Regulators press ahead with investigation of flaw possibly linked to unintended acceleration. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is taking the unusual step of continuing its examination even though the probe already has prompted the recall of 421,000 Ford Escapes and 217,500 Mazda Tributes. The issue involves a defect in the cruise control cables that could make the crossover vehicles susceptible to unintended acceleration. Typically, NHTSA concludes an investigation once a recall is announced. Separately, NHTSA’s chief, David Strickland, disputed a U.S. senator’s claim that his agency failed to thoroughly investigate unintended acceleration problems in Toyota vehicles. The New York Times, The Associated Press
Little progress made in combating foodborne illnesses. Rates of infection linked to four key pathogens — salmonella, vibrio, campylobacter and listeria — remained steady or increased between 2007 and 2011, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The only major exception was the decline in illness tied to the E. coli strain O157. The landmark Food Safety Modernization Act, signed into law early last year, was intended to step up efforts by regulators to prevent foodborne illnesses instead of just reacting to outbreaks. But the Obama administration has missed deadlines for releasing draft rules needed to implement key provisions, including tighter requirements for imported foods. The Washington Post, Food Safety News
Wisconsin oil spill renews criticism of Canadian pipeline company. Enbridge Inc. crews worked today to replace part of a pipeline that on Friday leaked more than 1,000 barrels of oil in a Wisconsin field, shutting down a key conduit from Canada. The latest accident came two years after the company spilled about 20,000 barrels of oil into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River in the most costly onshore oil spill in U.S. history. U.S. safety regulators issued a scathing report on Enbridge earlier this month, saying the company was lax in its upkeep of the Michigan line and made the spill worse by bungling its response. ”Enbridge is fast becoming to the Midwest what BP was to the Gulf of Mexico,” said U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. Reuters, The Wall Street Journal
Climate change skeptic changes his tune, calling humans “almost entirely the cause” of global warming. The new stance taken by Richard Muller, a prominent physicist and co-founder of the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project, is drawing extra attention because his research group was heavily funded by the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, whose namesake billionaire founder has backed organizations that dispute climate change. In an op-ed in The New York Times, Muller said the average temperature of the earth’s land has risen by 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 50 years. The findings, however, have not been fully peer reviewed, raising questions about whether the research was rushed. The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Guardian
The Philippines demonstrates how religious and political forces undermine efforts to curb population growth. Access to birth control in the country, which has a population of 96 million, is mostly limited to those with the means to buy it. A bill in the national legislature seeks to change that, calling for public education about contraceptives and government subsidies to make them available to everyone. But, as the Los Angeles Times reports, the Catholic church and and its like-minded allies have stalled the legislation for 14 years. The story concludes a series on a demographic boom expected to raise the world’s population from 7 billion now to, even by an optimistic projection, 9.3 billion by 2050.
Recalls: Foods containing yellow onions, Cedar Grove Red Hots sausages, Burch Farms cantaloupe, Tita Quesito Colombiano Colombian-style cheese, Wimberger’s rolls and bread, Catswell VitaKitty cat food, Mazda Tribute sports utility vehicles
Compiled by Stuart Silverstein and Bridget Huber
