Copyright

(c) 2010-2024 Jon L Gelman, All Rights Reserved.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query salt. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query salt. Sort by date Show all posts

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

No Free Lunch For Salty Foods


Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City may have put a a focus a new compensable event.  A long proponent of a healthier living environment, Bloomberg has proposed reducing salt content in food in the Big Apple by 25%.


While emphasizing the seriousness of the health hazards of salt intake, he compared the consumption of salt to asbestos and smoking, "Salt and asbestos, clearly both are bad for you," Bloomberg continued. "Modern medicine thinks you shouldn't be smoking if you want to live longer. Modern medicine thinks you shouldn't be eating salt, or sodium."


There is no free lunch in the adoption of this scenario. If an employee is exposed to salty foods in the course of the employment and suffers a medical event associated with the intake of salt, then compensability may follow.



"The New York City Health Department is coordinating a nationwide effort to prevent heart attacks and strokes by reducing the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant foods.Americans consume roughly twice the recommended limit of salt each day – causing widespread high blood pressure and placing millions at risk of heart attack and stroke. This is not a matter of choice. Only 11% of the sodium in our diets comes from our own saltshakers; nearly 80% is added to foods before they are sold. The National Salt Reduction Initiative is a coalition of cities, states and health organizations working to help food manufacturers and restaurants voluntarily reduce the amount of salt in their products. The goal is to reduce Americans’ salt intake by 20% over five years. This will save tens of thousands of lives each year and billions of dollars in health care costs."


More than 40 cities, states and national health organizations have joined the National Salt Reduction Initiative. The goal is to reduce the salt intake of Americans by 20% over the next five years.

Click here to read more about asbestos and workers' compensation. 

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Time to Collect the Salt Shakers

The reduction of factors contributing to cardiovascular disease would make any workplace a lot healthier. Recently, Mayor Bloomberg equated the deadly effects of asbestos exposure with salt intake.

Now comes a recent study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) that illustrates that even a minor reduction of salt intake would produce a significant reduction in cardiovascular events.

NEJM states in an editorial, "The large potential benefits of reducing salt intake observed by Bibbins-Domingo and colleagues may even represent an underestimate. Salt reduction is associated with reduced blood pressure in children and an attenuated age-related rise in blood pressure in adults. Neither of these benefits was modeled in the present analysis. There is also evidence that salt reduction may reduce the risk of gastric cancer, end-stage kidney disease, left ventricular hypertrophy, congestive heart failure, and osteoporosis."

As employers have eliminated other co-exisitng contributing factors such as tobacco smoke, they would be indeed wise to also consider the reduction of other factors, such as salt intake. Such action could only make the workplace a healthier environment.

Click here to read more about salt intake and possible workers' compensation consequences.


Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Get Sodium Out Of Workers' Diets

Today NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced that 21 companies are voluntarily reducing sodium in packaged or restaurant foods. 


The indirect beneficiaries are both employers and employees who are served or purchase prepackage foods in employer cafeterias and restaurants  Sodium has been causally connected to risk of increased illness and disease. 

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

US FDA Moves to Further Regulate Marijuana Products

US Food and Drug Administration [FDA] announced a public hearing to obtain scientific data and information about the safety, manufacturing, product quality, marketing, labeling, and sale of products containing cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds.

Friday, February 8, 2013

What To Do Before A Major Snow Storm Strikes

As weather forecasters begin to label the impending Northeast Snowstorm as "The Snowstorm of the Century" employers and employees at taking preparations to avoid adverse exposures and serious injurieis during a time of cold and stress.The US Centers for Disease Control has announced a preparatory list of things to be done in advance of the storm.

Stock up on emergency supplies for communication, food, safety, heating, and car in case a storm hits.

Communication Checklist

  • Make sure you have at least one of the following in case there is a power failure:
  • Find out how your community warns the public about severe weather:
    • Siren
    • Radio
    • Television
  • Listen to emergency broadcasts.
  • Know what winter storm warning terms mean:
    • Winter Weather Advisory: Expect winter weather conditions to cause inconvenience and hazards.
    • Frost/Freeze Warning: Expect below-freezing temperatures.
    • Winter Storm Watch: Be alert; a storm is likely.
    • Winter Storm Warning: Take action; the storm is in or entering the area.
    • Blizzard Warning: Seek refuge immediately! Snow and strong winds, near-zero visibility, deep snow drifts, and life-threatening wind chill.

