(ATLANTA) — The Georgia state Supreme Court reinstated the state’s six-week abortion ban on Monday after a lower court allowed abortions to resume in the state.
The ruling goes into effect at 5 p.m. ET and will remain in place while the court hears the state’s appeal, which was filed by Christopher Carr, the state’s Republican attorney general.
Justice John J. Ellington dissented in part, arguing against the ban being reinstated before the state’s appeal is heard.
“Fundamentally, the State should not be in the business of enforcing laws that have been determined to violate fundamental rights guaranteed to millions of individuals under the Georgia Constitution,” he wrote. “The ‘status quo’ that should be maintained is the state of the law before the challenged laws took effect.”
On Sept. 30, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled that the ban was unconstitutional, writing in his decision that the Georgia state constitution guaranteed the right to “liberty,” which includes a “woman’s right to control what happens to and within her body.” The state appealed the decision two days later.
The ban, which was signed into law in 2019 by Gov. Brian Kemp, prevents abortions from being performed once fetal cardiac activity can be defected, which typically occurs at about six weeks’ gestation — before many women know they’re pregnant — and redefines the word “person” in Georgia to include an embryo or fetus at any stage of development.
There are exceptions for rape or incest until 20 weeks of pregnancy as long as the victim has reported the crime to the police. Additionally, a patient can have an abortion up until 20 weeks if the fetus has defects and would not be able to survive or if the patient’s life is in danger.
The ban was blocked in court but was reinstated after the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in 2022.
“Seeing state politicians show such little empathy or respect for Georgians’ health and lives only doubles our resolve to keep fighting until every person has the freedom to make personal medical decisions during pregnancy and the power to chart the course of their own lives,” Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, a litigator on the case, said in a statement.
(NEW YORK) — A recall on apple juice due to potentially harmful levels of arsenic has expanded to include more brands sold at several additional retailers across the country.
The initial voluntary recall by Refresco Beverages was first announced in a class 2 enforcement report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month and included 9,535 cases of Great Value 100% Apple Juice sold at Walmart. On Monday, the recall was updated to a total of 133,500 cases of juice, which were sold at several stores in addition to Walmart, under varying brand names.
According to the FDA’s report, the recalled product “contains inorganic arsenic above action level set in guidance to industry.”
“The safety of consumers is always our top priority,” the Tampa, Florida-based Refresco Beverages said in a new statement on its website. “On August 23, 2024, out of an abundance of caution, we voluntarily initiated a recall of some select lots of 100% apple juice products produced using supplier provided concentrate when we became aware that previously manufactured product contained inorganic arsenic slightly above the FDA’s 10 ppb (parts per billion) action level as set by the FDA in June 2023 in the FDA Final Guidance to Industry on Action Level for Inorganic Arsenic in Apple Juice.”
“At this time there are no reported incidents caused by these products,” the statement continued. “We are working diligently to address the situation and encourage consumers to check the FDAs recall list … and use the information on their site to determine if they are in possession of products that fall within this proactive, voluntary recall.”
Apple juice recall expands to more brands, retailers
The newly expanded recall now includes juice that was sold at Aldi, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Market Basket, Walgreens and Weis Markets, under brands such as Nice! 100% Apple Juice and Clover Valley 100% Apple Juice, among others.
Click here for the full list of affected products from the FDA.
Originally, the Great Value brand apple juice sold at Walmart in 25 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia was the only brand recalled by Refresco Beverages.
Product details of recalled apple juice by store
The first wave of contaminated Great Value beverages in question were sold in six-packs of 8-ounce plastic bottles with the UPC code 0-78742-29655-5. The product had a “best if used by” date code of DEC2824 CT89-6.
All of the products were produced by Tampa, Florida-based Refresco Beverages US Inc.
Below, see details for the items included in the newly expanded recall.
Walmart
Recalled products sold at Walmart include Great Value 8-ounce Apple Juice in six-pack plastic bottles with “best if used by” dates of Dec. 26 and Dec. 27, 2024, and Great Value 96-ounce Apple Juice with “best by” dates of Dec. 26, Dec. 27 and Dec. 28, 2024.
