Mike Adams
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| Of course, the soft drink industry would and so would practically everyone under the influence of the soft drink industry, which includes the USDA and many legislators and regulators in the federal government. So this won't be an easy task.
Allow health injury lawsuits
One more thing we should do is allow citizens who are harmed by unhealthful food and beverage products to sue for damages. In other words, if a person has lung cancer from a lifetime of smoking cigarettes, it only makes sense that they should be able to sue the tobacco companies for such damages. |
Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C. with Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D.
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 Meanwhile, as author Greg Critser observes in his book, Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World, "such promotional campaigns can be highly effective" because of the fact that "the soft drink industry spends upward of $600 million annually to promote its trash (compared with the National Cancer Institute's paltry $1 million budget for promoting fruit and vegetable consumption). |
Mike Adams
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| Of course, the soft drink industry would and so would practically everyone under the influence of the soft drink industry, which includes the USDA and many legislators and regulators in the federal government. So this won't be an easy task.
Allow health injury lawsuits
One more thing we should do is allow citizens who are harmed by unhealthful food and beverage products to sue for damages. In other words, if a person has lung cancer from a lifetime of smoking cigarettes, it only makes sense that they should be able to sue the tobacco companies for such damages. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Of course, the soft drink industry would and so would practically everyone under the influence of the soft drink industry, which includes the USDA and many legislators and regulators in the federal government. So this won't be an easy task.
Yet another excellent strategy for slashing national health care costs is to allow nutritional supplement manufacturers to tell the truth about what their supplements do for your health. This is something the FDA has disallowed for decades. |
Michele Simon
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 One of our task force members filed an ethics complaint against the president of the state senate because he accepted money from the soft drink industry. We found that a whole lot of legislators accept money from them, it doesn't matter which party or which chamber you're in," she said.
Showdown in Connecticut: Governor's Coke Connections
In June 2005, Connecticut governor Jodi Rell vetoed what would have been the nation's strongest school-based nutrition law. With one stroke of the pen, she put to rest an extremely contentious battle to rid Connecticut schools of soda and junk food. |
| As a PR maneuver, the proclamation paid off well, precipitating an immediate rash of newspaper accounts with headlines such as "Soft Drink Industry Takes High Road,"13 "Schools Get Ally in Soda Issue: Drink Makers,"14 and "U.S. Beverage Industry Praised for Helping in Childhood Obesity Battle."15 Many months later the decree continued to circulate in the press, where it was referred to as a fait accompli, even though it remained little more than words on paper.
A policy with lots of (PR) chops but no teeth
In fact, the ABA's school-based beverage policy never actually took hold. |
Kelly Harford, M.C., C.N.C.
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 Every branch of the food industry has burgeoned in the last few decades. The soft drink industry alone has grown nearly ten-fold in just over 50 years. With the exception of the natural foods segment of the food industry, they are all guilty of dishing out questionable fake-food products that are unquestionably the primary cause of the deteriorating health of the public. And with the exception of some segments of society (we self-avowed health food nuts for one), this trend of poor eating and the resultant epidemic of chronic dzs-ease shows no sign of abating. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 The public now firmly believes that foods containing saccharin are effective in weight control, and has been persuaded by the soft drink industry (through the Calorie Control Council) that these benefits outweigh any possible health risks."
"More than a dozen animal tests over the last thirty years have demonstrated the carcinogenic effects of saccharin in the bladder and other sites, particularly female reproductive organs, and in some instances at doses as low as the equivalent of one to two bottles of diet pop daily. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Greg Critser
Fat Land : How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World
"The soft drink industry alone spends upward of $600 million annually to promote its trash (compared with the National Cancer Institute's paltry $1 million budget for promoting fruit and vegetable consumption), such promotional campaigns can be highly effective"
Richard Brodie
Virus of the Mind:: The New Science of the Meme
"In psychology, the word conditioning often refers to implanting association-memes. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 The public now firmly believes that foods containing saccharin are effective in weight control, and has been persuaded by the soft drink industry (through the Calorie Control Council) that these benefits outweigh any possible health risks."
