Red Bull sued for $85 million over man's death

According to NaturalNews:

Red Bull is being sued for wrongful death after a healthy 33-year-old man collapsed dead on a basketball court after gulping the high-caffeine drink.

The lawsuit, for $85 million, is believed to be the first wrongful death suit against the world's largest energy drink company.

Construction worker Cory Terry - survived by a 13-year-old son - was healthy, active and a non-smoker, his grandmother, Patricia Terry, said. However, he regularly drank large amounts of Red Bull.

"He drank that stuff all the time," she said. "He said it perked him up."

About a year ago, Terry downed a can of Red Bull about 45 minutes into a basketball game. Shortly after, he grew dizzy, collapsed and died. Doctors discovered that he had suffered idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), meaning that his heart had simply stopped. The medical report noted that he had consumed Red Bull right before the attack.

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The FDA has confirmed at least 18 deaths potentially linked to energy drinks. Between 2004 and 2012, it received 21 reports from healthcare providers who suspected Red Bull of causing side effects ranging from fatigue and dizziness to chest pain.

Indeed, the FDA is already investigating whether energy drinks might have led to the deaths of five separate people, including a 14-year-old who fell dead after drinking two 24-ounce Monster beverages over the course of two days.

I used to drink a lot of Monsters and my wife drank four Red Bulls a day before we had our daughter.  Now I look on in disgust when I see one of my co-workers desks littered with energy drinks.  I almost look at them in the same light as smokers.  Gross and unnecessary.  

Man dies after accidentally drinking £34,000 of Crystal Meth!

According to The Daily Mail:

A man has died after drinking a massive overdose of liquid crystal meth after mistaking it for a health drink.

Romano Dias, 55, had been given a bottle of what appeared to be a fruit-based drink by his daughter Katee, who had found it in a package delivered to her home.

After downing about half a glass of the liquid he immediately began to feel ill and died shortly afterwards.

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Mr Dias’s partner Debra Dulson said in a statement that he had opened the bottle and found a cork under the cap.

She said he took a mouthful of the drink and had said that it tasted 'awful' before complaining that his throat was burning.

He then said: 'I am in trouble here. I am dying, I am dead.'

Analysis of the bottle, which had been labelled as a health drink, showed it contained £34,000 of pure methamphetamine.

Holy crap ... do me a favor and read the rest of this article.  Totally nuts.  WTF?!  Never drink something that showed up in the mail if you are not sure what the hell it is! 

Chinese Chicken's On American Tables

According to CBS:

Chicken from China has officials on alert, including U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)

As WCBS 880’s Jim Smith reported Sunday, Schumer said first, the U.S. Department of Agriculture only allowed chickens that had been processed in China to be sold in the U.S. Now, he said the USDA plans to green-light poultry raised and slaughtered in China.

This has never happened before, and it is a bad idea, Schumer argued.

“China has a terrible record on health safety, and chickens are one of the things that need the most care and inspections,” he said.

Schumer called the plan a huge change in policy, and a big mistake.

“China has been a massive source of food poisoning here in America for years,” he said.

A step closer to final approval, Schumer said a USDA report to Congress indicated aspects of the Chinese slaughter system to be equivalent to that of the U.S.

“Why is the USDA doing it?” he said. “We just don’t know.”

A USDA representative was unavailable for comment Sunday.

Meh, I hardly trust chicken from America unless it is free range and raised without antibiotics.  Even then I am slightly suspicious unless I've watched it hatched, raised, and slaughtered.  

Kraft to Remove Artificial Colors from Mac & Cheese

According to NaturalSociety:

Processed food company extraordinaire Kraft recently announced they would be improving at least some of their macaroni & cheese products by reducing the questionable artificial color ingredients within.

The announcement came on the heels of a Change.org petition that began in March and had more than 348,000 signatures at last count. While Kraft says their decision isn’t because of the petition, they no doubt heard the collective voice of consumers. Interestingly, one New York mother has started a similar petition, asking candy-maker Mars to replace their artificial colors with natural ones, creating a momentum that we need to collectively accelerate.

The plan is to remove artificial colors from three different varieties that come in kid-friendly shapes. This means the original Kraft Macaroni & Cheese will still contain artificial dyes, though the other varieties won’t. Apparently they want to keep the toxins available for those who like that sort of thing.

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Competitors to Kraft Macaroni & Cheese products, like Annie’s, are getting more shelf-space as customer’s tastes change. Kraft couldn’t help but take notice.

Obviously this is a great first step, however what bothers me still is that Kraft is not doing this to help the health of their customers. They are not doing it to become a more conscientious company dedicated to making the world a better place.  They are certainly not concerned with the effect that artificial colors have on humans.  

The only thing they are worried about is their market share and the amount of money they make.  If making a change to appease and retain customers keeps the cash flowing a company will do anything.  If making that change didn't make monetary sense, they would not do so.  At least with a company like Kraft that is the absolute truth.  

This is why there is very little Kraft could do to make me ever purchase their junk "food".

Apple Thief Bites Grocery Worker

According to DNAInfo:

A man caught stealing an apple from a Greenpoint produce market on Friday bit and choked a store employee who told him he needed to pay for the fruit, police and witnesses said.

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The suspect then "put his hands on [the employee's] neck, preventing him from breathing normally," tried to "cover [the employee's] mouth and nose with his jacket," and "bit his left ear," drawing blood, according to a police report.

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"He just took one apple," another employee said of the thief. "We have people try to steal fruit every day, but no one's ever been this aggressive."

Things are getting crazy.  EBT was cut less than a week ago.
  
Just wait till people really start feeling these roll backs of benefits.  

Just wait till the government starts taking away more entitlements.  

Just wait...

We'll be seeing a lot of very similar cases to this in the not so distant future.  

Woman runs over boyfriend 3 times for McDonald's

According to WKMG:

Police in Tennessee say a woman ran over her boyfriend three times after he refused to go to McDonald's with her.

Crystal Greer Brooks, 33, of Kingsport was apparently upset that her boyfriend wanted to eat at a different restaurant, police told the Kingsport Times-News.

Holy crap... talk about addiction.  McDonalds should proudly report this in their advertisements.  Woman loves Big Mac so much she would kill oyfriend over wanting a Whopper.  

Irwindale, California Sues Sriracha

According to RT:

Sriracha hot sauce may be known for burning your taste buds, but one southern California town is also blaming the company behind the popular product for harming its residents.

Residents of Irwindale, CA claim that the odors coming from the Huy Hong Foods factory, where the sauce is made, are causing irritated eyes, throats, and headaches.

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A judge will decide whether or not to halt production at the factory on Thursday.

According to the Times, the smell from the factory is so strong that one local family needed to move a birthday party indoors because of it.

I love me some Sriracha, but damn can I imagine living near the factory that produced it could be quite a challenge.