National Consumer Council

The US Congress funded the Pesticide Data Program (PDP) in order to improve the accuracy of pesticide dietary risk assessments carried out by the US EPA. The USDA s Agricultural Marketing Service carries out the program. As recommended in the 1993 NAS/NRC report, the PDP focuses on the foods consumed most heavily by children and food is tested, to the extent possible, as eaten (Agricultural Market Service, 2004 National Research Council, 1987). For example, banana and orange samples are tested without the peel processed foods are tested as they come out of a can, jar or freezer bag. 

Lactation Vitamin B-12 is excreted in breast milk in concentrations that approximate the mother s vitamin B-12 blood level. Amounts of B- 2recommended by the Food and Nutrition Board, National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council (2.6 mcg/day) should be consumed during lactation. 

Landes and Posner (1987, Chapter 9) and Robinson (1985) argue that courts should not waste resources determining whether substance X caused malignancy y in individual z. Instead, courts should compensate those who have been exposed to a carcinogen an amount equal to the expected value of damages based on the population s disease probabilities. Such compensation would send the correct signals to both firms and consumers and conserve resources that are currently used in fruitless attempts to determine cause and effect at the individual level (National Research Council 1991,43). Individuals could use the compensation to buy insurance and share the risk of later disease among themselves. 

A medication error is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer, according to the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention. The council, a group of more than 25 national and international organizations, including the FDA, examines and evaluates medication errors and recommends strategies for error prevention. 

The National Research Council Committee states that attempts to assess food safety based solely on the process are scientifically unjustified. Rather than adding a general label about the process with which a plant variety was developed, it would make more sense to label food so that consumers are informed about what is actually in or on the food. But this, too, is not necessarily helpful. For some people it may be informative to read a label that says, may contain traces of carbamate pesticides, which at high concentrations are known to cause death of animals or may contain trace amounts of purified Bacillus thuringiensis protein, which kill Leptidoptera (a class of insects). But is it helpful to most consumers who are not familiar with the science ... 

Quantitative risk assessments have been performed on a variety of flame-retardants used both in upholstered furniture fabric and foam. The National Research Council performed a quantitative risk assessment on 16 chemicals (or chemical classes) identified by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The results were published in 2000.88 The 16 flame-retardants included in this NRC study were HBCD, deca-BDE, alumina trihydrate, magnesium hydroxide, zinc borate, calcium and zinc molybdates, antimony trioxide, antimony pentoxide and sodium antimonate, ammonium polyphosphates, phosphonic acid, (3- [hydroxymethyl]amino -3-oxopropyl)-dimethylester, organic phosphonates, tris (monochloropropyl) phosphate, tris (l,3-dichloropropyl-2) phosphate, aromatic phosphate plasticisers, tetrakis (hydroxymethyl) hydronium salts, and chlorinated paraffins. The conclusions of the assessment was that the following flame-retardants can be used on residential furniture with minimal risk, even under worst-case assumptions ... 

The Committee on Dietary Allowances, Food and Nutrition of the National Research Council has recommended an estimated safe and adequate daily dietary intake of 50-200 pg/day for adults based on the absence of chromium-deficiency signs in the major part of the U.S. population consuming an average of 50 pg chromium/day (NRC 1989). ATSDR has adopted the upper range of the estimated safe and adequate daily dietary intake of 200 pg/day as provisional guidance for oral exposure to chromium(VI) and chromium(III). 

Huffman, M., Cotton Counts Its Customers (The Quality of Cotton Consumed in Final Uses Produced in the United States), 2004 edition, National Cotton Council of America, Memphis, TN, 2004. 

One of the major benefits of pesticides is the protection of crop yields. According to the National Research Council (2000), removing pesticides from U.S. agriculture would cause crop production to decline as much as 50%, depending on the crop species. Moreover, farm exports would decrease by 50%, and consumer expenditures for food would increase— and be accompanied by an increase in inflation—as food prices increase. In the United States, we will spend 30-40% of our income on food as opposed to 8.7% currently. It was concluded that chemical insecticides should remain part of a larger toolbox of diverse pest management tactics in the foreseeable future. 

Ralph Nader expanded the new consumer safety movement (whose origins could be traced back to the founding of the National Safety Council in 1913 and Consumers Union in 1936), which came to be known as the public interest research movement . 

Collaborative work toward error prevention with the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), the National Coordinating council on Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCCMERP), the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF), the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), and dozens of other consumer and professional organizations. 

NAS/NRC. 1980. Formaldehyde An assessment of its health effects. Committee on Toxicology, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, DC. AD A 087 854, NAS/ACT/P-881A. 

A U. S. National Research Council report concludes that natural and synthetic carcinogens are present in human foods at such low levels that they pose little threat.42 It points out that consuming too many calories as fat, protein, carbohydrates, or ethanol is far more likely to cause cancer than consuming the synthetic or natural chemicals in the diet. However, it also mentions several natural substances linked to increased cancer risk heterocyclic amines formed in the overcooking of meat nitrosoamines, aflatoxins, and other mycotoxins.43 Typical of the heterocyclic amine mutagens are compounds 1.9 and 1.10, the first from fried beef and the second from broiled fish 44... 

Assessment of reproductive and development risks associated with the use of pesticides, whether for mixer-loader or consumer, follows the same general guidelines used for any toxicity risk assessment. The National Research Council (NRC) (1) has recently published a monograph on risk assessment and management and their procedure is recommended for reproductive and developmental risk assessment with some slight additions and modifications. 

Cheese is a nutritious, versatile food. A wide variety of cheese types are available to meet specific consumer requirements and allow convenience of use. The increasing popularity of cheese is apparent from consumption studies worldwide, Table II (IDF, 1984,1992 National Dairy Council, 1989). 

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