From the Wall Street Journal:

John McCardell, a history professor and former president of Middlebury College in Vermont, is leading the effort. His group, Choose Responsibility, a nonprofit unaffiliated with the college, has received financial backing from money manger Julian Robertson. Mr. McCardell says he receives no money from the alcohol industry.

He argues current laws drive drinking underground, causing more problems than they solve. "The law is out of step with reality," he says. "The law is so obviously unjust and discriminatory. It ought to at least be the subject of debate."

But he and the college presidents are taking on powerful constituencies, including some of their colleagues, the top government traffic-safety agency, the insurance industry and public-health authorities, all of which say the higher drinking age saves lives. Even representatives of the alcohol industry say they support current laws.

A college student interviewed for the piece says she cut back on her drinking once it was no longer forbidden:

Elizabeth Pogust, a 21-year-old senior at Middlebury, says she felt pressured to drink as a freshman. Classmates would quaff alcohol in their rooms before roaming the campus on weekends, she recalls. As they got older, she says, she and her peers learned their lessons. "I've noticed a definite change in my attitude once it was no longer forbidden," she says.

What do you think? Is the 21-year-old drinking age part of the problem — or the solution?

Bid to Reconsider Drinking Age Taps Unlikely Supporters [WSJ]
List of College Presidents Who Signed The Petition [Amethyst Initiative]

Now—right before California decides whether to ban BPA in children's products—the FDA has revisited its earlier studies and reaffirmed that "the trace amounts of bisphenol A that leach out of food containers are not a threat to infants or adults."

Critics are saying the FDA is cherry-picking what studies to consider in its decision:

"It's ironic FDA would choose to ignore dozens of studies funded by (the National Institutes of Health) — this country's best scientists — and instead rely on flawed studies from industry," said Pete Myers, chief scientist for Environmental Health Sciences.

Myers said the agency disregarded recent studies of bisphenol's effects included in the National Toxicology Program's April draft report.

That group's review of animal studies suggested low doses of bisphenol can cause changes in behavior and the brain, and that it may reduce survival and birth weight in fetuses. A final version of the group's findings is expected next month.

Commenting on those studies in its 105-page assessment, the FDA said they had "inconsistencies and inadequacies which limit the interpretations of the findings."

We're not sure what sort of effect this will have on the pending lawsuits or on California's potential ban, but the BPA debate should take on new energy next month, when the National Toxicology Program's final report is released and the FDA brings in outside "advisors" to debate its own findings.

"FDA says chemical found in plastic bottles is safe" [Associated Press]
(Photo: Oop)

The Chicago Tribune says:

We have another walk-through tomorrow morning, and obviously we’re working around the clock," Kate Klotz, Whole Foods' Midwest regional public relations specialist, told The Stew on Thursday. Klotz said they hope to have the store re-opened by tomorrow afternoon but that's not definite.

The inspection that resulted in the closing was a follow-up inspection. Inspectors found mouse feces all over the premises as well as a dead mouse on a glueboard trap.

Mice, supermarkets and food safety [Chicago Tribune](Thanks, Dena!)

The NYPost says:

At a recent Department of Housing, Preservation and Development forum on the subject, a city bedbug educator admitted to seeing the pests on benches in subway stations - in one case, catching a ride on an unsuspecting straphanger's caboose at Brooklyn's Hoyt-Schermerhorn station, according to people at the meeting.

The official, identified as Edward Brownbear, also reported seeing the bugs on wooden benches at the Union Square and Fordham Road stations in Manhattan and The Bronx, respectively.

Well, ew. Kind of makes you appreciate those frigid outdoor comparatively-pestilence-free Chicago L platforms. Sorta.

SUBWAYS' BLOOD-BUG INVASION [NYP]

The department says that inspectors found hundreds of live cockroaches, mouse droppings, fly infestations, and an improperly functioning sewage system. Delicious!

Department officials tell CBS 2 that both inspections revealed "rodent and fly infestation and conditions conducive to pest infestation, including stagnant water in the basement."

The plumbing was reportedly so out of line that the "sewage disposal system [was] in disrepair or not functioning properly."

On Wednesday night, the store, which has been featured in numerous Hollywood films, apparently kept open its wild zoo of filth for inspectors. The Department says the inspector came upon a live mouse, more than 100 live cockroaches, fruit flies, house flies, and piles of mouse dropping scattered about the restaurant.

Health Dept. Closes Shop Selling $25,000 Sundae [CBS2] (Thanks, Cigar!)
(Photo:scalleja)

There are vaccines to prevent infection available to anyone who ate at the location less than 14 days ago. If you've already been vaccinated or had Hepatitis A in the past, you're in the clear.

Hepatitis A isn't life threatening or anything, and people usually recover in a month.

There are potentially thousands of people that would have been at that restaurant over that period of time," Dr. Judy MacDonald (ha, ha, her name is "MacDonald") told the Calgary Sun.

"It's impossible to know the extent of (or) even if people were actually exposed to hepatitis A." Ick.

Thousands exposed to Hep A [Calgary Sun] (Thanks, Vlad!)
(Photo:Morton Fox)