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McKinsey & Company agrees to $650 million settlement with feds over opioids work
McKinsey & Company consulting firm has agreed to pay $650 million to settle a federal investigation into its work for opioids manufacturer Purdue Pharma, according to court papers filed in Virginia on Friday.
McKinsey has also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve criminal charges, including that it conspired with Purdue Pharma to aid in the misbranding of prescription drugs.
A former McKinsey senior partner has also agreed to plead guilty to obstruction of justice, according to the court papers.
McKinsey representatives didn’t immediately respond to phone and email messages on Friday.
Since 2021, McKinsey has agreed to pay state and local governments about $765 million in settlements for its role in advising businesses on how to sell more of the powerful prescription painkillers amid a national opioid crisis.
The consulting firm also agreed last year to pay health care funds and insurance companies $78 million.
The U.S. has been in an addiction and overdose crisis for decades, linked to more than 80,000 deaths in recent years. For the past decade, most of the deaths have been attributed to illicit fentanyl, which is laced into many illegal drugs. Earlier in the epidemic, prescription pills were the primary cause of death.
Some advocates say the crisis was touched off when Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin hit the market in 1996.
Three Purdue executives pleaded guilty to misbranding charges in 2007 and the company agreed to pay a fine. The company pleaded guilty to criminal charges in 2020 and agreed to $8.3 billion in penalties and forfeitures — most of which will be waived as long as it executes a settlement through bankruptcy court that is still in the works.
McKinsey documents made public over the years describe Purdue using the consulting firm to help “turbocharge” opioid sales in 2013, as blowback against the opioid crisis meant that the company’s drugs were being prescribed less.
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Mulvihill reported from Philadelphia.
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Georgia judge denies motion to overturn guilty plea from former Trump lawyer in election interference case
A Georgia judge has rejected former Trump campaign campaign lawyer Kenneth Chesebro’s push to invalidate his guilty plea in the Fulton County election interference case.
Chesebro was one of 19 defendants charged in the August 2023 indictment accusing former President Trump and others of trying to illegally overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia.
Chesebro pleaded guilty in October 2023 to a conspiracy to file false documents charge. He was sentenced under Georgia’s First Offender Act, which allows the charge to drop off his record if he successfully completes probation with no violations.
Earlier this month, Chesebro’s attorney asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to throw out the plea after he dismissed the charge Chesebro pleaded guilty. His attorneys argued the plea should be thrown out because it violates his rights to due process.
But McAfee dismissed the motion calling it, “procedurally defective in more ways than one.” He noted that Chesebro “has already submitted a plea in response to this indictment — one of guilt.”
He also said that Chesebro’s motion was not a “valid motion in arrest of judgment” — Chesebro was calling on McAfee to stop the judgment because of a defect. McAfee pointed out that under the First Offender Act, Chesebro had pleaded guilty before “an adjudication of guilt” and “without entering a judgment of guilt.” So, McAfee reasoned in the ruling, “No final judgment occurs ….Therefore, there can be no arrest of judgment here.”
The indictment accused Chesbro of proposing, in a memo to Trump allies, “a bold, controversial strategy” to overturn the election: appoint alternate electors loyal to Trump in several states.
This proposal and at least one other memo he penned were included in the Georgia indictment as overt acts “in furtherance of the conspiracy.” The seven original counts against him stemmed from the plan to submit a slate of fake electors from Georgia.
The Fulton County election interference case against the president-elect is on hold after the Georgia Court of Appeals temporarily halted the proceedings in June. The appeals court is reviewing a trial judge’s ruling that allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue prosecuting the case if special prosecutor Nathan Wade resigned. Trump and several of his co-defendants sought to remove Willis from the case after it was revealed she had a romantic relationship with Wade. Trump and others accused Willis of improperly benefiting from the relationship, an allegation she denies.
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What is Red 40 and why hasn’t the FDA banned the dye?
The Food and Drug Administration has not formally reevaluated the safety of a food dye called Red 40 in over a decade, the agency’s top food official said this month when asked about renewed worries over its potential behavioral health effects.
