, about $1,035, to-be part of the inaugural flight. The 787 has been sold by Boe- ing as a "game changer," promis- ing to revolutionize air travel just as its 707 did by allowingnonstop trans-Atlantic service and the 747 did by ushering in an age of mass travel. The 787 is designed to connect cities that might otherwise not have nonstop flights. Planes like the Boeing 747 and 777 and the Airbus A380 can fly most long- haul routes but finding enough daily passengers to fill the mas- sive jets is a challenge. The A380 typically has 525 passengers but can hold up to 853. The 787 only carries 210 to 250 passengers. That means it can fly nonstop routes that larger planes can't profitably support like San Francisco to Manchester, Eng- land or Boston to Athens, Greece. "It's goingto be a hub-avoiding machine," said Ernie Arvai, part- ner with aviation consulting firm AirInsight. "You'd pay extra not to go to (London's) Heathrow." Connecting such smaller cit- ies is the "holy grail" of air travel, said Richard Aboulafia, analyst with the Teal Group. That's why the plane is the fastest-selling new jet in aviation history. There were 821 orders for the 787 before its first flight, although 24 were recently canceled by China East- ern Airlines because of delays. Former U.S. Rep. Howard Wolpe dies at age 71 Wolpe played part in passing of federal anti-apartheid act 6 6 Local, organic food not always safer despite growing popularity Yemeni women protesters burn their veils during a demonstration demanding the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh yesterday. Yemeni women burn full-body veq~Uil s in protest Women play key role in uprising against president SANAA, Yemen (AP) - Hun- dreds of Yemeni women on Wednesday set fire to traditional female veils to protest the gov- ernment's brutal crackdown against the country's popular uprising, as overnight clashes in the capital and another city killed 25 people, officials said. In the capital Sanaa, the women spread a black cloth across a main street and threw their full-body veils, known as makrama, onto a pile, sprayed it with oil and set it ablaze. As the flames rose, they chanted: "Who protects Yemeni women from the crimes of the thugs?" The women in Yemen have taken a key role in the uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's authoritarian rule that erupted in March, inspired by other Arab revolutions. Their role came into the limelight ear- lier in October, when Yemeni woman activist Tawakkul Kar- man was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with two Liberian women, for their strug- gle for women's rights. Wednesday's protest, how- ever, was not related to women's rights or issues surrounding the Islamic veils - rather, the act of 4% women burning their clothing is a symbolic Bedouin tribal ges- ture signifying an appeal for help to tribesmen, in this case to stop the attacks on the protesters. The women who burned clothing in the capital were wearing traditional veils at the time, many covered in black from head to toe. The women's protest came as clashes have intensified between Saleh's forces and renegade fighters who have sided with the protesters and the opposition in demands that the president step down. Medical and local officials said up to 25 civilians, tribal fighters and government soldiers died overnight in Sanaa and the city of Taiz despite a cease-fire announcement by Saleh late Tuesday. Scores of others were wounded. A medical official said seven tribal fighters were among those killed in Sanaa's Hassaba dis- trict. Another medical official said four residents and nine sol- diers also died in the fighting there. Government forces also shelled houses in Taiz - a hotbed of anti-Saleh protests - killing five people, including four mem- bers of one family, a local official said. All officials spoke on condi- tion of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Pathogens caused Group. "Unfortunately, there are regulatory gaps, with some 20 recalls of producers being completely foo in exempt from FDA safeguards." organic food in past The FDA, which oversees the two years safety of most of the U.S. food years supply, often must focus on companies that have the great- WASHINGTON (AP) - est reach. A sweeping new egg Shoppers nervous about food- rule enacted last year would borne illnesses may turn to require most egg producers to foods produced at smaller farms do more testing for pathogens. or labeled "local," "organic" Though the rule will eventu- or "natural" in the hopes that ally cover more than 99 percent such products are safer. But a of the country's egg supply, small outbreak of salmonella in small farms like Larry Schultz organic eggs from Minnesota Organic Farm of Owatonna, shows that no food is immune Minn., would not