Regulators are proposing that food companies that want to use tiny engineered particles in their packaging may have to provide extra testing data to show the products are safe.
The Food and Drug Administration issued tentative guidelines Friday for food and cosmetic companies interested in using nanoparticles, which are measured in billionths of a meter. Nanoscale materials are generally less than 100 nanometers in diameter. A sheet of paper, in comparison, is 100,000 nanometers thick. A human hair is 80,000 nanometers thick.
The submicroscopic particles are increasingly showing up in FDA-regulated products like sunscreens, skin lotions and glare-reducing eyeglass coatings. Some scientists believe the technology will one day be used in medicine, but the FDA’s announcement did not address that use.
The draft guidance suggests the FDA may require food companies to provide data establishing the safety of any packaging using nanotechnology.
Under longstanding regulations, companies aren’t required to seek regulatory approval before launching products containing established ingredients and materials, such as caffeine, spices and various preservatives.
But FDA officials said Friday that foods and packaging containing nanoparticles may require more scrutiny.
“At this point, in terms of the science, we think it’s likely the exemption does not apply and we would encourage folks to come in and talk to us,” said Dennis Keefe, director of FDA’s office of food additive safety payday loans for bad credit.
Keefe said companies are studying whether nanoparticles can reduce the risk of bacterial contamination in certain foods. He said the agency is aware of just one food package currently on the market that uses nanoparticles but did not identify it. He said more are expected in coming years.
The FDA has previously stated its position that nanotechnology is not inherently unsafe; however, materials at the nano scale can pose different safety issues than do things that are far larger.
“This is an emerging, evolving technology and we’re trying to get ahead of the curb to ensure the ingredients and substances are safe,” Keefe said.
In a separate guidance, the FDA laid out suggestions for the use of nanotechnology in cosmetics, a practice which has been in use since the 1990s. Nanoparticles are used in skin moisturizer, mineral make up and other cosmetics.
The FDA has less authority over cosmetics than food additives. Generally, the FDA does not review cosmetics before they launch, and companies are responsible for assuring the safety of their products.
The FDA will take comments on both proposals for 90 days. There is no deadline for finalizing the documents.
Home prices fell to their lowest point in more than a decade in January, which helped to lift the pace of home sales, according to a report from an industry trade group.
The National Association of Realtors reported that the median home price in January fell 2% from December to $154,700. That’s the lowest price reading since November 2001, before the run-up in home prices that became known as the housing bubble.
The median price is the point at which half of homes are sold for a higher price, and half are sold at a lower price. (Multi-million dollar foreclosures)
Serving as a drag on existing home prices is a large inventory of homes in foreclosure. Distressed home sales, which includes homes in foreclosure and so-called short sales in which the home is sold for less than what is owed on the mortgage, made up 35% of sales in January.
"Prices will continue to fall through the first half of 2012 due to the high share of distressed sales," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist with PNC Financial. "The recent agreement between the big mortgage servicers, state attorneys general and the Obama administration will also result in more homes going to foreclosure over the next few months, adding to downward pressure on prices."
But the pace of sales rose to the highest level since May of 2010, helped by the low prices and rock-bottom mortgage rates. The seasonally-adjusted annual sales pace of 4.57 million homes was up slightly from the revised 4.38 million in December. The last time homes sold at that pace, buyers were rushing to qualify for an $8,000 homebuyer’s tax credit that was about to expire. The latest reading was roughly in line with the expectations of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
"The uptrend in home sales is in line with all of the underlying fundamentals — pent-up household formation, record-low mortgage interest rates, bargain home prices, sustained job creation and rising rents," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors.
The housing market has been showing signs of recovery in recent months. The combination of low mortgage rates and a decline in home prices means homes are more affordable than they’ve been in decades. PNC’s Hoffman agreed that the report is a further sign of recovery in the market, although he cautioned "it will remain a long process."
New home starts by builders have been rising, along with their confidence and customer traffic, according to an industry survey.
