Consumer alert!

Partly at the urging of regulators, Kellogg Co. of Battle Creek said Wednesday it will stop putting immunity statements on Kellogg’s Rice Krispies cereals.
The company said it started adding antioxidants to Rice Krispies cereals last year as a way to respond to consumer requests to make kids’ cereals more nutritious.
A big banner on the front of each package says “Now supports your child’s IMMUNITY.”
Although antioxidants help support the immune system, given the public attention on H1N1, the company said it decided to make the change. The message will be on boxes of Rice Krispies, Jumbo Krispies and Cocoa Krispies for the next few months as existing inventory is depleted. Despite discontinuing the message, the company said it will continue to provide increased amounts of vitamins A, B, C and E in the cereals.

Business customers of Detroit Edison Co. can get a free eight-pack of energy saving compact fluorescent bulbs as part of DTE Energy’s “Your Energy Savings” program.
“Replacing incandescent light bulbs with Energy Star qualified compact fluorescent lights is an easy and effective way for businesses to reduce their energy bills,” said Steve Kurmas, Detroit Edison president and chief operating officer. “CFLs use 75 percent less energy and last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs. That can translate into savings of as much as $44 over the 10,000 hour lifetime of just one CFL.”
To receive the free CFLs, business owners need to complete a request form available online at YourEnergySavings.com/cfl.

Daylight Savings Time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday. Turn your clocks back Halloween night and you get to sleep in an extra hour and still not be late for church the next morning. The extra time might be useful for trick-or-treaters who walk their legs off going door-to-door Saturday night.

Weary of seeing grocery prices climb while your buying power dwindles?
Brace yourself.
Amid the debate about ways to reduce climate change comes a new report from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) indicating that food prices could more than triple by 2050 as the climate changes.
The report, Climate Change: Impact on Agriculture and Costs of Adaptation, was developed for the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
Even without the effects of climate change, food prices still are expected to rise, by 40 per cent for wheat, and 60 per cent for both rice and corn by 2050, as the world population grows.
However, by drawing on climate and crop models, IFPRI predicts a much worse scenario, forecasting wheat prices to rise 170 to 194 per cent, rice prices 113 to 121 per cent, and corn to go up 148 to 153 per cent.
“Agriculture is extremely vulnerable to climate change, because farming is so weather-dependent,” said Mark Rosegrant, co-author of the report. “Small-scale farmers in developing countries will suffer the most. However, our study finds that this scenario of lower yields, higher prices, and increased child malnutrition can be avoided.”
The report claims that investment of about $7 billion a year could avert these problems by bringing new technologies to farmers and educating them about how they can adapt. To see the full report, click here.
To see more blog entries about climate change, visit www.blogactionday.org

Products purporting to prevent or treat the Swine Flu are flooding the market. The problem is that the federal Food and Drug Administration says most of them have not been authorized, approved or confirmed to be effective at all in treating or relieving the symptoms.
Most of the products are marketed to the public through Web sites. The FDA published an advisory that includes a list of 138 products that make unsubstantiated claims about their effectiveness against swine flu.

State officials have ordered Benefit Management Administrators, Inc. (BMA), a Caledonia-based insurance agency, and its owner, N. Henry Bledsoe, to cease and desist from selling fraudulent life and health care policies.
The state Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation received information that BMA sold life and health insurance that it claimed were fully insured to Michigan consumers when in fact, there was no underlying insurance. BMA was conducting business as the insurer for these health and life products it sold without the knowledge of its customers and without the appropriate certification as an insurer required by Michigan law.
“Any Michigan consumer who purchased life or health insurance policies from Benefit Management and Henry Bledsoe should contact our agency immediately to see if they have proper coverage,” OFIR Commissioner Ken Ross said.
Consumers can contact OFIR toll-free at 877-999-6442.
Before purchasing life and health insurance, verify whether an insurance agent is licensed in Michigan and is appointed by an insurance company licensed to do business in the state by calling OFIR toll-free at 877-999-6442.

The Detroit area’s economy might start to turn around in the fall of 2010, according to a widely respected University of Michigan forecast.
The report also says this year will be the worst for area job losses in recent history and the automotive industry won’t rebound to its past levels of vigor.

