Sugar and corn syrup makers in bitter clash (AP)

LOS ANGELES � The setting sun splashes warm hues across a ripening cornfield as a man and his daughter wander through rows of towering plants.

Like any parent, the dad says in the television commercial, he was concerned about high fructose corn syrup. But medical and nutrition experts reassured him that in essence, it's the same as cane sugar.

"Your body can't tell the difference," he says. "Sugar is sugar."

That key claim, made last year by the corn industry as it tries to rebrand high fructose corn syrup as simply "corn sugar," was weighed for the first time by a federal judge Tuesday after a group of sugar farmers and refiners sued corn processors and a lobbying group.

Their lawsuit alleges the father-in-the-cornfield advertisement and other national television, print and online commercials from the corn industry amount to false advertising because sugar is not the same as high fructose corn syrup, the sweetening agent now found in the bulk of sodas and many processed foods.

Sugar makers say there are numerous differences between the white, granular product and the sticky liquid that is high fructose corn syrup. Attorney Adam Fox claimed the syrup industry has even acknowledged as much in the past.

At a hearing on the corn industry's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Fox showed U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall the papers from a case in Mexico filed by the Corn Refiners Association that carefully outlined how sugar and high fructose corn syrup are different. That case in 1997 was related to the export of high fructose corn syrup to Mexico.

"Like the horse and the automobile, sugar and (high fructose corn syrup) are two different products in terms of their physical and functional characteristics, as well as in their production process, distribution and commercial application," corn industry expert Peter Buzzanell stated in an affidavit at the time.

Corn industry lawyers counter that Fox was taking such statements out of context because the Mexico case dealt merely with the physical properties of high fructose corn syrup and never addressed the manner in which the body processes it.

"Sugar and high fructose corn syrup are equivalent as far as how they are metabolized by the body," attorney Dan Webb said.

Webb and other lawyers had filed a motion to dismiss the sugar makers' lawsuit on the grounds that the advertising campaign is protected speech because it forms part of a national conversation about the merits and pitfalls of high fructose corn syrup and sugar in general.

"At the core of this case is clearly a lawsuit filed by the other side that is attempting to stifle debate," Webb said.

He also argued that because the Corn Refiners Association is an industry group and does not directly sell any products, it cannot be sued for false advertising.

Without providing a timeline, the judge said she would issue a ruling on the dismissal motion.

High fructose corn syrup's image has suffered in recent years after public awareness of its widespread use increased and some studies suggested a link to rising obesity levels. Americans increasingly blame the syrup for a range of health problems, and first lady Michelle Obama has said she does not want her daughters eating it.

The American Medical Association has said there's not enough evidence to restrict the use of high fructose corn syrup, although it wants more research.

A year ago, the Corn Refiners Association asked the Food and Drug Administration if it could start using the term "corn sugar" as an alternative to high fructose corn syrup. It could take another year for the FDA to decide on the name, but the corn industry didn't wait before it started using it in advertisements.

Sugar industry lawyers claim corn refiners have already spent $50 million trying to persuade the public to accept corn sugar as a name.

It would not be the first time a food has been rebranded. In 1988, for instance, low erucic acid rapeseed oil became much more popular after it was renamed "canola oil."

More than 100 citizens and consumer groups have written to the FDA as it weighs the name change, many of them slamming the rebranding as a cynical attempt to confuse customers who may be wary of high fructose corn syrup.

"Given the current controversy, consumers who look to avoid (corn syrup) should be able to easily differentiate among products that do and don't use (it)," the Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports, wrote to the FDA.

Expert opinion was divided on high fructose corn syrup. Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, has said that there was no evidence that the sweetener is any worse for the body than sugar.

Michael Goran, a professor of preventive medicine and director of the Childhood Obesity Center at the University of Southern California, said he does not give his kids products containing high fructose corn syrup because it contains high levels of fructose, which can be stored in the liver as fat and trigger gout and hypertension problems.

"As a father and as a consumer, I like to know what I am eating," he said. "The industry has done a very good job trying convince people it's sugar from corn. It's not ... it's manufactured from corn by a highly industrialized process."