The supply of existing homes on the market tightened slightly in the Realtors’ latest report, slipping 0.4% to 2.3 million homes, roughly a 6 month supply. That is down 20% from the supply of homes a year ago.
PepsiCo announced plans on Thursday to cut about 8,700 jobs as part of an effort to save some $1.5 billion in costs.
PepsiCo said the new cost-cutting plan will occur in 30 countries through 2014. PepsiCo spokesman Jeff Dahncke said that less than 2,000 of the job cuts will occur in the U.S., where the company employs 100,000 workers.
PepsiCo’s (, Fortune 500) stock slipped 4% in morning trading.
PepsiCo, which is based in Purchase, NY, noted that the job cuts represent less than 3% of its 300,000-strong global work force. The company still has numerous job openings listed on its web site.
Even as it cuts costs, the company said it plans to boost its spending on advertising and marketing by $500 million to $600 million this year, "with particular focus on North America."
PepsiCo is also planning to hike its dividend by 4%, to $2.15 per share, payable in June 2012, and to repurchase at least $3 billion in shares this year.
The job cuts are happening even as Chief Executive Indra Nooyi said the company experienced 8% annual growth in earnings per share over the last five years, and returned about $30 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases.
The company’s plan to cull its work force follows a recent report from the U.S. Labor Department saying that the economy gained 243,000 jobs in January, knocking down the unemployment rate to 8.3%.
Nuts! Diamond Foods boots CEO
On Thursday, the Labor Department said that adjusted initial claims — the number of unemployed workers applying for government assistant — dipped to 358,000 in the week ended Feb. 4. That’s a decline of 15,000 from the prior week.
Still, it’s too early to tell whether the good employment news is a trend or a temporary blip.
Federal Reserve regional bank presidents provided unprecedented disclosure of their wealth, revealing assets ranging from a Missouri farm and Texas ranchland to stocks and Treasury Inflation Protected Securities.
The officials, who oversee Fed operations ranging from bank supervision to emergency lending, disclosed the documents today in response to requests from Bloomberg News under the Freedom of Information Act. The regional banks said they weren
Bank holding company Washington Mutual Inc. has agreed to a settlement with some creditors involved in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case and has filed a new reorganization plan.
Washington Mutual said in a statement late Monday that the settlement will allow it to distribute more than $7 billion to its creditors. The settlement must still be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
“The comprehensive settlement announced today represents a fair and reasonable recovery for the thousands of equity holders of the company who have been following this case closely for three years,” Michael Willingham, chairman of the committee of equity security holders appointed in the company’s Chapter 11 proceedings.
Washington Mutual’s bankruptcy case is three years old and its reorganization plans have twice been rejected by Bankruptcy Court Judge Mary Walrath. The company is hoping to exit bankruptcy protection by the end of February. It has a hearing scheduled for Jan. 11, 2012 in which the bankruptcy court will consider approval of the reorganization plan’s disclosure statement. The company also plans to ask the bankruptcy court for a mid-February hearing to confirm its reorganization plan fast cash online.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized WaMu’s Seattle-based flagship bank in 2008 and sold its assets to JPMorgan for $1.9 billion in the largest bank failure in U.S. history.
Under terms of the settlement, the reorganized assets of Washington Mutual will include equity interests in WMI Investment Corp. and WM Mortgage Reinsurance Co.
A reorganized Washington Mutual will receive $75 million in funding from certain creditors. Exit financing provided by settlement noteholders will include a $125 million senior secured credit facility that will be used to fund working capital as well as for general corporate purposes and eligible originations and acquisitions.
The majority of the reorganized company’s common equity will be distributed to its current preferred and common equity holders. Its board will initially be made up of four members chosen by the equity committee and one member selected by lenders under the credit agreement.
In late July, Roberts Mayfair Hotel co-owner Mike Roberts owned up when we reported that his company had not paid hourly workers in a timely fashion.
The downtown St. Louis hotel, he acknowledged, had been late on some payrolls, but only because of a temporary glitch in transferring data to a payroll contractor.
