Health Highlights: May 21, 2015

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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Climate Change a National Security Threat: Obama

Climate change is a threat to national security, President Barack Obama says.

On Wednesday, he told cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut that people who deny climate change are putting at risk the nation and its military, and that failure to take action on climate change would be “dereliction of duty,” the Associated Press reported.

Climate change and rising sea levels would hamper the readiness of U.S. forces and could increase social tensions and political instability worldwide, the president warned.

“Denying (climate change) or refusing to deal with it undermines our national security,” Obama said, the AP reported.

“Make no mistake, it will impact how our military defends our country,” he added. “We need to act and we need to act now.”

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ConAgra to Pay $11 Million to Settle Charges Over Salmonella-Tainted Peanut Butter

ConAgra Foods will pay $11.2 million to settle a federal criminal charge over a salmonella outbreak more than eight years ago.

The 2007 salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 625 people in 47 states was linked to a plant in Sylvester, Georgia where ConAgra made Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter, the Associated Press reported.

Federal prosecutors charged the company with one count of shipping adulterated food. No company executives were charged. Under the settlement reached in U.S. District Court in Georgia on Wednesday, ConAgra agreed to pay $8 million in criminal fines and $3.2 million in forfeitures to the federal government.

The case “should sound the alarm” to food producers that authorities are watching, said U.S. Attorney Michael Moore of Georgia’s middle district, who handled the prosecution against ConAgra, the AP reported.

“A lot of people got very sick because of the conduct in this case and we are committed to doing all we can to make sure that does not happen again,” Moore said.

ConAgra didn’t know the peanut butter was contaminated with salmonella before it was shipped from the plant, according to Al Bolles, the company’s chief operations officer, the AP reported.

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