<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<recommendedContent xmlns="http://api.mspoke.com">
    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_425"
                     title="AAN: Industrial Cleaner Again Tied to Parkinson Risk (CME/CE)"
                     score="0.012"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AAN/tb/18338?impressionId=1265804704703"
                     
      TORONTO  --  The degreasing agent trichloroethylene (TCE) has been linked to increased rates of Parkinson&apos;s disease among industrial workers in yet another study, this time involving a large, well-studied group of World War II veterans.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;Parkinson&apos;s disease developed in individuals with occupational exposure to TCE at more than five times the rate seen in those without such exposure (odds ratio 5.5, 95% CI 1.02 to 30), reported Samuel Goldman, MD, of the Parkinson&apos;s Institute in Sunnyvale, Calif.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;Goldman described the research in a phone interview with &lt;em&gt;MedPage Today&lt;/em&gt;. It&apos;s scheduled for presentation here in April at the American Academy of Neurology&apos;s annual meeting.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;A previous study in 2008 had fingered TCE as the most likely culprit behind a cluster of Parkinson&apos;s disease cases afflicting workers at a single industrial plant. (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medpagetoday.com/Geriatrics/ParkinsonsDisease/7894&quot; mce_href=&quot;http://www.medpagetoday.com/Geriatrics/ParkinsonsDisease/7894&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Trichloroethylene Implicated as Risk for Parkinsonism&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Also, Goldman said, animal studies have found that TCE is selectively toxic to nigral dopaminergic neurons, the same type of nerve cell that progressively dies off in Parkinson&apos;s disease. He said the chemical&apos;s activity in rodent brains is very similar to that of MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine), a dopaminergic neurotoxin commonly used to simulate Parkinson&apos;s disease in preclinical research.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Goldman said the new study was the first population-based analysis to link TCE to the disease.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It focused on 198 twin pairs in the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council&apos;s World War II Twins Cohort, which comprises some 16,000 twin pairs overall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Members of the all-male cohort, who were born from 1917 to 1927 and served in the war, have been followed since the 1960s. Occupational histories for participants are available along with medical records from the VA healthcare system.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In those pairs chosen for the current study, records showed that one twin had developed Parkinson&apos;s disease and the other had not. This design largely eliminates genetics as a confounding factor in the analysis.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Goldman explained that occupational histories for each participant were reviewed by a blinded industrial hygienist and a preventive medicine physician to identify likely exposures to TCE and four other industrial chemicals: xylene, toluene, carbon tetrachloride, and tetrachloroethylene.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As a single source of exposure, only TCE was significantly associated with development of Parkinson&apos;s disease, Goldman said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;People working as aircraft mechanics, machinists, plumbers, and electricians likely had regular exposure to TCE, Goldman said. The chemical was commonly used as a &quot;spot&quot; cleaner to remove grease and oils from metal surfaces. It was also used for a time as a dry cleaning solvent, although tetrachloroethylene was more common for that purpose.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Goldman said no increased risk was seen with xylene or toluene, but there were near-significant trends toward increased Parkinson&apos;s disease risk from carbon tetrachloride and tetrachloroethylene: &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;Carbon tetrachloride: OR 2.8 (95% CI 0.97 to 7.8)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Tetrachloroethylene: OR 9.0 (95% CI 0.78 to 103)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Twins exposed to either TCE or tetrachloroethylene were at significantly increased risk, with an odds ratio of 8.1 (95% CI 1.43 to 43) relative to individuals with no exposure to either chemical.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Goldman said the analysis also examined whether duration of exposure was associated with increased risk. He said the results were in the same pattern as for the yes-no exposure analysis, but the findings were very uncertain because of the relatively small sample size.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Occupational histories were available for only 99 of the 198 discordant twin pairs and some of the information was obtained by proxy rather than from the participant himself.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Because of the wide confidence intervals even for the yes-no exposure analysis, the findings need confirmation in a larger study, he said, noting that the best approach would be a cohort study involving people with known, long-term exposure to TCE, compared with well-chosen controls.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;The study wouldn&apos;t have to be large,&quot; Goldman said. He estimated that 1,000 to 2,000 participants would be adequate to determine if the connection to Parkinson&apos;s disease is real.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;float:left;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:#8dabbc;font-family:arial;font-size:12px;background-color:#DBE9F2;padding:5px;&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;The study was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Valley Foundation, and the James and Sharron Clark Family Fund.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;No potential conflicts of interest were reported.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;clear:both;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_343"
                     title="U.S. Marshals Seize Unapproved Ozone Generators"
                     score="0.008"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/EnvironmentalHealth/tb/18228?impressionId=1265804704703"
                     
