Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Due to health concerns, European countries are adopting more stringent salt regulations and U.S. consumer groups are calling for the same. But last spring, the Salt Institute industry group "joined the U.S.
The tobacco industry won a big victory Friday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in its favor, against the U.S. Justice Department. The court's ruling means that the Justice Department cannot force the industry to disgorge $280 billion in past profits, even if it wins its fraud and racketeering case against the cigarette makers.
Little media attention has been paid to this important decision in a landmark case concerning a major public health threat. The near-invisible nature of the ongoing federal trial to determine whether Big Tobacco engaged in a conspiracy of fraud and deceit may represent another aspect of that very conspiracy - the successful efforts of tobacco industry PR to influence journalists. Internal tobacco industry documents shed light on the largely hidden phenomena of corporate tobacco lobbyists courting favor with editorial boards.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
In an unprecedented move, the U.S. chemical industry is attempting to discredit two historians who have detailed the industry's efforts to hide links between their products and cancer.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The "top three advertisers of packaged-foods to children," General Mills, Kellogg and Kraft Foods, along with the Grocery Manufacturers of America and several advertising associations, "have created a lobbying group to defend the right to advertise to kids." The new group, the Alliance for American Advertising, states, "There is not a correlation between advertising trends and recent childhood
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
In 2003, two companies in the Manchester neighborhood, Valero Refining and Lyondell-Citgo, "ranked among the top dozen in the Houston area for accidental releases of air contaminants." But "the men and women who live there rarely complain," writes the Houston Chronicle, perhaps because of the "free car washes, donated computers, elementary school essay contests and Easter egg hunts" the companies sponsor.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"Last week's release of the much-anticipated new federal dietary guidelines," developed with assistance from the Porter Novelli firm, "is just the beginning of some major PR work from both the government and the food industry," reports PR Week.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has admitted accepting £15,000 ($US28,000) from Heinz as part of a product placement deal in which he agreed to include an up-market version of baked beans on toast on the menu at his restaurant. "I should have been brighter," Oliver told The Independent. The success of Oliver’s television cooking program, The Naked Chef, has led to three books and a follow up television series.
Conservative pundit Armstrong Williams has been under fire recently following revelations that he was paid $240,000 to promote the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind" law. However, it isn't the first time that his media interests have been used as a mouthpiece for hidden interests.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
A National Academy of Sciences report says up to 20 parts per billion (ppb) of the rocket fuel chemical perchlorate in drinking water could be considered "safe." Perchlorate affects thyroid function, with children believed to be especially vulnerable. The Environmental Protection Agency previously set 1 ppb as the "safe" perchlorate level; the Defense Department suggested 200 ppb.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Canada confirmed its third case of mad cow disease, just two weeks after its last case and after the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced plans to normalize cattle and beef trade with Canada.
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