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FDA puts investigations operations manual on-line
Cornwall votes to go GM-free
Heineken finalises Croatian brewery deal
Hershey goes sugar-free to fight fat, diabetes
Smell gets the message through
Packaging problem? Tap IoP’s knowledge tree
Sensor to monitor intracellular activity?
Regulations
FDA puts
investigations operations manual on-line
The US Food and Drug Administration
(FDA), which regulates the safety of foods, drugs and cosmetics,
biological products, medical devices, and electronic products that emit
radiation, has published its Investigations Operations Manual.
This FDA Manual gives the standard
investigation operating procedures covering administration and
organisation, federal and state cooperation, sampling and establishment
inspections, recall activities, and investigations.
The manual is for anyone with
regular contact with the FDA, such as state and local regulatory agencies,
and food and drug researchers. Cost is $100 plus $5 handling. Order online
at http://www.ntis.gov/products/pages/fda-iom.asp.
GM
Cornwall
votes to go GM-free
The council of Britain’s Cornwall
County yesterday voted to rid the area of genetically-modified crops,
feeds and foods.
Friends of the Earth, an
environmental activist group which launched a GM-free Britain campaign
last October, welcomed the news.
Pressure to go GM-free is
particularly strong in the southwest of England, where several local
districts have voted to go GM-free since last year.
Cornwall County Council will now
ask the UK Secretary of State to give it legal protection as a GM free
area, under European law.
Friends of the Earth GM campaigner
Clare Oxborrow said there is growing opposition to GM crops and food.
“Cornwall's decision sends a strong message to the government that local
people don't want their food, farms and environment threatened by GM
crops. It is time now for the government to listen and not allow GM crops
to be grown for sale in the UK".
Other parts of Britain are thinking
of going GM-free.
The government is expected to
decide this year if it will allow GM crops to be grown commercially in the
UK.
M&A
Heineken
finalises Croatian brewery deal
Heineken has acquired 68.8 percent
of Croatian brewer Karlovacka Pivovara for 1,804.59 kuna (€234.61) per
share from Southern Breweries Establishment. It will make an offer for the
outstanding shares in due course.
Karlovacka, with a 19 percent
market share, is the second largest brewer in Croatia. It had a sales
volume of 820,000 hectolitres of beer in 2002, a capacity of 1.3 million
hectolitres, and 595 staff.
New products
1
Hershey
goes sugar-free to fight fat, diabetes
Hershey Foods yesterday launched
the first sugar-free chocolate products in its 109-year history, aiming at
the 17 million American diabetics and the overweight half of the
population.
The Sugar Free has the same taste
as the regular hershey’s, but without the sugar and about 19 percent
fewer calories. Instead of sugar it uses lactitol, which metabolises
slowly and generally causes only a small rise in blood sugar levels.
The Sugar Free products come in 3.3
oz (90g) bags, and will retail for about $1.99.
Hershey is backing the launch with
a print advertising campaign covering People, Reader's Digest, TV
Guide, Cooking Light, Martha Stewart Living, Better Homes & Gardens,
Good Housekeeping and Ladies' Home Journal, among others.
New products
2
Smell gets the
message through
Innovative use of a fragrance
dispenser coupled with a postcard advertising campaign improved response
by a fifth for PZ Cussons’
Imperial Leather Foamburst shower foam.
The Aroma Co teamed with postcard
advertising company Boomerang Media to run postcard advertising campaigns
with fragrance sampling.
This experimental marketing project
extends product presence to social venues such as universities, bars,
coffee shops, cinemas and health clubs - reaching carefully targeted
audiences in their chosen relaxation environment.
In a recent trial across 28 cinemas
and health clubs for Imperial Leather Foamburst, Boomerang used, a
postcard rack and specially-adapted Poparoma fragrance sampling device,
where Poparoma was used, the postcard pick-up rate increased by almost 20
percent.
Boomerang Media sales director
Martin Smith says “Using Poparoma we have been able to turn the postcard
rack into an experiential marketing platform.”
Resources
Packaging
problem? Tap IoP’s knowledge tree
The UK Institute of Packaging (IoP)
has set up a free, members-only problem-solving Web site that taps the
knowledge and experience of 3,000 packaging experts worldwide.
The “Unlimited Packaging
Solutions” (UPS) service is proving popular with members, says IoP IT
manager Lynda Travis. "Thousands of queries have been sent using UPS
and every question posted has received at least one response.”
Members simply post a question
which is emailed to all other members and replies are sent back via
e-mail.
Tayburn group director Campbell
Laird says "UPS has enabled my colleagues and I to save a lot of
time, and avoids the need for us to trail through numerous catalogues,
books and so on for vital information.
"The answers that I've
received using UPS are very informative and we have delivered successfully
based upon them."
The IoP’s Web site is www.iop.co.uk.
Research
Sensor
to monitor intracellular activity?
Scientists will spell out progress
towards building computer chips small enough to monitor intracellular
activity at the Institute of Physics’ Condensed Matter and Materials
Physics (CMMP) Conference at the Queen's University, Belfast, from 6-9
April.
Dr Lidija Siller from the
University of Newcastle upon Tyne will describe her understanding of the
light emission from a special type of quantum dot (QD). These QDs - tiny
regions of semiconductor about one billionth of a metre big - could one
day monitor chemical processes taking place inside living cells.
Other speakers will describe the
challenges faced in building recording heads for the ultra-high-density
magnetic recording systems of the future, how to make transistors out of
polymers and 'spintronics' (spin electronics), which combines the effects
of magnetism with the features of ordinary electronics to produce much
smaller and more powerful computer chips and electronic devices.
Dr Siller is currently
investigating the light emission that occurs when laser light or X-rays
are shone at the QD. The QDs have a semiconductor silicon core surrounded
by chains of carbon atoms that should protect the QD from the watery
environment of a cell.
"The ultimate goal is to
insert them into biological cells, and use them to discover when and where
chemical reactions take place," says Dr Siller. If the chemistry of
cells could be fully understood, scientists may be able to develop ways in
which to halt any chemical reactions that cause disease. |