Goran and other professionals say the healthiest option is consume smaller amounts of all sugar.

"The U.S is the highest consumer of sugar in the world," Goran said. "To prevent obesity and diabetes, we should be consuming less sugar in general."

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Watkins can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/thomaswatkins

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Cantaloupe warning issued after Listeria outbreak (AP)

DENVER � Health officials have issued a warning for cantaloupes from a revered melon-producing area of Colorado amid a bacteria outbreak blamed for four deaths in the state and New Mexico, troubling farmers who depend on sales of the fruit.

The warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came after 16 cases of a strain of Listeria were reported in five states, including 11 from Colorado, two from Texas, and one each from Indiana, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

The agency said it was the first Listeria outbreak linked to cantaloupe in the United States. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration said it had not recalled the melons while it worked to locate the source.

Rocky Ford cantaloupes, named for a region along the old Santa Fe Trail about 130 miles southeast of Denver, are prized for their above-average sugar content. W.C. Fields reportedly said bald guys have "a head shaped like a Rocky Ford cantaloupe," and Lucile Ball had the melons delivered to her dressing room.

"This is really silly. You can get Listeria any place. I eat those melons every day," said Kent Lusk, a fifth-generation cantaloupe farmer from Rocky Ford.

Colorado Agriculture Commissioner John Salazar said the contamination might not be the cantaloupes, but a truck or other source. But several Colorado grocery chains pulled their supplies as a precaution, and New Mexico issued a voluntary recall. State Environmental Health Bureau inspectors were collecting cantaloupe samples from grocery stores and distributors across New Mexico for laboratory analysis.

Listeriosis is a serious infection usually caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. The disease primarily affects older adults, pregnant women, newborns and adults with weakened immune systems.

Colorado health director Chris Urbina said people who are at high risk included people 60 and older, those with weakened immune systems from transplants and people with chronic diseases. Symptoms can include fever, muscle aches, diarrhea, headache, stiff neck, confusion and convulsions. Listeriosis can cause miscarriages and stillbirths.

The CDC warning advised people with cantaloupes at home to see if they came from the Rocky Ford region, and if so, not to eat the melons if they're in a vulnerable group. Health authorities asked people throwing out Rocky Ford cantaloupes to put them in a sealed plastic bag before putting them in the trash.

Several grocery stores in the Rocky Mountain region, including King Soopers, Safeway and Whole Foods, voluntarily pulled Rocky Ford cantaloupes.

"We decided out of an abundance of caution" to remove Rocky Ford melons in 142 Colorado stores, King Soopers spokeswoman Kelli McGannon said.

School cafeterias in at least two Denver-area school districts threw out their Rocky Ford melons. Denver Public Schools cafeterias had planned to highlight them Wednesday in a local foods promotion. Other Colorado products, including grass-fed beef and green chili sauce, also were on the menu, DPS spokeswoman Kristy Armstrong said.

Urbina said the Colorado health department was expecting more test results this week that might help identify the specific source of the cantaloupe sickening people.

Lusk said this year's growing season was almost over and that he doesn't believe the outbreak will have a lasting impact.

"I think there were just a few bad ones," said Adela Licano, a Chamber of Commerce board member who added that about a dozen roadside stands were still open.

"This is a major industry. We hope there is no permanent impact. We're going to get to the bottom of this," Salazar said.

The fatal cases in New Mexico included a 93-year-old man from Bernalillo County, a 61-year-old woman from Curry County and a 63-year-old man from Bernalillo County. Mark Salley, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said the person who died in Colorado was not being identified.

"We extend our sympathy to the families and friends of those who have died from this infection," said Colorado Health Secretary Dr. Catherine Torres. "At this time, based on the preliminary findings in Colorado, we are cautioning people who are at high risk for Listeria infection to avoid eating cantaloupe."

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Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, N.M., and Kristen Wyatt in Denver contributed to this report.

