Corporations

With the passage of the California Safe Cosmetics Act of 2005, cosmetics companies will have to tell California state health officials about the ingredients in their products that might cause cancer. It would seem that the American Cancer Society would be a natural supporter of this kind of legislation, but grassroots cancer-prevention organizers found this not to be the case. "The bill’s proponents said that one of the new law’s biggest obstacles was the silence of the ACS, the most powerful cancer-research and cancer-lobbying organization in the world.

"Industrial salmon farming corporations have learned an important lesson ... about what to do with their tarnished images of ecological and social injustice," writes Rebecca Clausen. "Simply pour money into a public relations campaign and overwhelm dissent." She points to half-page ads that the industry group Salmon of the Americas (SOTA) ran last month in major U.S. newspapers.

After "a major government-commissioned study found advertising contributes to childhood obesity" and two bills before Congress "proposed regulation of children's advertising," Kraft, "the nation's biggest food company," knew it "risked being depicted as a corporate villain." So, in January, the company "announced it would quit advertising certain products to kids under 12." While some criticized Kraft's continued use of cartoons and questioned whether the company should be able to decide "what's healthy and what isn't," policymakers praised Kraft.