News Coverage
Carrot & Stick
Stonyfield Farm and the Environmental Working Group
Published April 30, 2004
A carrot to:
Stonyfield Farm and the Environmental Working Group for releasing a wallet-sized "Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce," which helps consumers pick the most pesticide-free fruits and vegetables. To obtain your free copy, visit www.foodnews.org or www.stonyfield.com.
The University of California (UC) for adopting a "Green Building Policy and Clean Energy Standard" for the university system's new and renovated properties. Following the policy will enable UC to reduce its non-renewable energy consumption by more than 10 percent by 2014.
Arrowhead Mills, Bob's Red Mill, Hodgson Mill and other companies for forming the Whole Grains Council to encourage consumers to eat more whole grains and, at a Whole Grains Scientific Conference later this year, "to deepen scientific consensus on the healthfulness of whole grains."
Tod Murphy, a farmer and "short-order revolutionary" in Barre, Vermont, for establishing the Farmers Diner, a fast food restaurant that relies solely on local ingredients. This is rare, the New York Times reports, "in an era in which 10 companies supply more than hall the food and drink sold in the United States"
A STICK to:
The scholarly journals Nature and Science for failing to disclose the commercial ties of its authors to the companies, such as Monsanto, that pay for their research, or those of experts quoted in the articles. One Nature Neuroscience writer favorably reviewed a treatment for mood disorders--not pointing out that he owns a patent on the treatment his article recommends. The Center for Science in the Public Interest is calling for greater disclosure of such conflicts of interest.
National Review for its sneering article contending that organic foods "may be fresh, but they're also fresh from manure fields." One of "the dirty secrets of organic farming," National Review reveals, is that "it's big business." The article is disingenuous for two reasons. First, it implies that "big business" is bad in itself, which is surely the first time the archconservative magazine has ever criticized business--big or otherwise. Second, it implies that there should be more regulation of organic farming to keep produce free of manure--surely the first time the magazine has had anything good to say about regulation. For the record, as Phaedra Hise reported in VT's April 2004 issue, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "regulates the use of manure in organic farming. Manure cannot be used within 120 days of harvest for crops in which the edible part contacts the soil, for example, and within 90 days when the edible part does not contact the soil--restrictions that minimize the risk of contamination."