"More than a dozen animal tests over the last thirty years have demonstrated the carcinogenic effects of saccharin in the bladder and other sites, particularly female reproductive organs, and in some instances at doses as low as the equivalent of one to two bottles of diet pop daily. |
Michele Simon
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| Maureen Storey, PhD, director of CFNP and lead author of the study (and a frequent mouthpiece for the soft drink industry) countered the widely accepted scientific viewpoint that teens are drinking too much soda: "Many people have the mistaken impression that adolescent girls are drinking inordinate amounts of soft drinks," Storey said. "However, it is wrong to suggest that girls are consuming gallons of soda pop when the amount they are drinking, about one can a day, is not excessive if they are physically active."6
First of all, these statistics are deceptive. |
Kelly Harford, M.C., C.N.C.
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| However, because the soft drink industry has been so successful in making their products so widely accepted and available for daily — often multiple times a day — consumption, soda is frequently not perceived to be the liquid candy and potential health hazard that it is. This accepted practice of regular and excessive soda consumption concerns me to such a degree that I felt compelled to speak before the Denver Public School Board in the Summer of 2003 urging them not to renew their contract with Pepsi. I did so in the context of their monthly public forum as part of the established agenda. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 As Kelly Brownell, Director of the Yale University Center for Eating and Weight Disorders, explains, "This is a strong study which joins a number of others in showing that soft drink consumption is related to poor diet and obesity, yet the soft drink industry says the opposite."
Now, what's stupid about all of this? What's stupid is that we live in a country where there are "on the take" doctors and researchers who would argue against the idea that soft drinks promote obesity and diabetes. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 The USDA, for example, doesn't even have the political courage to admit that drinking soft drinks causes diabetes and obesity (thanks to the lobbying efforts of the soft drink industry). They certainly won't say that red meat causes cancer and heart disease (thanks to lobbying efforts from the beef industry), nor that refined white flour causes nutritional deficiencies and blood sugar disorders (thanks to the grain growers associations). In fact, if you look at the USDA Food Guide Pyramid, it's really just a marketing piece -- a brochure for the food lobby. |
Kelly Brownell and Katherine Battle Horgen
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 Connections between schools and the soft drink industry are not hidden. The industry boasts of these relationships with masterful public relations. For instance, the National Soft Drink Association presents data from a survey by the Trust to Reach Education Excellence that 92 percent of school principals say schools should form partnerships with local businesses and that 62 percent say their schools have entered into contracts with the soft drink companies.6 The spin comes in interpreting these high numbers. |
| Dispute Industry Claims That They Help Education
Claims by the soft drink industry that they promote education are hard to accept. The industry does not complain of losing money in schools, hence what they invest must be nicely compensated by product sales and the marketing opportunities with millions of young customers.
It is more the case that soft drink companies drain resources from the community. Children are the ones dropping quarters and dollars into machines, so the money schools earn comes from children and their parents, but. with the soft drink companies taking a substantial cut. |
| Not if you ask the soft drink industry. Responding to criticism of soft drinks in schools, the National Soft Drink Association says arguments for limiting soft drinks are "an insult to consumer intelligence," and that a link between soda and health problems is "not supported by the facts."15 Also:
[S]oft drink consumption by children is not linked to pediatric obesity, poor diet quality, or a lack of exercise.
And
Soft drink consumption is not linked to adolescent obesity.16
A twelve-ounce Coke or Pepsi has more than nine teaspoons of sugar. |
| And
The soft drink industry has a long commitment to promoting a healthy lifestyle for individuals—especially children.
And finally
The revenue generated from the sale of beverages in schools is an important part of the education funding equation in the United States.1
We agree with at least this last statement. The soft drink companies are a presence in the schools and have become a regular part of the funding equation. |
| Challenge Soft Drink Companies to Honor Their Word
The soft drink industry presents itself as having a commitment to education and health. The industry could prove this true by withdrawing its products from schools and by helping fund American education without attaching strings.70
Create Nutrition Advisory Councils in Schools
The TACOS program from the University of Minnesota (described in Chapter 6) includes establishing a Nutrition Advisory Council made up of students, parents, teachers, administrators, and food service personnel. |
| The "Enough Is Enough" campaign used radio and TV ads and letters to parents to warn young people about soft drinks.