“I don’t recognize this as a long-standing problem,” Roberts said at the time.
It may not have been a long-standing problem then.
But it is now.
Mayfair employees have continued to complain periodically about the hotel failing to deliver checks on paydays, which come every two weeks. Lately, they have been joined by employees of the the Comfort Inn the Roberts Brothers operate in the Central West End.
And the problems appear to have spread beyond St. Louis. Complaints about tardy payrolls have also filtered in from the staff of a Houston hotel co-owned by Mike Roberts and his brother and business partner, Steven.
Delayed compensation has become so routine at the Central West End location that new hires say they were advised of the problem prior to being offered a job.
One employee said he accepted the offer anyway.
“There’s nothing else out there,” he lamented.
Fearing termination if they are identified publicly, seven Mayfair and Comfort Inn employees spoke this week on the condition of anonymity.
“It’s an employer’s market,” said one worker. “If they let us go, they’ll just hire someone else the next day.”
The employees say delinquent checks have caused them to miss rent, utility bills and cellphone payments.
“I’m constantly borrowing money to pay my bills,” said another employee. “I feel like a teenager again.”
Each of the seven employees interviewed said they know cash-strapped co-workers who have been forced to leave mandatory prescriptions at a pharmacy.
“They are messing with people’s lives,” said one employee.
Another worker and her two children now face eviction unless she can come up with the money to cover the penalties, equal to the monthly rent of $775, imposed when tardy paychecks resulted in late payments to her landlord in two consecutive months.
“I kept telling (the landlord), ‘I’ll pay you today if they pay us,’” the employee said. “But they never paid us. It took me two years to find a job. If I’d known it was going to be like this, I’d have kept on looking.”
The employees are especially vexed by what they say is the Roberts’ habit of stretching the rules. By law, an employer has 16 days to compensate its employees for work performed during the most recent pay period. The Roberts, the employees say, regularly push the envelope to the 16th day.
On Wednesday Nov. 30 for example, the Mayfair employees received paychecks they were due Nov. 15.
The checks, they said, did not include overtime earned when the hotel filled to capacity during the baseball playoffs, a recent business conference and a religious convention.
“We’ll never get caught up,” said the employee who fears she’ll soon be evicted.
Despite their own hardships, the employees are for the most part not devoid of empathy. They acknowledge the brothers, who once rode high on the profits from their telecommunications and real estate holdings, have also hit a tough patch.
Roberts Broadcasting in October filed for bankruptcy protection, a step toward reorganizing a company beset with liens connected to licensing fees for television stations in St. Louis, Mississippi, Indiana and South Carolina.
“I sympathize with them, because of the economy,” said one worker. “But I wish they’d come clean with us, bring us all into the ballroom or something and tell us directly what’s going on.”
Instead, Mayfair and Comfort Inn employees say all they know is to dread paydays - anxiety exacerbated by the impending holiday season.
Contacted Wednesday afternoon, Mike Roberts said he was not inclined to comment but suggested a reporter call back Thursday morning.
Even if the Roberts come through in December, the employee wondering how she’ll cover back rent and penalties already anticipates further problems come the new year.
“If they can’t pay us on time what’s going to happen with our taxes in January when they’re supposed to give us our W-2?” she asked.
Will my flight still operate?
ST. LOUIS
MEMC Electronic Materials Inc., based in O’Fallon, Mo., said its SunEdison unit sold 33 megawatts of solar energy projects in Spain and Italy to KGAL GmbH & Co., a German investment company.
The transaction follows the sale of 20 megawatts of solar projects to KGAL in the second quarter.
SunEdison said it will continue to monitor, maintain and operate all of the projects under long-term agreements. Other terms of the sales weren’t disclosed.
Surrounded by corn fields, bicycle routes and a nature reserve, the eight huge cooling towers of the Dukovany nuclear power plant have dominated the Czech countryside near the Austrian border for almost three decades.
