Corporations

"The National Academy of Sciences would investigate the effectiveness of dredging PCB-contaminated sediment under a directive written largely by General Electric Co. and attached to a House of Representatives spending bill last week," reported the Poughkeepsie Journal.

General Electric began "heavily advertising" its "new company-wide environmental initiative" called "ecomagination." Its goals are "to decrease pollution from its products and to double research and development spending on cleaner technologies." (According to Grist, one TV ad "features scantily clad models dusted with soot," as an announcer says, "Thanks to emissions-reducing technologies from GE, the power of coal is getting more beautiful every day.") The "ecomagination" launch followed a y

Two members of the animal welfare committee of Yum Brands Inc, KFC's parent company, resigned after being asked to sign a confidentiality agreement which would have required them to refer all media inquiries to KFC's corporate headquarters. Over the last three years Dr. Temple Grandin of Colorado State University and Dr. Ian Duncan of the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, have advised KFC on improving animal welfare standards. Both objected to the proposed agreement as amounting to censorship.

"A case study posted on the website of [Washington] DC-based Glover Park Group (GPG) has caused a PR snafu," reports PR Week.