      &lt;p&gt;WASHINGTON  --  U.S. Marshals have seized 77 unapproved ozone generators, valued at almost $76,000 from a California device manufacturer, the FDA announced.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The devices were advertised as treatments for various conditions, including cancer, AIDS, hepatitis, herpes, and other diseases, but lacked approval or efficacy data to support the claims made on their behalf, an FDA release said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The raid came after the company, Applied Ozone Systems (AOS) of Auburn, Calif., failed to respond to a voluntary recall request last December, the agency said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The FDA raised concerns that patients using AOS-IM and AOS-IMD devices will consider it an appropriate treatment for an affliction and delay or stop FDA-approved and proven medical treatments. Patients using the devices may risk infection from contamination of the applicator or catheter, the release said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The FDA recommended that healthcare professionals and consumers cease use of the devices.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The agency said it obtained an inspection warrant for the company&apos;s manufacturing facilities after the owner refused to admit FDA inspectors. It said the inspection revealed several breaches of the FDA&apos;s good manufacturing practice requirements for medical devices, which had never been approved in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Ozone is an unstable allotrope of oxygen with three atoms, instead of the normal two. Ozone generators produce ozone from oxygen and have consumer and industrial applications, but ozone itself is harmful to the respiratory system, even at relatively low concentrations.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instructions with the Applied Ozone Systems devices suggest blowing ozoned air into the rectal and vaginal areas.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Friday&apos;s seizure was part of a joint effort of the FDA and the California Department of Public Health to remove or prevent unapproved or unsafe medical devices from entering the market.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A statement on the company&apos;s Web site said the two ozone generator models, which sold for $750 and $1,200 respectively, were no longer available by order of the FDA and California authorities.&lt;/p&gt;

    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_250"
                     title="Cancer Research &quot;Giant&quot; Lawrence Garfinkel Dies at 88"
                     score="-0.001"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pulmonology/Smoking/tb/18108?impressionId=1265804704703"
                     
      &lt;p&gt;Epidemiologist Lawrence Garfinkel, MA, a legendary researcher for the American Cancer Society whose work helped establish a link between cancer and smoking and other activities, died of cardiovascular disease Thursday in Seattle, Washington at 88.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;The American Cancer Society today mourns the loss of one of its most important historical figures,&quot; said John R. Seffrin, PhD, the society&apos;s chief executive officer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;Larry Garfinkel joined the American Cancer Society as a young scientist in 1947, and for more than four decades played an instrumental role in expanding knowledge of and reducing death from smoking.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Garfinkel&apos;s 1982 Cancer Prevention Study-II (CPS-II) is the largest contemporary study of tobacco and mortality, with 1.2 million participants and 77,000 data-compiling volunteers across 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;CPS-II uncovered the effects of lifestyle factors, such as obesity, alcohol consumption, medications, genetic elements, that affect cancer and other chronic diseases, the analysis of which still reveals important clues about cancer today.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The study also found lung cancer mortality rates in women increased five-fold from data collected in the original Cancer Prevention Study, while cancer rates among non-smoking women remained the same. This information provided strong evidence that lung cancer was almost exclusively a disease found in smokers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Garfinkel was born on January 11, 1922 in Manhattan&apos;s Lower East Side and was raised in the South Bronx.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He served in the army during World War II, where he was seriously injured in northern France in August, 1944.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, Garfinkel graduated from the City College of New York and received a Masters Degree from Columbia University. He also received several honorary doctorates.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Garfinkel began work for the ACS in 1947.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He assisted E. Cuyler Hammond, MD, and Daniel Horn, MD, in the first ACS prospective mortality study of 187,783 males in the late 1940&apos;s by coordinating much of the field work, including training thousands of ACS volunteers in data collection techniques.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Garfinkel acted as the co-principal investigator of the larger Cancer Prevention Study I (CPS-I) in 1959. The study enrolled 1 million participants across 25 states and required over 68,000 volunteers to collect data.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the 1960s, he contributed to more than two dozen major papers on the relation between smoking and health. He was co-author of one of the first reports combining epidemiology with pathology and provided some of the first direct evidence of lung damage related to smoking.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Garfinkel also contributed to issuance of the landmark 1964 Surgeon General&apos;s report on smoking and health.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He was appointed director of ACS research in 1979 after Hammond&apos;s retirement.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Garfinkel retired from the ACS in 1989. Over the course of his career, he had contributed to more than 100 journal articles.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Richard D. Klausner, MD, then-director of the National Cancer Institute, said at the time: &quot;Few individuals have contributed as much to our present-day knowledge about the disease consequences of smoking.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;His remarkable achievement is an important reminder what a tremendous impact an individual can make, and inspires all of us to continue the fight against cancer.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Garfinkel continued to volunteer with the ACS after his retirement and taught biostatistics at the New York University Dental School.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He is survived by his brothers, Harold and Melvin; his sons, Martin and Herb; a daughter-in-law, Margaret Cary, and two grandchildren.&lt;/p&gt;