The six-pack juice bottles were sold in stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia. The 96-ounce containers were sold in Walmart stores in Indiana, Ohio, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico and Virginia.
Aldi
Aldi is recalling Nature’s Nectar 64-ounce plastic bottles of 100% Apple Juice with “best by” dates of March 26 and 27, 2025. This product bears the UPC code 4099100036381 and was sold at Aldi stores in 16 states including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin, according to a press release from Aldi U.S.
Walgreens
Walgreens is recalling Nice! 100% Apple Juice 64-ounce bottles with a March 25, 2025, “best by” date. The products were sold in Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Key Food
Key Food is recalling Urban Meadow 100% Apple Juice sold in 64-ounce bottles with a March 26, 2025, “best by” date. The products were sold in Pennsylvania stores.
BJ’s Wholesale Club
BJ’s Wholesale Club is recalling Wellsley Farms 100% Apple Juice 96-ounce bottles with a “best by” date of March 26, 2025. These products were sold in Florida, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
Dollar General
Dollar General is recalling Clover Valley 100% Apple Juice with a “best by” date of March 27, 2025. The product was sold at the discount retailer locations in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio and South Carolina.
Weis
Weis 100% Apple Juice 64-ounce bottles with a “sell by”‘ date of March 25, 2025, are also impacted by the expanded recall. The products were sold at stores in Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Market Basket
The supermarket chain is recalling Market Basket 100% Apple Juice from concentrate in 64-ounce plastic bottles with the “best by” date March 25, 2025. The impacted product was sold in Maine.
Lidl
Lidl is recalling Solevita 100% Apple Juice 64-ounce plastic bottles with the “best by” date March 27, 2025. This product was sold in Virginia.
Company responds to apple juice recalled over arsenic levels
In an earlier statement to ABC News when the recall was first initiated, a representative for Refresco said, “We are aware that certain lots of the 100% apple juice we previously manufactured contains inorganic arsenic slightly above the FDA’s 10 ppb (parts per billion) action level in the FDA Final Guidance to Industry on Action Level for Inorganic Arsenic in Apple Juice, which aims at reducing the dietary exposure of contaminants to as low as possible. As a result, impacted products are being voluntarily recalled.”
The statement continued, “At this time there are no reported complaints or incidents of illness caused by the product. Per the FDA, it is not possible to completely prevent arsenic from entering the food supply, yet exposure to high levels of inorganic arsenic can have adverse health effects.”
The representative added that “the safety of consumers and the satisfaction of our customers are our top priorities” and that the company is “working diligently to address the situation.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story was published on Aug. 26, 2024.
(WASHINGTON) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is updating its recommendations for testing, treatment and protection for workers who may be exposed to animals infected with bird flu.
The update comes after the agency found evidence of dairy workers with positive antibodies, suggesting more bird flu infections that previously reported, according to a new report released Thursday afternoon.
Serologic testing, which looks at antibodies in the blood, found that eight out of 115 workers, or 7%, who were exposed to bird flu during outbreaks among cows at dairy farms in Michigan and Colorado had evidence of recent infection.
All eight workers said their jobs included either milking cows or cleaning a milking parlor. Four workers recalled experiencing symptoms, mainly conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye. The remaining four patients said they did not experience symptoms when the cows were ill.
As a result, the CDC said it is updating its guidance addressing who should be tested for bird flu to include workers who were exposed to bird flu and do not have symptoms.
“There may be individuals infected but who do not recall having symptoms,” Dr. Nirav Shah, the CDC’s principal deputy director, told reporters during a media call Thursday morning. “That means we need to cast a wider net in terms of who is offered a test.”
Secondly, the CDC is now recommending offering oseltamivir – a prescription medication to treat influenza that’s often marketed under the name Tamiflu – to asymptomatic workers who have experienced high-risk exposure to animals infected with bird flu and who did not wear adequate personal protective equipment (PPE).