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Online:

http://rockyfordmelon.com/

http://1.usa.gov/pSzV3M

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Curbs on youngest drivers may have bad side effect (AP)

CHICAGO � Strong driver's license laws have led to fewer fatal crashes among 16-year-olds but with a disturbing side effect � more fatal accidents among 18-year-olds, a nationwide study found.

Many states require young drivers to get extensive experience, including driving with an adult, before getting a full license. But in most states those laws only apply to those younger than 18. The new study suggests some teens are just putting off getting a license until they turn 18 � meaning they have little experience and higher odds for a deadly crash.

"There's an incentive right now to skip out and just wait until you're 18," said Scott Masten, the study's lead author and a researcher with California's Department of Motor Vehicles. "In most states you don't even need to have driver education or driver training" if you obtain a license at 18, he said.

"I was actually bummed by my own findings � to find out we're offsetting the benefits" in young drivers so much, he said. "It was quite unexpected."

The study examined fatal crashes from 1986 to 2007 involving 16- to 19-year-olds. Results appear in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Most previous studies have also linked graduated licensing programs with a decline in fatal crash rates among young teens, but evidence on effects in older teens is mixed.

A journal editorial by researchers with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said the potential effects in older teens "is a serious issue deserving attention by researchers and policymakers." The editorial noted that New Jersey is one of the few states where graduated driver's licensing restrictions apply to all first-time applicants younger than 21. That has led to lower crash rates among 17- and 18-year-olds.

Whether these programs should be extended to include older teens merits further study, the editorial said.

Every state has some type of graduated driver's licensing program. These typically allow full, unrestricted licenses to kids younger than 18 only after several months of learning while driving with an adult, followed by unsupervised driving with limits on things like night driving and the number of passengers.

The study authors analyzed fatal crash data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and information on each state's licensing programs.

Comparing states with the most restrictions versus those with the weakest laws or no restrictions, there were 26 percent fewer fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers; but among 18-year-old drivers, there were 12 percent more fatal crashes. The differences are estimates, taking into account factors that would also influence fatal crash rates, including seatbelt laws, changes in minimum speed limits, and the fact that 18-year-old drivers outnumber 16-year-old drivers..

The programs appeared to have no effect on fatal crash rates for drivers aged 17 and 19.

Researchers estimate that since the first graduated licensing program began in 1996, the programs have been associated with 1,348 fewer fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers but with 1,086 more fatal crashes involving 18-year-old drivers.

During the 1986-2007 study, there were nearly 132,000 fatal crashes of drivers aged 16 to 19. Nearly 20 percent involved 16-year-old drivers, while almost 30 percent involved 18-year-olds.

Evidence suggests that many teens are waiting until they're older to get their licenses; in California for example, only 13 percent of 16-year-olds have driver's licenses, Masten said.

In a nationwide survey of almost 1,400 teens published last month in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention, 1 in 4 who were 18 and hadn't obtained a license cited the hassle of licensing requirements as a reason.

Masten said more research is needed to determine why the fatal crash rate among 18-year-olds rose and whether an increase also occurred in nonfatal crashes.

The study confirms that graduated licensing "is doing what it was intended to do � prevent novice drivers from being in high-risk conditions before they're ready for it," said Dr. Flaura Winston, a pediatrician and traffic injury expert at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. But the results also show there's a need for strategies for the novice independent driver at any age, she said.

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Online:

JAMA: http://www.jama.ama-assn.org

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: http://www.nhtsa.gov

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AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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Inhaler overuse may have killed Colorado student (AP)

FORT COLLINS, Colo. � Doctors say a 19-year-old student at Colorado State University might have died because she inadvertently used her asthma inhaler too much.

A roommate found Sascha Franzel, of Honolulu, on Saturday night and she was pronounced dead at a hospital.

According to the Fort Collins Coloradoan (http://bit.ly/qG67T9), the official cause of death won't be available for several weeks.

Franzel's mother told the newspaper that Sascha suffered from severe asthma and nearly died last November.

More than 200 people turned Monday for a candlelight vigil for Franzel that lasted for more than two hours.

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Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan, http://www.coloradoan.com

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Experts: 366 million people now have diabetes (AP)

LONDON � An estimated 366 million people worldwide now suffer from diabetes and the global epidemic is getting worse, health officials said Tuesday.