Friday, December 27, 2013

McDonalds Kills Site That Advised Employees to Eat Healthy Meals

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from mashable.com

Mcdonalds-burger-and-fries

McDonald's had a thoughtful piece of advice for its own employees: If you want to be healthy, avoid fast food.
That's what the fast-food outlet posted on its employee resource website McResource Line. The company pulled the site on Wednesday, saying the advice, which a third-party vendor provided, was taken out of context.
"Fast foods are quick, reasonably priced and readily available alternatives to home cooking. While convenient and economical for a busy lifestyle, fast foods are typically high in calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt and may put people at risk for becoming overweight," read one posting on the site's diet section, according to CNBC.
Another page displayed a large soda, french fries and a hamburger — a meal labeled as an "unhealthy choice." Next to it, the "healthier choice" of a cup of water, a salad and a sandwich.
These postings disappeared Wednesday when McDonald's took down the entire website, saying its content was unfairly misrepresented.
"A combination of factors has led us to re-evaluate and we've directed the vendor to take down the website," McDonald's wrote in a statement posted on its main website. "Between links to irrelevant or outdated information, along with outside groups taking elements out of context, this created unwarranted scrutiny and inappropriate commentary. None of this helps our McDonald's team members."
This is not the first...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Friday, July 25, 2014

United Airlines' Outsourcing Jobs to Company That Pays Near-Poverty Wages Is Shameful

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.huffingtonpost.com

On October 1, United Airlines is planning to outsource 630 gate agent jobs at 12 airports to companies that pay near-poverty level wages. The airports affected include Salt Lake City; Charlotte, North Carolina; Pensacola, Florida; Detroit and Des Moines, Iowa.

As a result hundreds of employees who formerly made middle-class, living wages will be forced to transfer to other cities, take early retirement or seek employment elsewhere. Union employees who have been with the company for years -- many making a respectable $50,000-per-year salaries -- will be replaced by non-union employees who will be paid less than half -- between $9.50 and $12 per hour.

Nine-fifty an hour is a poverty-level wage if you are trying to support a family -- and $12 barely exceeds the poverty level. In fact at $12 a family of three makes so little that they are eligible for food stamps.

That, in effect, means that United and its subcontractor will be subsidized by American taxpayers for the food stamp payments made to their new low-wage workers.

United's move to convert middle-class jobs into near-poverty level jobs is shameful -- it's that simple.

And United's move to cut employee pay is emblematic of corporate America's systematic campaign to lower wages and destroy the American middle class in order to increase returns to Wall Street shareholders. It is exactly the kind of action that must come to a screeching halt if the middle class is to survive -- and our children are once again be able to look...


[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Five US Airports that Put Employees and Passengers At Risk For Environmental Tobacco Smoke

Secondhand Smoke Is Deadly
Air pollution from secondhand smoke five times higher outside smoking rooms and other designated smoking areas than in smoke-free airports

Average air pollution levels from secondhand smoke directly outside designated smoking areas in airports are five times higher than levels in smoke-free airports, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study conducted in five large hub U.S. airports also showed that air pollution levels inside designated smoking areas were 23 times higher than levels in smoke-free airports. In the study, designated smoking areas in airports included restaurants, bars, and ventilated smoking rooms.

Five of the 29 largest airports in the United States allow smoking in designated areas that are accessible to the public. The airports that allow smoking include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Denver International Airport, and Salt Lake City International Airport. More than 110 million passenger boardings—about 15 percent of all U.S. air travel—occurred at these five airports last year.

"The findings in today’s report further confirm that ventilated smoking rooms and designated smoking areas are not effective," said Tim McAfee, M.D., M.P.H., director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. "Prohibiting smoking in all indoor areas is the only effective way to fully eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke."