Shah said a high-risk exposure event could include a splash in the face with raw cow milk, or a culling event without PPE being worn.
He added that the Tamiflu treatment recommendation both reduces asymptomatic cases from becoming symptomatic because they are being treated, and reduces the risk of infected individuals spreading the virus to close contacts.
Lastly, the Shah said the CDC was changing its PPE guidance for workers.
Although the risk of bird flu transmission from dairy cows to humans Is low, the CDC said there have been few reports addressing how PPE is used during work activities on dairy farms.
The new CDC report said the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) offered PPE to all Colorado farms before or during the bird flu outbreak in cows in 2024.
When asked if they had access to PPE before a bird flu outbreak, 88% of workers reported access to gloves, 76% reported access to eye protection such as safety glasses or goggles, 71% reported access to rubber boots or boot covers, and 69% reported access to head covers, according to the report.
“Reported use of many individual PPE items was higher among dairy workers who reported exposure to ill cows in the week before or week after the detection of [bird flu] on the farm compared with those who did not report exposure to ill cows,” according to the CDC report.
Shah said that CDC recommendations will now prioritize what PPE a farm worker should wear based on which farm tasks present the highest risk for bird flu.
“Simply put, the higher-risk activities will call for more PPE use,” Shah said. “The purpose of these actions is to keep workers safe, to limit the transmission of H5 [bird flu] to humans and reduce the possibility of the virus changing,” Shah said.
As of Thursday, there have been 46 human cases of bird flu reported in the U.S. this year, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the CDC’s director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during the media call.
Of those cases, 26 were due to the outbreak in dairy cows and 20 were due to people coming into contact with infected poultry. There is one case in Missouri that had no known animal exposure.
All of the patients experienced mild conjunctivitis or mild respiratory symptoms and all have recovered, according to the CDC.
(BATTLE CREEK, Mich.) Hundreds of people gathered outside the WK Kellogg headquarters in Michigan on Tuesday calling for the company to hold up its promise to remove artificial dyes from its breakfast cereals sold in the U.S.
Nearly 10 years ago, Kellogg’s, the maker of Froot Loops and Apple Jacks, committed to removing such additives from its products by 2018.
While Kellogg’s has done so in other countries including Canada, which now makes Froot Loops with natural fruit juice concentrates, the cereals sold in the U.S. still contain both food dyes and a chemical preservative.
Food activist Vani Hari, also known as the Food Babe on social media, spoke to the crowd of demonstrators at the cereal giant’s offices in Battle Creek on Tuesday.
“I’m here for the moms, all the moms, who struggle to feed their children healthy food without added chemicals,” she said.
In response to the protests, Kellogg’s insisted its products are safe for consumption, saying its ingredients meet the federal standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The agency has said that most children experience no adverse effects from color additives, but critics argue the FDA standards were developed without any assessment for possible neurological effects.
The protests come in the wake of a new California law known as the California School Food Safety Act that bans six potentially harmful dyes in foods served in California public schools. The ban includes all of the dyes in Froot Loops, plus Blue Dye No. 2 and Green Dye No. 3.
The bill was passed by state legislators in August and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September.
Studies suggest that consumption of said dyes and colorants banned under the new California School Food Safety Act may be linked to hyperactivity and other neurobehavioral problems in some children, as the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment outlined in a 2021 report.
While there are still thousands of chemicals allowed for use in our country’s commercial food system, many of those that have been reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration have not been reevaluated for decades. Red 40, for example, was last evaluated for health risks in 1971.
Reports from the American Academy of Pediatrics align with this push to reassess the safety of artificial food coloring.
California previously made history in October 2023, when Newsom signed AB 418 into law, a first-of-its-kind bill that bans four harmful chemicals from candy, cereals, salad dressings and other processed foods in the state starting in 2027.
That law will end the use of brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben and Red Dye No. 3 in food products sold throughout the state.
