U.S. & WORLD NEWS DIGEST | Dyes-hyperactivity link investigated

Dyes-hyperactivity link investigated

WASHINGTON

Some evidence links dyes found in everyday foods to hyperactivity in certain children, scientists and academics told a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee Wednesday.

The panel is expected to weigh in today on whether studies, some of which are decades old, definitively link the dyes and the disorder. The committee may recommend that the agency further regulate food coloring, do more studies or require better labeling of the additives. They also could recommend that the FDA do nothing at all.

The FDA has said so far there is no proven relationship between food dyes and hyperactivity in most children. But the agency has agreed with many of the studies that say for “certain susceptible children,” hyperactivity and other behavioral problems may be exacerbated by food dyes and other substances in food. Studies presented Wednesday backed that assertion.

Man convicted of murder, eating flesh

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.

A Tennessee man has been convicted of killing a man in a bar and eating his flesh.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that jurors on Tuesday convicted Herbert Mike Merritt of first-degree murder. Merritt shot Anthony Laymond “Tony” Ford six times before stabbing him and carving out a piece of his chest cavity. The 49-year-old Merritt thought he was eating a piece of Ford’s heart, but instead ingested a portion of the dead man’s lung.

Merritt must serve at least 51 years in prison.

He contended he suffered a psychotic break when he killed Ford and was insane. Jurors deliberated five hours before finding him guilty.

Some NZ victims may never be ID’d

WELLINGTON, New Zealand

New Zealand’s chief coroner says that some victims of the earthquake that devastated the city of Christchurch last month may never be identified.

Neil McLean told National Radio on Thursday that some human remains found in the rubble were so badly damaged by collapsing buildings that even DNA analysis may not identity them.

Police have named 169 victims of the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that hit the southern city on Feb. 22. They say other remains are still to be identified, and the final death toll may be 180.

Students from Japan, China and other foreign countries are among the dead after the building housing their English language school collapsed in the quake.