2006 Surgeon General’s Report concluded that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Although smoking was banned on all U.S. domestic and international commercial airline flights through a series of federal laws adopted from 1987 to 2000, no federal policy requires airports to be smoke-free.

"Instead of going entirely smoke-free, five airports continue to allow smoking in restaurants, bars or ventilated smoking rooms. However, research shows that separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air and ventilating buildings cannot fully eliminate secondhand smoke exposure," said Brian King, Ph.D., an epidemiologist with CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health and co-author of the report. "People who spend time in, pass by, clean, or work near these rooms are at risk of exposure to secondhand smoke."

Secondhand smoke causes heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmoking adults and is a known cause of sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS, respiratory problems, ear infections, and asthma attacks in infants and children. Even brief exposure to secondhand smoke can trigger acute cardiac events such as heart attack. Cigarette use kills an estimated 443,000 Americans each year, including 46,000 heart disease deaths and 3,400 lung cancer deaths among nonsmokers from exposure to secondhand smoke.

For an online version of this MMWR report, visit http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr.  For quitting assistance, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) or visit www.smokefree.govExternal Web Site Icon.  Also, visit www.BeTobaccoFree.govExternal Web Site Icon for information on quitting and preventing children from using tobacco. For real stories of people who have quit successfully, visit http://www.cdc.gov/tips. For state-specific tobacco-related data, visit CDC's State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation System at http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/statesystem.

Read More About "Secondhand" Environmental Smoke
Apr 23, 2011
"Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure causes lung cancer and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in nonsmoking adults and children, resulting in an estimated 46,000 heart disease deaths and 3,400 lung cancer deaths ...
Feb 20, 2008
An Atlantic City NJ casino card dealer employed at the Claridge Hotel who was exposed to second hand tobacco smoke was awarded workers' compensation benefits. NJ Judge Cosmo Giovinazzi award $150,00 for lost ...
Nov 14, 2012
"Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure causes lung cancer and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in nonsmoking adults and children, resulting in an estimated 46,000 heart disease deaths and 3,400 lung cancer deaths .
Oct 06, 2011
Lubick (2011) discussed the global health burden of secondhand smoke, and Burton (2011)emphasized a new and alarming consequence of smoking in indoor environments—“thirdhand smoke”—a term first coined in 2006 ...

Friday, September 19, 2014

How asbestos exposure leads to mesothelioma

Today's post was shared by Take Justice Back and comes from www.ksl.com


shutterstock_farbled.jpg

SALT LAKE CITY — Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that develops in the lungs. It is caused by exposure to asbestos, a mineral fiber the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says was once "added to a variety of products to strengthen them and to provide heat insulation and fire resistance."
While treatments for mesothelioma are improving, it remains a very difficult cancer to treat, and it has no cure.

Who is at risk?

The unfortunate fact is short-term and one-time exposures to asbestos are known to cause mesothelioma cancer.
If you've worked in shipyards and auto repair shops, or frequented homes and public buildings built prior to 1977, you may be at risk of developing the cancer.
There are also several products that contain asbestos that you may have not thought of: adhesives, cements, sealers, mill board, automotive materials, paints, plasters, clay, mechanical products (like heating ducts), flooring, packing materials, fire-proofing materials, roofing, rope.
According to Mesothelioma.com, other risk factors that increase the likelihood that a person will develop mesothelioma include exposure to radiation, exposure to zeolite and exposure to SV40.
While smoking does not cause mesothelioma, it does not help the problem.

How mesothelioma develops

Mesothelioma usually affects the thin protective membrane that surrounds the lungs, heart and abdominal area.
  • Pleural mesothelioma forms in the lining of the lungs.
  • Peritoneal mesothelioma forms in the lining of...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

If You’re Going Out To Eat Check Out “Behind The Kitchen Door”

For many celebrating the holiday season is inggo out to eat for an enjoyable experience. Unknown to many restaurant patrons are the problems of restaurant workers and include:  low wages, occupational stress and lack of medical benefits that requires restaurant workers to go to work sick.