The soft drink industry was represented by Dennis Bailey, owner of a Portland public relations firm and, conveniently, former press secretary to Gov. King. Also present at the meeting was Guy Johnson, from Johnson Nutrition Solutions in Kalamazoo, Michigan, who writes and testifies widely on behalf of the National Soft Drink Association. |
Marion Nestle
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 In what must be considered a courageous move in this direction, the USDA braved the wrath of the soft drink industry when it pictured "soda pop" at the tip of its 1999 Food Guide Pyramid for children aged 2-6.50
Anticommercialism advocates urge students to identify and resist school marketing, communities and states to require firm adherence to existing regulations, and school boards to disallow exclusivity agreements and pouring-rights contracts altogether. |
Elson M. Haas, M.D.
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 Bakery products may contain high amounts of sucrose, and the soft drink industry uses millions of pounds.
Sucrose is probably the most commonly abused substance on Earth and the number-one food additive, both before and after processing. The average American consumes more than 125 pounds per year—that's billions of pounds just in the United States. Sucrose is on the GRAS list, and studies show that it is generally safe—unless, of course, it is overused or there is individual sensitivity.
Sucrose is not safe for diabetics, and sugar use is implicated in causing adult-onset diabetes. |
Marion Nestle
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| She concluded, "Without government regulations, Coca-Cola will always win."33 soft drink industry lobbyists, however, consistently argue that no evidence links the sale of their products to poor nutrition, to any other health problems, or to low participation rates in school lunch programs. Others, however, state frankly that the preferred placement for vending machines is near the cafeteria, just where the Minnesota survey found them to be.
As a side issue, it should be noted that pouring-rights contracts have economic implications beyond school meal service. |
| A lobbyist for the soft drink industry explained to a reporter, "You have no evidence that the consumption of soft drinks is in any way harmful."34 This same lobbyist told a Senate committee, "We question whether there is a need for 'Big Brother' in the form of USDA injecting itself into . . . decisions when it comes to refreshment choices."33 School principals also opposed the bill on the grounds that it would interfere with their ability to bring in revenue for discretionary activities.
Such objections convinced Congress to retain the permissive regulations. |
William Duffy
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 The soft drink industry was given sugar rationing certificates so they could collect on all sugar sold to the armed forces. The Navy nutritionist, Dr. McCay, began studying these certificates:
"I was amazed to learn," he testified, "that the beverage contained substantial amounts of phosphoric acid. . . . At the Naval Medical Research Institute, we put human teeth in a cola beverage and found they softened and started to dissolve witbin a short period."
While the congressmen gaped, the doctor went on:
"The acidity of cola beverages ... is about the same as vinegar. |
Samuel S. Epstein, M.D.
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 The public now firmly believes that foods containing saccharin are effective in weight control, and has been persuaded by the soft drink industry (through the Calorie Control Council) that these benefits outweigh any possible health risks.
The Calorie Control Council has also carefully cultivated the popular but mistaken belief that animal tests using large doses of a weak carcinogen are absurd, and has in this way undermined the public's trust in the use of standard animal tests for carcinogenesis, and their predictive value to humans. |
Carol Simontacchi
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 Even so, the soft drink industry is using ever more aggressive marketing techniques to reach a larger and larger constituency. Coca-Cola alone spent $277 million in advertising in 1997; Pepsi spent close to $200 million. Pepsi hopes to take an even larger share of the forty-seven billion beverage servings sold around the world. As the Nutrition Action Healthletter laments, "We are drowning in liquid candy."
You aren't off the hook if you eat the typical American breakfast of a bowl of dry cereal and a cup of coffee. |
H.J. Roberts, M.D.
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 He also admitted on direct questioning that this Institute is funded by an aspartame manufacturer and the soft drink industry. Gregory Gordon (1988) reported that Dr. Dews had received payments of $31,000 from ILSI during 1984.
Misleading Information and Reassurance
Casual reassurance and misleading information about aspartame-containing products—whether from the FDA, the manufacturer or physicians—pose serious obstacles for consumers and their advocates. This might be regarded as another aspect of the umbrella phenomenon called "canceling reality. |
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