!The agency has launched a new effort to take a second look at some previously approved additives. But Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for human foods, warned their budget was too small and that it would take years to catch up to other countries.
“We are several decades behind Europeans and our Canadian counterparts, because they have legal mandates to reevaluate chemicals that have been authorized,” Jones told Sen. Tommy Tuberville at a hearing of the Senate’s health committee.
Tuberville also asked Jones about a different food dye called Red 3, which advocacy groups have petitioned against due to studies showing it causes cancer in animals. Jones suggested the agency could be weeks away from moving to ban it.
The decades-old controversy over synthetic food dyes has gained renewed attention on Capitol Hill, thanks in part to outspoken criticism from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the department overseeing the FDA and other health agencies.
“Senator Tuberville looks forward to working with the incoming Trump administration to Make America Healthy Again,” a spokesperson for the Alabama Republican said, referring to the slogan RFK Jr. has promoted Tuberville was “shocked to learn” the FDA had not reviewed Red 40’s safety for so long, his spokesperson said.
What is red dye 40?
FD&C Red No. 40, or Red 40 for short, is the FDA’s name to refer to a color additive first registered with the agency in the 1970s. The chemical is known as Allura Red AC in the food industry and E 129 in Europe.
It is now mostly synthesized from petroleum.
Further chemical reactions to combine the dye with aluminum create what’s known as “Red 40 Lake.” Lakes are often used for products like chewing gum where there is not enough moisture to dissolve the dye into the product, or in products like frostings to help prevent the colors from bleeding.
The FDA says it subjects production of Red 40 and some other synthetic dyes to stepped-up scrutiny, screening each batch for any contaminants from its production process.
Among the dyes that undergo this purity certification, Red 40 consistently ranks as the one with the highest quantity produced each quarter.
“People think that, ‘I know which foods have dyes and which don’t,’ but no you do not. White foods can contain dyes, foods marketed as healthy and natural can contain dyes, egg noodles can contain dyes, it’s just very hard to know and avoid them, unless you look at the label,” said environmental health consultant Lisa Lefferts.
Lefferts was closely involved with a push by the Center for Science in the Public Interest for the FDA to curb use of synthetic food dyes, as well as a new law in California that will ban Red 40 and some other dyes from school meals starting in 2028.
“If you talk to parents whose kids are sensitive to dyes, they’ll tell you how difficult it is to avoid dyes and what a huge change it was for their entire household to try to get these dyes out of their kids’ diets,” she said.
What foods and drinks have red dye 40?
An FDA study published in 2016 estimated that children are exposed to Red 40 the most from drinks, frozen desserts and cereal.
Databases published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and nonprofit Environmental Working Group tally thousands of foods with Red 40. Medications and cosmetics also have it.
They include products like Kellogg’s Froot Loops, a cereal brand that Kennedy has criticized. The foodmaker has faced calls to remove artificial colors, like it did for less fluorescent versions of Froot Loops sold in other countries like Canada. Other major cereal brands like Lucky Charms from General Mills also have Red 40.
Several frozen dessert products also rely on Red 40, including Turkey Hill’s Black Raspberry Premium Ice Cream, Breyers’ M&M’s Minis Caramel Fudge Light Ice Cream, Blue Bell’s Birthday Cake Vanilla Flavored Ice Cream Cups and Blue Bunny’s Strawberry Flavored Soft Frozen Dairy Dessert.
A number of soft drinks also use Red 40, like Gatorade Fruit Punch and Fanta Soda. Other kinds of beverages also can contain the dye, like several strawberry milk brands or various generic manufacturers of pink lemonade mixes.
Why are there calls to ban red dye 40?
Most calls to restrict Red 40 stem from research commissioned by British food authorities in 2007, which linked increases of hyperactivity in children to mixtures of synthetic dyes.
After the findings, authorities in Europe did not ban the dyes across the continent. Canada also continues to permit use of Red 40 and some other synthetic dyes.