    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_245"
                     title="Accidents, Illness Cause Most War-Zone Casualties (CME/CE)"
                     score="-0.001"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/MilitaryMedicine/tb/18100?impressionId=1265804704703"
                     
      &lt;p&gt;More than 85% of American military medical evacuations from the Middle East were not the direct result of enemy action, but the result of non-battle injuries and disease, researchers said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Of some 34,000 military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan who shipped out for medical reasons from 2004 to 2007, only 14% had been wounded or injured in combat, according to Steven P. Cohen, MD, of Johns Hopkins, and colleagues.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The most common reasons for medical evacuation were non-battle related musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders, accounting for 24% of evacuations, the researchers wrote in the Jan. 23 issue of &lt;em&gt;The Lancet&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Combat injuries were the second most common, followed by neurological disorders (10%) and psychiatric illnesses (9%).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;Non-battle related injuries continue to be the leading cause of medical evacuation in modern warfare, and medical officers should be prepared for this burden in subsequent conflicts,&quot; Cohen and colleagues wrote.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;To reduce the number of evacuees, preventive medicine programmes and educational initiatives need to target health-care providers, non-commissioned officers, and combat soldiers.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They also warned that &quot;the burden of psychiatric illness&quot; will increase with the duration of conflict and reliance on reserve units.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Cohen and colleagues obtained data kept by the U.S. military on all medical evacuations from Iraq and Afghanistan spanning 2004 to 2007.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In addition to describing the medical reasons for evacuation, the data included the individuals&apos; ranks, service affiliations, active-duty or reserve status, and whether personnel returned to duty.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Any injury sustained during combat missions, including those not caused directly by enemy fire such as back strains, was counted as battle-related.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The number of evacuations each year fell from 2004 to 2006  --  from 10,290 to 6,778  --  but abruptly rose in 2007 to 8,444 with the Iraq surge and the reinvigorated Afghan Taliban resistance.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Not surprisingly, as these conflicts evolved over time, the balance of combat and non-combat injuries and illnesses changed and the characteristics of evacuated soldiers changed as well.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The proportion of evacuations related to combat injuries climbed steadily in Afghanistan, from 10% in 2004 to 19% in 2007. Injuries from combat also increased over time in Iraq but not as much: from 24% of evacuations to 28% during the study period.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But by 2007, combat wounds had become only the fourth most common reason for evacuation in both regions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders held steadily as the number one reason throughout the study period, ranging from 21% to 28%.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But non-combat neurological and psychiatric disorders both increased substantially, especially the latter.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Evacuations for psychiatric conditions soared from 5% to 6% of the total in 2004 to about 13% in 2007. Neurological disorders accounted for about 10% of evacuations early in the conflicts, rising to more than 12% in 2007. These figures did not differ substantially between Iraq and Afghanistan.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Most of the evacuees did not return to duty: about 80% of those shipped from Iraq and 75% from Afghanistan.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Although overall return-to-duty rates changed little with time, evacuations for some types of illness did increase or decrease.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Personnel evacuated because of infectious disease became more likely to see service again  --  37% returned to active duty in 2007, compared with 8% in 2004. Cohen and colleagues identified better control of leishmaniasis as at least partly responsible for the increase.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;More significantly, the researchers indicated, return-to-duty rates declined progressively after 2004 for psychiatric evacuees, Cohen and colleagues reported.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By 2007, only 7% of psychiatric evacuees from Iraq and 4% of those from Afghanistan were returning to duty.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The researchers also found that, among particular types of psychiatric illness, personnel with stress reactions, depression, and bipolar disorder were least likely to return to duty.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They also found that individuals with back pain were also more unlikely than most evacuees to return to duty.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In their report, Cohen and colleagues said these latter trends were potentially related.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;The parallels between emotional distress and spinal pain are intriguing. Findings from several studies in patients presenting with back or neck pain have established that the major risk factors for disability and persistence are psychosocial (e.g., anxiety, depression, poor coping skills, and low job satisfaction),&quot; they wrote.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;As survival rates of combat injuries increase, and the burden of non-battle-related injuries and psychiatric disorders continues to soar, society must be prepared to deal with the aftermath of these injuries,&quot; Cohen and colleagues concluded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In an accompanying commentary, J. Don Richardson, MD, of St. Joseph&apos;s Health Care in London, Ontario, and colleagues also found the results on psychiatric evacuees most striking in the study.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;The low rate of return to duty in service personnel evacuated for psychiatric conditions warrants further study, and [the] article points out the importance of cumulative stress in repeated deployments and the physical and mental demands on the military member and their family,&quot; Richardson and colleagues wrote.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;The low rate of return to duty might be related to the nature of the combat operation for which military commanders might be reluctant to deploy an individual with a psychiatric diagnosis to a combat zone,&quot; they speculated.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;Early intervention becomes crucial to help promote recovery because military members often experience substantial stigma disclosing symptoms of PTSD and other psychiatric problems,&quot; Richardson and colleagues added.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They also suggested that military doctors &quot;should have a high index of suspicion&quot; for PTSD when soldiers present with spinal pain or other somatic complaints, &quot;especially if there is a physical injury.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;float:left;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:#8dabbc;font-family:arial;font-size:12px;background-color:#DBE9F2;padding:5px;&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;The study was supported by the federally funded John P. Murtha Neuroscience and Pain Institute and the U.S. Army.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;No potential conflicts of interest were reported by study authors or the editorialists.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;clear:both;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_170"
                     title="Gov&apos;t Touts BPA Research Effort"
                     score="-0.005"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/EnvironmentalHealth/tb/18005?impressionId=1265804704703"
                     