The International Diabetes Federation described the number of cases as "staggering," with one person dying from diabetes every seven seconds.

The federation called for concrete measures to stop the epidemic, urging officials focusing on chronic diseases at a United Nations meeting next week to commit to specific targets to prevent cases and to invest in more research. Experts also said diabetes care should be integrated into local health clinics.

"The clock is ticking for the world's leaders," Jean Claude Mbanya, the group's president, said in a statement. "We expect action from their meeting next week at the United Nations that will halt diabetes' relentlessly upwards trajectory."

The figures were announced in Lisbon, Portugal, during the European meeting of the group, an umbrella organization that represents associations from more than 160 countries.

It estimated that diabetes causes 4.6 million deaths every year and that health systems spend $465 billion annually fighting the disease. That includes both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes mainly affects children and young adults, who are unable to make insulin. Type 2 diabetes is more common and is often tied to obesity. It develops when the body doesn't produce enough insulin to break down glucose, inflating blood sugar levels.

The disease can be managed with diet, exercise and medication but chronically high blood sugar levels causes nerve damage, which can result in kidney disease, blindness and amputation.

In June, a study published in the medical journal Lancet estimated the global number of diabetes had more than doubled in the last three decades and put the figure at 347 million.

Experts said much of the rise in diabetes cases was due to aging populations � since diabetes typically hits in middle age � and population growth, but that obesity rates had also fueled the disease's spread.

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Online:

http://www.easd.org

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Bionic ear maker Cochlear recalls hearing implants (AP)

SYDNEY � Bionic ear maker Cochlear has been forced to begin a global recall of the world's thinnest hearing implants after some stopped working.

The Sydney-based company, which dominates the world's bionic ear market, said Monday it was mystified as to why some of its award-winning Nucleus CI500 devices were suddenly shutting down.

The company has begun recalling its entire Nucleus CI500 range, which makes up the bulk of its sales, from shelves after a rise in the number of faults with the CI512 model.

While Cochlear believes the faults are unlikely to cause any health problems for people with defective implants, they are offering replacement models for re-implantation.

The news sent Cochlear's shares into a tailspin, with the stock dropping more than 25 percent at one stage amid worries about the financial impact and potential damage to the company's reputation the recall could cause.

Shares in Cochlear fell 14.68 Australian dollars ($15.21), or 20 percent, to close Monday at AU$57.50 ($59.58), the lowest in over two years.

Cochlear chief executive Chris Roberts said he was unable to say how many of the "very reliable" titanium-based devices were faulty.

While less than 1 percent of the Nucleus CI500 devices had failed since they hit the market in 2009, there had been a steady rise in faults being reported in recent weeks.

"We don't know what the cause is," Roberts told analysts on a conference call.

"That's exactly what we need to evaluate. We want to avoid saying it's 'a' or 'b' or 'c' when we have to up every stone and examine every possibility," he added.

People fitted with CI500 units but who have not experienced any problems are being advised to continue using the devices.

The voluntary recall of the Nucleus CI500 range includes the CI512 model as well as the CI513, CI551 double array implant and ABI 541 auditory brainstem implant.

It does not affect its earlier Nucleus Freedom range or its Nucleus 5 external hearing devices.

Production of the CI500 devices has stopped and patients needing bionic ear implants are being offered the Nucleus Freedom model, which has been on the market for seven years.

Roberts said Cochlear was better off halting manufacture until the cause of the faults was uncovered.

He was unable to say how long it would take before the devices were back on sale but said if any changes had to be made, the company would need to get regulatory approval from the countries where the units are sold.

Cochlear was also unable to say what the cost of the product recall would be.

Cochlear sold more than 17,000 of its Nucleus 5 range of devices in the 2010/11 financial year, representing 70 percent of its total bionic ear sales in 100 different countries.

The Nucleus 5 range includes the thinnest hearing implants on the market at just 3.9 millimeters (0.15 of an inch) thick.

Cochlear has promoted them as "a new design that is built to last a lifetime."

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