Category: Media Coverage
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Elizabeth Kolbert, “XXXL: Why Are We So Fat?,” The New Yorker, July 20, 2009
“Whether anything will be done – or even can be done – to stem the global tide of obesity is, at this point, an open question,” writes New Yorker columnist Elizabeth Kolbert in her review of several “weight-gain books” that examine the causes and course of this recent phenomenon. The theories under consideration include those…
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Nicholas D. Kristof, “Chemicals and Our Health,” The New York Times, July 16, 2009
Just last month, the Endocrine Society – composed of thousands of doctors in this field – issued a powerful warning that endocrine disruptors including phthalates are ‘a significant concern to public health,’” writes New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in this op-ed article examining the chemicals’ purported role in a range of health problems such…
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Douglas MacMillan, “Alcohol, Then Tobacco, Now Fast Food?,” BusinessWeek, June 30, 2009
“Industry critics compare the intent of fast-food companies to that of cigarette makers, who first came under attack for marketing to children decades ago,” writes BusinessWeek’s Douglas MacMillan in this article detailing the efforts of consumer advocacy groups to outlaw food advertising to children. According to MacMillan, “public criticism and mountains of data linking obesity, diabetes and…
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Washington Post Report Questions Integrity of Organic Labeling Practices
“Relaxation of the federal standards, and an explosion of consumer demand, have helped push the organics market into a $23 billion-a-year business, the fastest segment of the food industry,” claim Washington Post writers Kimberly Kindy and Lyndsey Layton in a July 3, 2009, investigative report alleging that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its…
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Nicholas D. Kristof, “Lettuce From the Garden, With Worms,” The New York Times, June 21, 2009
“Over the years… I’ve become nostalgic for an occasional bug in my salad, for an apple that feels as if it were designed by God rather than by a committee,” writes New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in this op-ed article promoting Food, Inc., “a terrific new documentary” that purportedly offers “a powerful and largely persuasive…
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Maywa Montenegro and Nikki Greenwood, “In Seeds We Trust,” Seed Magazine, June 9, 2009
This article examines the global food-security goals of Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust and “intellectual father” of the Svalbard Seed Vault, which opened in February 2008 as a bomb-proof concrete bunker deep inside the sandstone of a remote Norwegian mountain north of the Arctic Circle. The vault, the authors write, was…
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New Butter Flavoring Target of Andrew Schneider Investigation
“Diacetyl-linked jury verdicts of tens of millions of dollars for injured flavoring workers and diagnoses of lung damage in at least three popcorn-loving consumers forced popcorn packers and other food processors to stop using the chemical butter-flavoring two years ago,” writes investigative journalist Andrew Schneider in a May 28, 2009, article examining claims that possible…
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Nina Shen Rastogi, “May Cause Earth Decay: Is Regular Sugar Greener Than High-Fructose Corn Syrup?,” Slate, May 19, 2009
This article examines the claim that the production of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has a greater environmental impact than similar processes used to manufacture sucrose from sugar cane or sugar beets. According to Slate columnist Nina Shen Rastogi, “sugar cane seems to be the most efficient producer of sugar and potentially the lightest user of…