Behind The Kitchen Door exposes the working conditions in the restaurant industry.
 “How do restaurant workers live on some of the lowest wages in America? And how do poor working conditions—discriminatory labor practices, exploitation, and unsanitary kitchens—affect the meals that arrive at our restaurant tables? Saru Jayaraman, who launched a national restaurant workers organization after 9/11, sets out to answer these questions by following the lives of ten restaurant workers in cities across the country - New York City, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Houston, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, Detroit, and New Orleans. Blending personal and investigative journalism, Jayaraman shows us that the quality of the food that arrives at our restaurant tables is not just a product of raw ingredients: it’s the product of the hands that chop, grill, sauté, and serve it, and the bodies to whom those hands belong.

“Behind the Kitchen Door “ is a groundbreaking exploration of the political, economic, and moral implications of eating out. What’s at stake when we choose a restaurant is not only our own health or “foodie” experience, but the health and well-being of the second-largest private sector workforce—the lives of 10 million people, many immigrants, many people of color, who bring passion, tenacity, and important insight into the American dining experience.

Download the 2012 National Diners Guide – See how your favorite restaurant ranks

Read more about "food" and "workers compensation"

Sep 04, 2012
What kind of corporate man was Eastwood when he owned his restaurant, “Hog's Breath Inn,” in Carmel, California, when he was mayor? How did he treat his workers and what did he think about unions? It turns out Eastwood ...
Jun 21, 2010
"So if a Boston restaurant says, 'We're losing business in our restaurant because we can't get shrimp from the Gulf,' let's take a look at Massachusetts law. Would Massachusetts law recognize that claim? If it would, I will.
Jan 13, 2010
"The New York City Health Department is coordinating a nationwide effort to prevent heart attacks and strokes by reducing the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant foods. ...Subscribe To Workers' Compensation. Posts ...
Apr 20, 2011
Having gained experience fighting hotel and restaurant unions, Levitt sent out seminar brochures across the country marketing his expertise and spreading fear. He included newspaper clippings from a Las Vegas strike, and ...

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Multistate Outbreak of Salmonella Bredeney Infections Linked to Peanut Butter Manufactured By Sunland, Inc.

Recall
On October 4, 2012, Sunland Inc. expanded its ongoing recall Adobe PDF file [PDF - 10 pages]External Web Site Icon to include all products made in the Sunland nut butter production facility between March 1, 2010 and September 24, 2012.  The company reports that it is adding 139 products to the recall, bringing the total number of products being recalled by Sunland Inc. to 240.
The expanded recall covers all previously identified Peanut Butter, Almond Butter, Cashew Butter, and Tahini products as well as Roasted Blanched Peanut Products. New product categories being added to the list are several varieties of flavored butters and spreads, including Thai Ginger Butter, Chocolate Butter and Banana Butter.
On September 24, 2012, Sunland, Inc. announced a voluntary recall of its peanut butter and other products containing nuts and seeds, manufactured between May 1, 2012 and September 24, 2012, because these products may be contaminated with Salmonella.
The recalled products manufactured by Sunland, Inc. Adobe PDF file [PDF- 5 pages]External Web Site Icon were distributed nationally to numerous large supermarket chains. The recall applies to the products with Best-If-Used-By dates between May 1, 2013 and September 24, 2013. This date is stamped on the side of the jars’ labels below the lid.
On September 22, 2012, Trader Joe’s voluntarily recalled its Creamy Salted Valencia Peanut ButterExternal Web Site Iconbecause of potential contamination with Salmonella and urged consumers to not eat the product. In advance of this recall, Trader Joe’s removed the product from all store shelves.
The recalled Creamy Salted Valencia Peanut Butter was distributed to Trader Joe’s stores nationwide. The product comes in a 16-ounce plastic jar. All code dates are included in this recall, up to an including July 26, 2013 (26JUL13). The peanut butter is labeled Trader Joe’s Valencia Creamy Peanut Butter made with Sea Salt.
Customers who have purchased this item are urged to not eat the product, and to dispose of it or return it to any Trader Joe’s location for a full refund. 