Weight Watchers’ promotion of a free month’s enrollment in the program isn’t the fat offer it appears to be.
Mouseprint.org helps shed some of the hype.

A flu shot is 50 percent more effective than nasal spray vaccine in preventing seasonal influenza in healthy adults, a new University of Michigan study shows.
The U-M School of Public Health study compared the effectiveness of a vaccine that uses an inactivated influenza virus with a vaccine that uses a live but weakened virus, said Arnold Monto, professor of epidemiology at the UM School of Public Health. The inactivated vaccine is delivered by injection, the live vaccine by nasal spray.
“This study now establishes that the flu shot is more effective than the nasal spray vaccines in healthy adults in preventing seasonal influenza,” Monto said. The differences in protection were demonstrated for the A (H3N2) viruses, the seasonal strains which cause the most severe disease.
The findings of the study especially are interesting because a UM epidemiology professor developed FluMist, a popular nasal spray.

Consumer Reports did a study of in-store brands of food products and found that they taste good and sometimes better than national brands, but are a lot cheaper.
It tends to torpedo the theory held by some that store brands are inferior in taste and quality to national brands.
What Consumers Reports doesn’t speak to is one of the reasons that store brands can hold their own when compared to national brands: Many in-house brands are manufactured under contract by the same companies that make the national brands.

Consumers and pharmacies are being warned about the theft last week in Florida of a tractor-trailer loaded with two different types of respiratory medications, Ipratropium Bromide Inhalation Solution, 0.02 percent, and Albuterol Sulfate Inhalation Solution, 0.083 percent, unit-dose vials.
The NDC numbers for the Ipratropium product are 49502-685-31 (lot number F09089) and 49502-685-62 (lot numbers C09119 and C09120). All packages contain 2.5 ml vials and display the brand name “DEY.”
The NDC numbers for the Albuterol product are 49502-697-29 (lot number 9G04) and 49502-697-61 (lot numbers 9FD8, 9FD9 and 9FE1). All packages contain 3.0 ml vials and display the brand name “DEY.”
In the weeks prior to the truck theft, some portion of each lot had been sold by Dey to its customers and successfully entered the legitimate pharmaceutical supply chain. Because the stolen product may have been stored or handled improperly, Dey is requesting that any and all product with the affected lot numbers be isolated and not be dispensed, sold or used. Dey has alerted its distributors and customers.
Anyone who has information about this incident, has received suspicious or unsolicited offers for the products in question or received product from these lots is encouraged to contact the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Criminal Investigations at 1-800-551-3989. Patient or customer inquiries for the company should be directed to Dey Customer Service at 1-800-527-4278.

Worried about radiation from your cell phone?
Concerns continue that the small amount of radiation that cell phones emit can cause tumors and other problems, especially from the frequent exposure the typical cell phone user receives.
Now the Environmental Working Group has published the results of its testing on about 1,000 phones and put them into a searchable database that also includes a ranking from the least-emitting to the most-emitting devices. Samsung dominates the list of top 10 safest phones. The only drawback is that the list mainly ranks phones that currently are on the market, although some older phones also are on the list.

Those automated telephone calls telling you the warranty on your car is expiring and trying to sell you an extended warranty should become a thing of the past following a federal settlement with the company that was making the calls.
Read details about the federal action by clicking here.

State officials have ordered Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., a national mortgage company, to immediately cease and desist from operating as a mortgage lender or servicer in Michigan. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) suspended Taylor Bean’s approval to make FHA loans and the company’s status as an approved Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae mortgage servicer was terminated due to questionable business practices and disclosures. Last week, federal investigators raided Taylor Bean’s headquarters in Ocala, FL.
As of Dec. 31, 2008, Taylor Bean made nearly 4,000 mortgages in Michigan totaling more than $500 million and serviced more than 10,000 mortgages totaling over $1.2 billion.
“Consumers who have mortgages with Taylor Bean should continue to make their payments as usual and if they have any questions or complaints they should contact OFIR.” Commissioner Ken Ross said.
Consumers can contact OFIR toll-free at 877-999-6442.