Category: Media Coverage
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Tom Hamburger & Kim Geiger, “Beverage industry douses tax on soft drinks,” Houston Chronicle, February 8, 2010
According to this article, pressure from the beverage industry has made policymakers think twice about imposing a tax on sugary beverages, which some have viewed as a way to address both revenue deficits and obesity. The reporters discuss how Congress has handled the issue since the Obama administration indicated an interest in the tax in…
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Marni Jameson, “Fed up with fat and saying something about it,” Los Angeles Times, February 1, 2010
This article chronicles a growing movement among “normal weight folks” who have become “vocal, sometimes vehemently so, in their support for ‘sin taxes’ on junk foods and soda,” and who have “increasingly attacked, with words or actions, the overweight or obese.” Jameson quotes Douglas Metz, chief of health services for a San Diego-based company that…
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James McWilliams, “Beware the Myth of Grass-Feed Beef,” Slate, January 22, 2010
In this article, Slate contributor James McWilliams questions “the conventional wisdom among culinary tastemakers” that pasture-raised cattle does not harbor E. coli O157:H7 at the same levels as conventional livestock. “In fact,” he writes, “exploring the connection between grass-fed beef and these dangerous bacteria offers a disturbing lesson in how culinary wisdom becomes foodie dogma…
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Paul Voosen, “Can We Feed the World Without Damaging It?,” Greenwire, January 4, 2010
In the fifth and final installment of a series about genetically modified (GM) crops, energy and environmental writer Paul Voosen discusses the growing ranks of organic proponents who have begun to embrace GM crops to achieve “sustainable agricultures that can feed the world.” Voosen describes a plant scientist who manipulates rice in the lab and…
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Paul Greenberg, “A Fish Oil Story,” The New York Times, December 16, 2009
This op-ed article examines the environmental sustainability of fish oil as more and more consumers are reportedly choosing supplements “as a guilt-free way of getting their omega-3 fatty acids.” According to author Paul Greenberg, most fish oil “comes from a creature upon which the entire Atlantic coastal ecosystem relies, a bigheaded, smelly, foot-long member of the…
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Paul McCartney and Edward McMillan-Scott, “Less Meat = Less Heat,” The Parliament Magazine, November 30, 2009
Writing for the European Parliament’s news, policy and information service, Sir Paul McCartney in this article urges members of Parliament (MEPs) and other government stakeholders to promote “meat free Mondays,” a campaign calling on consumers to eat less meat in an effort to slow climate change. According to McCartney, who also brought his message to…
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“Nanoceuticals: Tiny Size, Big Potential,” nanovip.com, December 1, 2009
Noting the absence of significant regulatory oversight, this article discusses the use of nanotechnology in foods, food packaging and food supplements. While the Food and Drug Administration has decided not to regulate products according to the technology used, it will apparently issue a guidance document on nanotechnology in 2010. The article cautions that “companies need…
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Raffi Khatchadourian, “The Taste Makers,” The New Yorker, November 23, 2009
“Flavor chemicals often make up less than one percent of the ingredients in processed foods, and many flavorists regard the terms ‘natural’ and ‘artificial’ as largely meaningless—an indulgence for consumers who happen to believe that one is more likely to be toxic than another, even if the perception is not necessarily true,” writes The New…