Researcher Focuses on Pros, Cons of Antioxidants

Researcher Susanne Mertens-Talcott of Texas A&M University is looking into how plant-based phytochemicals, including antioxidants and herbal supplements, can be useful in the promotion of health and prevention of chronic diseases.

This field is still growing. In the U.S. more than $20 billion was spent on dietary supplements in 2005, said Talcott, who is in a joint research and teaching position with the department of nutrition and food science and the department of veterinary physiology and pharmacology.

"Over $7 billion was spent on herbal dietary supplements in 2005." These supplements are plant-based, including grape seed extract, St. John's wort, ginseng and biloba extract, she added.

"In addition to that there is the segment of so-called ‘functional foods,' including antioxidant foods – for example, fruit juices and beverages and grain-based products," Talcott says.

The amount spent on these foods each year "has increased drastically; however, we do not know yet how efficacious these different antioxidants really are in the prevention of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer," she says. "We also do not know very much about the mechanisms, which appear to include antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of these phytochemicals."

This can be important to health since these reactive oxygen species or "free radicals" may play a role in some diseases, including Alzheimer's, cancer and atherosclerosis, she says.

"However, other mechanisms, including the prevention of chronic inflammation and interaction with intracellular mechanisms, may be as important in the prevention of chronic diseases," she says. But are they safe? Are they efficient? How much is required? And how much is too much? Talcott is looking for the answers to these questions through her research.

"My overall goal is to find out more about the safety and efficacy of phytochemical dietary supplements," she says. Because these items are already popular with consumers, "we need to follow up with research. We know very little about (dose) recommendations and how safe (they are)."

Phytochemicals, also called secondary plant compounds – including antioxidants – have been defined as chemicals found in plants that have protective or disease-fighting properties.

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Fruit Giant Chiquita Brands Guilty of Paying Terrorists

Chiquita Brands International Inc., a multinational supplier of fruit and vegetables, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of engaging in transactions with a designated global terrorist, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Chiquita pleaded guilty pursuant to a written plea agreement. Under theterms of the plea agreement, Chiquita's sentence will include a $25 million criminal fine, the requirement to implement and maintain an effective compliance and ethics program, and five years' probation.

Chiquita also has agreed to cooperate in an ongoing investigation. Sentencing will occur on June 1.

The plea agreement arises from payments that Chiquita had made for years to the violent, right-wing terrorist organization United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia -- an English translation of the Spanish name of the group, "Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia" (commonly known as the "AUC"). The AUC had been designated by the U.S. government as a Foreign Terrorist Organization ("FTO") on Sept. 10, 2001, and as a Specially-Designated Global Terrorist ("SDGT") on Oct. 31, 2001. These designations made it a federal crime for Chiquita, as a U.S. corporation, to provide money to the AUC. In April 2003, Chiquita made a voluntary self- disclosure to the government of its payments to the AUC, giving rise to this investigation.

"Like any criminal enterprise, a terrorist organization needs a funding stream to support its operations. For several years, the AUC terrorist group found one in the payments they demanded from Chiquita Brands International. Thanks to Chiquita's cooperation and this prosecution, that funding stream is now dry and corporations are on notice that they cannot make protection payments to terrorists," says Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein.

"Funding a terrorist organization can never be treated as a cost of doing business," says U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor. "American businesses musttake note that payments to terrorists are of a whole different category. They are crimes. But like adjustments that American businesses made to the passage of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act decades ago, American businesses, as good corporate citizens, will find ways to conform their conduct to the requirements of the law and still remain competitive."

Following the company's disclosure, the investigation leading to this prosecution developed evidence that for over six years -- from sometime in 1997 through Feb. 4, 2004 -- Chiquita paid money to the AUC in two regions of the Republic of Colombia where Chiquita had banana-producing operations: Uraba and Santa Marta. Chiquita made these payments through its wholly owned Colombian subsidiary known as "Banadex." By 2003, Banadex was Chiquita's most profitable operation. Chiquita, through Banadex, paid the AUC nearly every month. In total, Chiquita made over 100 payments to the AUC amounting to over $1.7 million.

For several years Chiquita paid the AUC by check through various intermediaries. Chiquita recorded these payments in its corporate books and records as "security payments" or payments for "security" or "security services." Chiquita never received any actual security services in exchange for the payments.

Beginning in June 2002, Chiquita began paying the AUC in Santa Marta directly and in cash according to new procedures established by senior executives of Chiquita. The newly-implemented procedures concealed the factthat Chiquita was making direct cash payments to the AUC.

The U.S. government designated the AUC as an FTO on Sept. 10, 2001, and that designation was well-publicized in the American public media. TheAUC's designation was even more widely reported in the public media in Colombia, where Chiquita had its substantial banana-producing operations. Chiquita also had specific information about the AUC's designation as an FTO through an Internet-based, password-protected subscription service that Chiquita paid money to receive. Nevertheless, from Sept. 10, 2001 through Feb. 4, 2004, Chiquita made 50 payments to the AUC totaling more than $825,000.

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