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Some California winemakers accused of letting arsenic into products

By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – About 30 makers of low-priced California wines including popular brands Charles Shaw and Sutter Home allow unacceptable levels of arsenic in their products, private attorneys said in a proposed class action filed in Los Angeles on Thursday. The legal action represents a challenge to a segment of the industry that produces wines that consumers can buy for less than $10 a bottle, or in the case of Charles Shaw the so-called Two-Buck Chuck product that retailer Trader Joe’s has popularized at $2. The attorneys who brought the lawsuit said the majority of wineries in the state’s $23 billion wine industry, the nation’s largest, produce a safe product. “There is more regulation in the caramel corn industry in the United States than in the wine industry, as surprising as that is,” attorney Brian Kabateck told a news conference.

Obamacare rescue ruled out by some states, others weigh options

By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Five Republican state governors say they will not rescue a crucial part of Obamacare if it is struck down by the Supreme Court, underlining the prospect for a chaotic aftermath to a ruling that could force millions of Americans to pay much more for coverage or lose their health insurance. The Supreme Court is due to hear opening arguments in the case known as King v. Burwell on March 4, marking the second major challenge to President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) after the justices ruled in 2012 against a claim that it was unconstitutional. In response to Reuters' queries, spokespeople for the Republican governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina and Wisconsin said the states were not willing to create a local exchange to keep subsidies flowing. Republicans argue that Obamacare is unacceptable government intervention that raises costs for consumers and businesses.

California has three new measles cases, Arizona says outbreak winding down

By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – California public health officials have confirmed three more cases of measles in an outbreak that began in late December, bringing to 113 the total number of people believed to have been infected in the state. Health officials in Arizona, where seven cases of measles have been documented, said the outbreak would likely be considered over in that state if no further infections were reported over the weekend. Across the United States, more than 150 people have been diagnosed with measles, many of them linked to an outbreak that authorities believe began when an infected person from out of the country visited Disneyland in late December. The California Department of Public Health said 39 of the 113 people who contracted measles in the state were believed to have been exposed while visiting Disneyland.

Doctors group urges measles shots as Disneyland outbreak spreads

By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The leading U.S. pediatrician group on Friday urged parents, schools and communities to vaccinate children against measles in the face of an outbreak that began at Disneyland in California in December and has spread to more than 80 people in seven states and Mexico. The American Academy of Pediatrics said all children should get the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella between 12 and 15 months of age and again between 4 and 6 years old. “A family vacation to an amusement park – or a trip to the grocery store, a football game or school – should not result in children becoming sickened by an almost 100 percent preventable disease,” Errol Alden, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. The California Department of Public Health has reported 68 confirmed measles cases among state residents since December, most linked to an initial exposure at Disneyland or its adjacent Disney California Adventure Park.

California apple plant linked to deadly listeria outbreak: FDA

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Strains of listeria bacteria found inside a California apple processing plant are believed to be the same ones associated with an outbreak that killed seven people and sickened dozens of others last year, federal officials said. Two strains of Listeria monocytogenes were confirmed in the Bidart Bros. apple processing plant near Bakersfield, California, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said. “Those same strains were also found in Bidart Bros. apples collected from a retailer,” the FDA said in a statement on Friday. …