But the United Kingdom and Europe did add warnings to labels for foods containing any of the dyes from the tested mixtures, including Red 40, saying that they “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”
A review by California’s Environmental Protection Agency in 2021 looking at dozens of studies agreed “that synthetic food dyes can cause or exacerbate neuro-behavioral problems in some children,” including Red 40.
Lefferts said it was “a no-brainer” that synthetic dyes should be pulled from the food supply, given concerns over this risk. She praised California’s review for integrating data from animal and lab studies, helping to fill in gaps from human research to prove a causal link.
“Synthetic food dyes are completely unnecessary. They can be omitted entirely or replaced with safe alternatives. Their purpose is purely cosmetic and we have all this evidence,” said Lefferts.
In a statement, the International Association of Color Manufacturers cited past FDA advisory panels, as well as findings by European and international health authorities, which have stopped short of concluding there was a causal link between Red 40 and hyperactivity.
“The FDA regulates the safety and labeling of all color additives, and it does so based on scientific evidence. As such, the FDA has determined and continues to maintain that FD&C Red No. 40 is safe,” said Sarah Codrea, the trade group’s executive director.
Why isn’t red dye 40 banned in the U.S.?
After the British study led authorities in Europe to warn about dyes like Red 40, the FDA convened a meeting of its food advisers in 2011 to review their safety.
The panel voted narrowly against a similar kind of warning. Most said they thought studies had fallen short of proving a causal link, but were split on whether the studies warranted a warning.
“Causality is a distant aspiration, but certainly these data don’t give us any confidence that we can say there’s nothing to worry about here,” committee member Dr. Francisco Xavier Castellanos said during the meeting.
A meeting of the agency’s science board later in 2019 concluded that “most children have no effects from consuming foods containing color additives, though some evidence suggested that certain children may be part of a sensitive subpopulation,” an FDA spokesperson said.
“Reassessing the safety of chemicals in food as new, relevant data become available is a priority for the FDA,” the spokesperson said.
Pulling previously approved chemicals off the market is an uphill battle through the cumbersome federal “rulemaking” process, which requires the agency to defend its answers to any question or concern raised by opponents of the measure — often companies with millions of dollars at stake.
“The agency can’t just wave a wand and say, we don’t like these anymore. There’s whole industries that have been developed using this color additive with the understanding that it’s safe,” said Dennis Keefe, the former director of the FDA’s office of food additive safety.
Keefe said adding a warning requires the agency’s lawyers to argue a “compelling public health reason,” given the high bar set by the First Amendment to compel speech on labels.
Short of Congress stepping in to mandate changes or fund the kind of pricey studies to fill the gaps from previous research, Keefe said the agency faced more pressing public health priorities for its limited food budget.
“The agency needs to defend, scientifically, in the courts, to take the action. And they would have to have good data that Red 40 in particular is causing these hyperactivities. And the data just really aren’t that tight,” said Keefe.
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Trump says Republicans will try to end daylight saving time
Washington — President-elect Donald Trump said Republicans will try to end the decades-long ritual of changing the clocks twice a year, saying the GOP will push to eliminate daylight saving time.
“The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday.
Though Trump in the past has supported making daylight saving time permanent — that is, keeping clocks shifted one hour ahead, which happens in the spring — his latest comment called for daylight saving time to be eliminated. Daylight saving time ends in the fall when clocks turn back one hour.
CBS News has reached out to his spokesperson for clarification.
Congress enacted daylight saving time in 1918 to add additional daylight hours and help conserve energy during World War I. It was implemented again during World War II. In 1973, Congress briefly made daylight saving time permanent, but reversed course just months later after public opinion soured on the experiment. The current practice of starting daylight saving time on the second Sunday in March and ending it on the first Sunday in April was enacted under President George W. Bush.
Ending the biannual ritual would require congressional approval.
The Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act in March 2022 that would have made daylight saving time permanent the next year. But the bill was never taken up in the House.
In October, Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who is Trump’s pick to lead the State Department, and Sen. Edward Markey, an Oregon Democrat, called on Congress to pass the legislation.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who Trump has tapped to lead the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, also recently commented on the clock changes, with Musk calling it “annoying” and Ramaswamy saying it’s “inefficient.”