qualify. That to contamination, farm issued a recall last week While sales for food pro- after six cases of salmonella duced on smaller operations poisoning were linked to the have exploded, partially fueled farm's eggs. by a consumer backlash to food A new food safety law Presi- produced by larger companies, dent Barack Obama signed a new set of food safety chal- earlier this year exempts some lenges has emerged. And small small farms as a result of farm- farm operations have been ers and local food advocates exempted from food safety laws complaining that creating cost- as conservatives, farmers and ly food safety plans could cause food-lovers have worried about some small businesses to go too much government interven- bankrupt. The exemption cov- tion and regulators have strug- ers farms of a certain size that gled with tight budgets. sell within a limited distance of The government has tradi- their operation. tionally focused on safety at Food safety advocates unsuc- large food operations - includ- cessfully lobbied against the ing farms, processing plants, provision, as did the organic and retailers - because they industry. Christine Bushway of reach the most people. Recent the Organic Trade Association, outbreaks in cantaloupe, which represents large and ground turkey, eggs and pea- small producers, says food safe- nuts have started at large farms ty comes down to proper opera- or plants and sickened thou- tion of a farm or food company, sands of people across the coun- not its scale. try. "How is the farm managed? "While it's critical that How much effort is put into food processors be regularly food safety?" she asks. "If you inspected, there is no way the don't have really good manage- Food and Drug Administration ment, it doesn't matter." would ever have the resources Smaller farms do have some to check every farm in the coun- obvious food safety advantages. try, nor are we calling for that," Owners have more control over says Erik Olson, a food safety what they are producing and advocate at the Pew Health often do not ship as far, lessen- ing the chances for contamina- tion in transport. If the farm is organic, an inspector will have to visit the property to certify it is organic and may report to authorities if they see food being produced in an unsafe way. Customers may also be familiar with an operation if it is nearby. But those checks aren't fail- safe. The FDA has reported at least 20 recalls due to patho- gens in organic food in the last two years, while the Agricul- ture Department, which over- sees meat safety, issued a recall of more than 34,000 pounds of organic beef last December due to possible contamination with E. coli. Egg safety is equally ambigu- ous. While many people like to buy cage-free eggs, those chick- ens may be exposed to bacteria on the grounds where they are roaming. So what can a consumer do? Experts say to follow the tra- ditional rules, no matter what the variety of food. Cook foods like eggs and meat, and make sure you are scrubbing fruit and cleaning your kitchen well. Do your part, and hope for the best, the experts say. "Labels like organic or local don't translate into necessarily safer products," says Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "They are capturing different values but not ensuring safety." Bushway of the Organic Trade Association says one of the best checks on food safety is the devastating effect a recall or foodborne illness outbreak can have on a company's bot- tom line. "It's just good business to make sure you are putting the safest products on the market," she says. A DETROIT (AP) - Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Howard Wolpe, who helped pass the fed- eral anti-apartheid act in 1986, has died. He was 71. The seven-term congress- man had recently been ill with a heart condition, former staffer Ken Brock said Wednesday. He died Tuesday at his home in Sau- gatuck. Wolpe, who also unsuccess- fully sought the governor's office in Michigan, served in Congress from 1979-1992. As chair of the U.S House Subcommittee on Africa, he authored and man- aged legislation imposing sanc- tions against South Africa for its system of white-minority rule. "Howard was a very pleas- ant guy, a gentleman in all respects," said Battle Creek Dr. Joe Schwarz, who teaches at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. "He was exceptionally bright and exceptionally committed to his mission," Schwarz said. "He had a real deep and abiding interest in African affairs where he made his name in Congress." Wolpe once served as Spe- cial Envoy to Africa's Great Lakes Region under President Bill Clinton "where he initiated peace talks and helped end civil wars in Burundi and the Demo- cratic Republic of the Congo," Democratic Rep. John Dingell said in a statement.