      Federal health officials said the government will spend $30 million on research to pin down health risks associated with bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used to soften plastics in baby bottles, cups, and plastic packaging that has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;William Corr, deputy secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), told reporters in a press call that the agency was investing the money in &quot;short- and longer-term studies&quot; to provide better guidance on the safety of BPA in infant food containers.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;Most of the funding will pass through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Its director, Linda Birnbaum, PhD, said $15 million in economic stimulus money had been earmarked for BPA studies, on top of $15 million in the agency&apos;s existing research portfolio.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Corr also announced plans to form an interagency task force to address the general topic of environmental health risks to children, though he provided no details.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Studies have shown that BPA can mimic the action of female reproductive hormones and may be linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and liver abnormalities. Infants&apos; exposure is a particular concern because they may be more sensitive to these effects than adults.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Corr noted that HHS has posted a list of manufacturers who have assured the FDA that they have not used BPA in baby bottles and infant feeding cups manufactured since January 2009. These include Avent, Doctor Brown&apos;s Natural Flow, Evenflow, First Essentials, Gerber, Munchkin, Nuk, and Playtex. Together, these firms account for more than 90% of the U.S. market, according to HHS.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, MD, said in the press call that the agency now accepts that BPA is of &quot;some concern&quot;  --  words she emphasized repeatedly.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They&apos;re a quote from a 2008 report by the National Toxicology Program, part of the National Institutes of Health (and also directed by Birnbaum). The toxicology program report appeared to contradict the FDA&apos;s own 2008 assessment that BPA was acceptably safe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The FDA evaluation, which relied on published studies, drew withering criticism from Congress and the agency&apos;s own science advisory board. (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/PublicHealth/11568&quot; mce_href=&quot;http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/PublicHealth/11568&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;FDA Spanked by Full Science Board on Bisphenol A Safety Stance&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hamburg said the National Toxicology Program analysis used different methods and outcomes than the FDA&apos;s initial review. She stopped short of repudiating the FDA assessment, but said the agency shared the National Toxicology Program&apos;s conclusions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;She said the FDA was also performing its own studies of BPA, cooperating with the National Institutes of Health on research expected to wind up in 18 to 24 months.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The FDA is also working with manufacturers to change product designs to eliminate BPA and, where necessary, to remove BPA-containing products from the market, Hamburg said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Both Hamburg and Corr emphasized that parents should not change their infants&apos; feeding regimes based on potential risks from BPA.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;Good nutrition outweighs any risk from exposure to BPA,&quot; Corr said, though he noted that breastfeeding is preferred for infants in any case.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Corr also outlined four recommendations for parents of infants: &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;Follow published recommendations for infant feeding, starting with breastfeeding&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Avoid scratched or torn bottles, as these are more likely to release BPA into foods&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Don&apos;t put boiling liquids into infant bottles, for the same reason&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Put food containers into microwave ovens or dishwashers only if the labels indicate that they&apos;re safe for such environments&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The FDA is also continuing to study the safety of BPA in medical devices. (See &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.medpagetoday.com/Washington-Watch/Washington-Watch/13022&quot; mce_href=&quot;http://www.medpagetoday.com/Washington-Watch/Washington-Watch/13022&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;FDA to Test BPA Exposure from Medical Devices&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, in the press call, Hamburg and her deputy, Joshua Sharfstein, MD, declined to answer questions about the status of this effort. Sharfstein said they were only prepared to talk about food containers at this point.&lt;/p&gt;

    </recommendedItem>
</recommendedContent>