Is a government agency in cahoots with the meat and dairy industries? Are corporate- financed propagandists churning out bogus assurances? Yes, warns our Science Editor-at-Large.

by Debbie Epstein
for HUSTLER Magazine – September 2009

Profits are the unifying force behind our country’s hazardous food. The famous food pyramid, devised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is one example of an outrageous conflict of interest. The pyramid affects school lunch programs, guidelines used by nutritionists and dietitians and recommendations for consumers. Yet even this all-American symbol of a healthy diet is rigged.

Selling the Public on an Unhealthy Diet: The USDA’s food pyramid has six groups: grains, vegetables, fruits, oils, milk and meat/beans. Says one Harvard nutritionist, “Milk should not even have its own category, since there are many other sources of calcium.”

Nonetheless, the agency’s Food Pyramid Committee emphasizes a diet loaded with meat and dairy products. The reason? “The organizations in the government that set policy on the food pyramid and school lunches are loaded with people from the dairy and meat industry,” says Robert Cohen, founder of the Dairy Education Board. For example, Eileen Kennedy sat on the Board of Directors at Dannon Yogurt and the USDA Food Pyramid Committee when Cohen testified before the government panel. Nearly every other member of the committee had a similar résumé.

Diet for a Small Planet: The pyramid people clearly endorse an animal-based, highprotein diet because of the powerful livestock lobby even though the ecologic and health benefits of a lower-protein diet are wellproven. Studies show that vegetarians are healthier and have lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, dementia and many cancers. Adds Cohen: “We’ve blamed cholesterol; we’ve blamed polyunsaturated fats. The fact is it’s the protein, not the fat, that causes arterial damage and heart disease.”

When it comes to boosting profits, the food pyramid spells a golden opportunity for the mega-ag r i c u l t u r a l corporations. “School lunch programs are simply a disposal scheme for excess food by large agriculture,” says food guru Michael Pollan. He urges getting the Department of Agriculture out of the school lunch business altogether.”We could offer kids healthy food and revive local agriculture by giving local suppliers $1 per child to supply school lunches,” he suggests. It’s not as difficult as it sounds. “Remember, a $ 2 0 – b i l l i o n organic food industry developed in the U.S. with no help at all from the government.”

In addition to the health benefits of lowerprotein diets, they also make excellent ecologic sense. With starvation a fact of life in so many parts of the world, better food policies are critical. One pound of steak has about 600 calories; one pound of whole oats has about 21,000 calories. Also, it takes 11 times more calories of fossil fuels to produce meat versus that used to produce grain. Meat production requires more energy but yields fewer calories.
In addition, according to the USDA, livestock takes up 80% of all our farmland and consumes 90% of all soy crops, 80% of corn and 70% of grain. Livestock also drenches our environment in a sea of animal waste and waste products, generating huge amounts of methane, nitrous oxide and other greenhouse gases. Finally, transporting food to livestock also requires vast amounts of resources. Once the oil runs out and food supplies can no longer be hauled far distances, Pollan says ruefully, food will only be available locally.

BS.com: The foods we consume every day are loaded with additives and ingredients that have never even been sufficiently tested. This includes MSG, genetically modified foods and trans fatty acids. In its quest to keep us in the dark about food quality, the mega-corps have inevitably enlisted the Internet: For every toxic product on the market, there’s a Web site with an official-sounding name assuring you that it’s safe.

You don’t have to dig deep to find these BS.coms. The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH.org) is an industry-funded group that exists solely to discredit unfavorable studies. Products it defended in 2008 include phthalates, found in children’s toys and completely banned in California and elsewhere; bisphenol-A in baby bottles, linked to heart disease and diabetes by the Journal of the American Medical Association ; pharmaceuticals in drinking water (see the June ‘09 HUSTLER); and lethal dioxins in meat. The organization offers no data to debunk these “scams.”

The frontman for ACSH is Dr. Gilbert Ross, who in 1995 was sentenced to a 46-month prison term for defrauding New York State of $8 million in a Medicaid scheme. Although Gilbert continues to use the title of “doctor,” he is no longer allowed to practice medicine. After his release, Ross signed on with ACSH, where he remains today. According to a Mother Jones article written by Bill Hogan in 2005, Ross enthusiastically attacks “noncorporate- sponsored work as junk science of questionable motives.”

Rent-a-scam: ACSH is not unique. The Aspartame Information Service (Aspartame.info) will inform you that the artificial sweetener has been proven safe. The fine print at the bottom states that the site belongs to Ajinomoto, the world’s leading supplier of aspartame ingredients.

The Council for Biotechnology Information’s Web site (WhyBiotech.com) provides reams of soothing generalities on the safety and promise of genetically engineered food and products. If you search the site, you find it belongs to the biotech companies. Other similar Web sites include the Agribusiness Freedom Foundation (AgribusinessFreedomFoundation. org), Alliance for Better Food (BetterFoods.org), American Beverage Association (AmeriBev.org), Canned Food Alliance (Mealtime.org), Food Security Network (FoodSecurityNetwork.org) and the Center for Consumer Freedom (ConsumerFreedom.com), to name a few.

The Center for Consumer Freedom claims, among other things, that there is no mercury in fish. Run by Rick Berman, the group “exposes” vegetarians, animal rights activists and Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. Berman is the winner of a lifetime achievement Falsies award from SourceWatch.org, an invaluable site that identifies corporate and industry fronts. Berman also runs AnimalScam.com, ObesityMyths.com, PETAkillsAnimals.com and CSPIscam.com. The Center for Science in the Public Interest is a favorite target of Berman’s front groups because CSPI is a successful consumer advocacy group.

According to SourceWatch, the Center for Consumer Freedom does far more than just launch Web sites for its clients. For the right price it also lobbies, sends out press releases and advertises for corporate causes. When damning studies appear, Berman slips his rebuttals into mainstream newspapers. For instance, when the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that drinking soda increases the risk of diabetes, Berman could be found in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution demonizing the study’s scientists.

CCF’s first client was Philip Morris. Under its original name of Guest Choice Network, the group launched a smokers’ rights blitz for PM. According to SourceWatch, CCF has no membership or salaried employees, yet receives revenues in excess of $3.5 million. More than 40% of the group’s expenditures reportedly go into Rick Berman’s pockets.

So before you check on drug-laced drinking water, mercury-tainted fish and food additives that can kill you, put your source through the BS detector. Besides SourceWatch.com (which offers more than 41,000 antipropaganda articles), check with FactCheck.org and MediaMatters.org for independent information. If few or no details on membership or sponsorship are posted on a site, there’s probably a reason for the shyness. 

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You may purchase the September 2009 Issue of HUSTLER Magazine (with free shipping) from HustlerMagazine.com.

Debbie Epstein is an award-winning healthcare and science author who lives in Ringwood, New Jersey, with husband David, Wilbur the cat and Joe the Yorkie.

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