Advice to Consumers, Retailers, and Others

  • Based on available information, CDC recommends that consumers do not eat recalled peanut butter and other products containing nuts and seeds and dispose of any remaining jars of these products in the home or return the jars to the place of purchase.
    • This is especially important for children under the age of 5 years, older adults, and people with weak immune systems.
  • Persons who think they might have become ill from eating possibly contaminated peanut butter or other products containing nuts and seeds should consult their health care providers.
    • Symptoms include:
Contaminated peanut butter and other products containing nuts and seeds may still be in consumers' homes or available for sale on the internet.
  • Consumers who recently purchased recalled peanut butter or other products containing nuts and seeds are advised not to eat them and dispose of any remaining jars of these products or return the jars to the place of purchase. 
  • Retailers and food service operators should not sell or serve recalled peanut butter and other products containing nuts and seeds.
  • Some of these products may still be available for sale from internet retailers.
What to do if you have Trader Joe’s Valencia Creamy Salted Peanut Butter in your home:
  • Dispose of the product immediately or return it to the place of purchase.
  • Even if some of the peanut butter or other products containing nuts and seeds have been eaten without anyone becoming ill, the rest of the jar should be disposed of or returned.
  • If consumers choose to discard recalled peanut butter or other products containing nuts and seeds, the product should be disposed of in a closed plastic bag and placed in a sealed trash can. This will prevent people or animals from eating it.
  • ....
    For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered work related accident and injuries.

    More on Food Safety


Monday, September 9, 2013

In South Florida, a Polluted Bubble Ready to Burst

Today's post was shared by The New York Times and comes from www.nytimes.com


On wind-whipped days when rain pounds this part of South Florida, people are quickly reminded that Lake Okeechobee, with its vulnerable dike and polluted waters, has become a giant environmental problem far beyond its banks.


Beginning in May, huge downpours ushered in the most significant threat in almost a decade to the bulging lake and its 80-year-old earthen dike, a turn of events with far-reaching consequences. The summer rains set off a chain reaction that devastated three major estuaries far to the east and west, distressing residents, alarming state and federal officials and prompting calls for remedial action.

With lake waters at their limit, there were only two choices, neither of them good. One was to risk breaching the 143-mile dike, a potential catastrophe to the agricultural tracts south of the lake and the small communities that depend on them. The other was to release billions of gallons of polluted water into delicate estuaries to the east and west.

Following its post-Hurricane Katrina guidelines, the Army Corps of Engineers chose the estuaries, rather than test the dike’s vulnerabilities.

As a result, the St. Lucie River estuary in the east and the Caloosahatchee River estuary in the west, which depend on a naturally calibrated balance of salt and fresh water, were overwhelmed. The rush of fresh water from the lake and the estuaries’ own river basins, along with the pollutants carried in from farms,...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Cilantro Recalled for Possible Salmonella Health Risk

Pacific International Marketing (“Pacific”) is working with the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and California Department of Public Health to coordinate a recall of Cilantro for potential contamination with Salmonella. FDA has advised that a sample of Pacific Cilantro has tested positive for Salmonella. A total of 6,141 cartons of Cilantro are being recalled.

Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.

The product is distributed in Pacific International Marketing cartons of 60 bunches, 30 bunches and 20- 3 bunched sleeves. The product is bunched cilantro with “Pacific” on the twist tie and the UPC code, which is 33383 80104. The UPC code for sleeves is 40695 80104. The product was distributed in California, Arizona, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Indiana, South Carolina, and Missouri through retailers. Consumers should return cilantro purchased after November 16th but before December 10th. The carton codes are as follows:

19 78
111411
19 78
111811
19 84
111811
19 94
111811
19 78
111911
19 84
111911
19 94
111911
19 78

No Illnesses have been reported to date. The recall is the result of a positive FDA Salmonella test taken at the distributor level. The product originates from Salt River Farming, located in the Phoenix, Arizona area. The source of contamination is unknown.

Consumers who have purchased the cilantro are urged to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. Customers can also contact Pacific International Marketing at 831 755 1398 from 8:00 am PST to 5:00 pm PST Monday through Friday or by mail to: P.O. Box 3737, Salinas, CA 93912-3737
....
For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.