Against the odds, the government has worked to keep it that way for many years to come.
Defying growing global skepticism over the use of atomic energy, it is planning to dramatically increase the country’s nuclear power production _ a move that would give the country a place among Europe’s most nuclear-dependent nations.
The Czech plan reflects a sharp division over nuclear use among European nations, and relations with neighboring countries that have decided to go nuclear free could be seriously harmed.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government decided to phase out nuclear energy by 2022 following the March meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima plant, and Switzerland has followed suit. Austria abandoned nuclear energy after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and strictly opposes the Czech nuclear program.
Other former Soviet bloc nations, now in the EU, are following the Czechs’ lead on nuclear power _ reflecting diverging economic needs between east and west.
Slovakia is currently building more nuclear facilities. And Poland has engaged in talks with French, U.S. and Japanese firms about know-how and technology for its first nuclear installation to be completed by 2030.
The Czechs argue nuclear energy is needed because it is a clean and cost efficient source.
They currently rely on six nuclear reactors _ four 440-megawatt reactors in Dukovany and two 1,000-megawatt reactors at another plant in Temelin located an hour’s drive north of the Austrian border _ for 33 percent of their total electricity. The government hopes to at least double that output.
“We consider increasing electricity production in nuclear plants from some 30 percent to about 60 percent by 2050,” Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Tomas Huner told the Associated Press.
“We have been mining uranium and there’s no doubt nuclear energy is irreplaceable for us in the long term,” said Huner, whose ministry has to present the new energy overhaul for the next 50 years to the government by year’s end.
A trio of big players _ U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Co., a subsidiary of Japan’s Toshiba Corp., France’s state-owned nuclear engineering giant Areva SA and a consortium led by Russia’s Atomstroyexport _ are already bidding to win a lucrative multibillion tender to build two more reactors at the Temelin plant. The reactors are expected to be operational in the middle of the next decade.
The plant has been heavily protested by Austrian environmentalists who demand it be closed because of security concerns cheap credit report. Czech authorities insist both plants are safe and will have no problems passing so-called nuclear reactor stress tests currently being conducted across Europe after the Japanese disaster.
Opened a year before the Chernobyl disaster, Dukovany’s life was expected to expire in some 30 years. Germany is closing plants of the same age _ but the Czechs refuse to do that despite international pressure.
The nation’s biggest electricity source last year has already undergone a 26 billion koruna ($1.4 billion) overhaul aimed at increasing its output and improving control systems, as the plant gets ready to ask the nuclear authority for a license extension of at least 10 more years, plant spokesman Petr Spilka said.
At least one new 550-megawatt reactor is to be built at the Dukovany site and more places have been identified for new plants, Huner said.
Huner said a completely new 2,000-megawatt plant in the northeastern part of the country could be operational by 2060.
Unlike the Austrian and German publics, the Czechs support nuclear energy _ though they may not be happy to have a plant in their backyard.
Local environmentalists called the government plan “bizarre,” saying it would lead to the creation of an unpredictable energy sector.
“Such a heavy reliance on one dominant source of energy could be problematic,” said Martin Sedlak, an energy expert for the Friends of the Earth Czech Republic. “The investments into nuclear energy are economically too demanding and unpredictable.”
They are not alone.
Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger has vowed to use any legal and political means to stop the Czechs, and his Environment Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich said his country considered the Czech plan “the wrong one” in the wake of Japan’s nuclear disaster.
“It can’t be that someone expands nuclear energy after Chernobyl and especially Fukushima,” Berlakovich told APTN. “Austria is interested in good neighborly relations with the Czech Republic. But in the interest of our people’s security we will also reserve all political and legal steps.”
The Czechs remain determined to go ahead.
“We consider that what happened in Fukushima did not, by any means, put into question the arguments for nuclear energy,” President Vaclav Klaus said at the U.N. last month. “These arguments are strong, economically rational and convincing. Nuclear power is a stable, legitimate, and in some countries, irreplaceable source of energy today.”
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