ICYMI, California becomes the first state to restrict antibiotic use in livestock. In recent days, California’s governor Jerry Brown has signed into law a host of progressive bills, including legislation ensuring the right-to-die, gun control measures for colleges and more. On Saturday, Brown made California the first state in the nation to “restrict the use of antibiotics in healthy farm animals and prohibit their use to promote the growth of livestock.” California’s new law is tougher than federal law. Some opposition was allayed by delaying enactment of the law until January 2018. Patrick McGreevy reports for the Los Angeles Times.
Perspective on dietary guidelines and the sustainability goal. As we shared previously, sustainability will not be considered in this year’s dietary guidelines. Some of those who opposed inclusion of sustainability indicated they thought it wasn’t “science-based.” Lots of disagreement there. Including this: “This opposition of science and sustainability is truly bizarre.” Wonderful, must-read piece by UC Berkeley’s Tania Lombrozo for NPR’s The Salt. The last paragraph begins like this: “Science can (and should) inform our decisions, but you can’t read off policy from science.” It is stunning and has implications for all researchers and scientists working to improve public policy.
Does ownership matter? Big food companies are buying up smaller holdings. What if your favorite organic brand is actually owned by a multinational food company? Two pieces we like. First, The Washington Post is featuring an interesting piece with an online tool: you can hover over the name of an organic brand to see its corporate parent. By Peter Whoriskey. Second, a terrific story from NPR’s Dan Charles explores how three values-driven companies responded to purchase offers from bigger companies. Three companies: three different paths. The founders of Lundberg Family Farms, Cascadian Farm and Niman Ranch reflect on their choices.
The more we learn about nutrition, the more we ignore. This is the first in a two part series on healthy dietary changes by Jane E. Brody for the New York Times Well Blog. It covers a lot of territory…thumbs up.