The Daily Valet. - 10/11/23, Wednesday
✔️ You Won't Even Miss Them
Wednesday, October 11th Edition
By Cory Ohlendorf, Valet. Editor
This newsletter contains no artificial ingredients and the colors come from ... well, pixels, I guess.
Today’s Big Story
Food Fight
California becomes first U.S. state to ban Four potentially harmful chemicals in food
It was being called the “Skittles ban.” And it's now California law, after Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill—marking the first time that a state has outlawed chemicals allowed by the Food and Drug Administration. The law will prohibit the manufacture and sale of four chemicals used in as many as 12,000 food products.According to NBC News, the law is likely to have a ripple effect across the country. New York is already working on similar legislation. Environmental Working Group, a research and advocacy health organization that backed the bill, says that food and drink manufacturers won't want to make a version of their products just for one or two states, so they'll probably just tweak their ingredient lists. The newly outlawed substances—brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben and red dye 3—have already been made illegal in the European Union and some other parts of the world, but can easily be found here in the States. They're in everything from soda and candy to tubs of icing and even some bread products.While most are safe to eat, Consumer Reports and other advocacy groups say the four food chemicals included in the California Food Safety Act have been linked to a number of serious health concerns. Red dye 3, for instance, has been found to cause cancer in animals—which is why the FDA banned its use in cosmetics way back in 1990. One of the co-sponsors of the bill, Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, told Food & Wine, “It's unacceptable that the U.S. is so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to food safety.” He also mentioned that the changes food manufacturers would need to make are minor. “All of these are nonessential ingredients.” Even still, it's not as if the candies and other treats are getting pulled from shelves today. The law won't be implemented until 2027, which Newsom says will give companies enough time to “revise their recipes to avoid these harmful chemicals” in their products.
FYI:
Just Born Inc., the company that makes Peeps, has said it's already begun looking for other dye options for its squishy sweets.
Israel Pounds Sealed-Off Gaza Strip to Punish Hamas
Biden urges Israeli leader to minimize civilian casualties
The weight of this all-out war reverberated around the world Tuesday, as foreign governments tried to determine how many of their citizens were dead, missing or in need of medical help or flights home. Numerous countries also offered to play a role in mediating an end to the fighting, which already has killed at least 1,600 people. The death toll was expected to grow as Israel pummeled the Gaza Strip with airstrikes and sent Palestinians fleeing into U.N. shelters.President Biden reiterated U.S. support for Israel in remarks Tuesday, promising ammunition and other assistance to ensure “Israel does not run out of these critical assets to defend its cities and its citizens.” He said women, children and elders (including at least 14 Americans) had been killed by Hamas fighters—acts he characterized as “pure unadulterated evil.” According to the Washington Post, Hamas denounced Biden's speech, which it said carried “political legal fallacies with his blatant bias” toward Israel. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that he will leave for Israel later today to receive an update and see how the United States can help.Israel's military claimed Tuesday afternoon to have regained control inside the country after it ordered a “full siege” of Gaza, meaning no food, gas or power would be allowed into the densely populated area, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said. Human Rights Watch slammed the siege as a “call to commit a war crime.” HRW has also said the killing of civilians and the taking of hostages constitutes a violation of international law and war crimes.
Dig Deeper:
The area is one of the most densely populated places in the world. Take a closer look at the Gaza Strip’s density.
Global Economy Still ‘Limping’ Along
The IMF sees greater chance of a ‘soft landing’ for global economy
The good news? The global economy has proven surprisingly resilient to the shocks of the pandemic, high inflation and widening geopolitical rifts. The bad news?The International Monetary Fund says that it's only limping along. The IMF projects that global economic growth will slow to 2.9% in 2024, down from 3.5% last year.The deceleration comes at a time when the world has yet to fully mend from a devastating but short-lived COVID-19 recession in 2020 and now could see fallout from the Middle East conflict—particularly to oil prices. “The global economy is limping along, not sprinting,” IMF chief economist said at a news conference during the organization's annual meeting in Marrakech. So far, the world economy has displayed “remarkable resiliency,” he said, at a time when the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks worldwide have aggressively raised interest rates to combat a resurgence in inflation.The report notes that the “projections are increasingly consistent with a soft landing scenario”—where inflation could be contained without triggering a recession—especially in the United States. In fact, in contrast to European and Asian countries, the U.S. is expected to grow more strongly this year and next than the IMF estimated this past summer. They upgraded their growth forecasts for the American economy to 2.1% in 2023 and 1.5% in 2024 — an improvement of 0.3 percentage points and 0.5 percentage points respectively.
Heads UP:
The IMF's economists see a slew of risks ahead, including troubles triggered by Chinese real estate and volatile commodity prices.
Baseball’s Pitch Clock Transformed the Game
MLB’s faster pace was a big gamble ... that paid off
Fans who follow baseball closely—and probably a good many people who don't—know that Major League Baseball implemented some big changes this season: bigger bases to encourage more stealing (read: action), the intentional walk rule (which eliminates the staging of four outside lobs from pitcher to catcher), and of course, introducing the pitch clock.It's been called “the biggest modification to the game in years.” With nobody on base, pitchers have 15 seconds to wind up and throw. With a runner on, the pitcher has 20 seconds. And it's been hugely successful. It has cut down on dead time and returned the sport to its old rhythms. Games this season are about half an hour shorter than the average MLB game last year, back to the length of a game in 1985.The players are enjoying it and so are the fans. The changes drove a spike in batting averages and the most stolen bases in nearly 40 years, the Associated Press reports. Total attendance for the regular season was 70,747,365, which the league says marks “the first time MLB's paid attendance has broken the 70 million mark since 2017.” Sometimes change isn't so bad.
Meanwhile:
The race for the Stanley Cup began last night, and oddsmakers are mixed on who the favorite is as the puck gets set to drop on the 2023-24 NHL season.
In Other News
Allegations include stealing the identities and credit cards of donors.
Have you heard about ...
The Long Read
The quality of knitwear has cratered. Even expensive sweaters have lost their hefty, lush glory
Cooler temperatures bring rich textures and many layering opportunities. What this time of year no longer brings to most people, though, is amazing new sweaters. Or even good ones.”
- By Amanda Mull
Read It:
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Shopping
What We’re Buying
A classic western shirt
A Western-style denim shirt is a versatile closet staple. Levi's version is a classic and is at an excellent price right now, so stock up for the colder months.
Get It:
Classic Western shirt, $69.50 / $41.70 by Levi's
Morning Motto
It's a good day for a good day.
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