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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Physicians' Group Responds to Smear Tactics by American Meat Institute and Tobacco/Meat Industry Front Group
  • Date: Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:58:15 -0600



Physicians' Group Responds to Smear Tactics by American Meat Institute and
Tobacco/Meat Industry Front Group
Criticisms Are False and Anti-Public Health
August 7, 2008
http://www.pcrm.org/news/release080708.html

Washington—The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) responds
to news releases published recently by the “Center for Consumer Freedom”
(CCF), a group funded by the tobacco, meat, and junk food industries, and the
American Meat Institute (AMI), a meat-industry organization that promotes
consumption of processed meats and other unhealthful products.

Both organizations, which are funded by the meat industry, aim to confuse
consumers about the genuine health risks posed by processed meats. Those
risks are supported by extensive scientific research, including a recent
landmark report from two prestigious cancer organizations—the American
Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and the World Cancer Research Fund. The
AICR report concluded that when it comes to colon cancer, there is absolutely
no amount of processed meat that's safe to eat. In fact, according to
researchers, just one 50-gram serving of bacon, sausage, deli meats, or other
processed meat daily increases our risk of colorectal cancer, on average, by
21 percent.

Other cancer organizations, including the American Cancer Society and the
National Cancer Institute, have also flagged processed meats as a cancer risk
and recommend that consumers avoid processed meats or reduce their
consumption of these products.

According to exposés in major media outlets, CCF was founded by tobacco
lobbyist Rick Berman with more than $3 million from Philip Morris and
continues to receive funding from industries that market unhealthful
products. Through CCF and other front groups, Berman has fought against
stricter limits on legal blood-alcohol levels, improvements in minimum wage,
health information for consumers, and other progressive efforts that his
commercial clients view as contrary to their interests.

Over the past few years, CCF has escalated its attacks against organizations
that warn the public about the health risks associated with alcohol, meat,
and other junk food products. Berman has admitted publicly that his MO is to
“shoot the messenger” by trying to disparage the credibility of his
opponents. His employees do not attempt reasoned discussion of the scientific
issues about health. The long list of public health advocates in CCF’s line
of fire includes former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for speaking out against
drunk driving, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for tackling
food safety, the World Health Organization for addressing obesity, and
Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

As to CCF’s and AMI’s false statements about PCRM, here’s the truth. Founded
more than 20 years ago, PCRM is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization working to
promote good nutrition and higher standards in both human and animal
research. PCRM conducts clinical nutrition research and helps educate the
public about preventive medicine, especially the multitude of health benefits
possible with low-fat and vegetarian diets. PCRM also opposes unethical
research. PCRM exposed experiments in which short, healthy children were to
be injected with a genetically engineered growth hormone in an attempt to
make them taller. PCRM also exposed the practice of using massive estrogen
doses to suppress height in tall adolescent girls. In addition, PCRM
vigorously promotes alternatives to the use of animals in medical education
and research through a variety of innovative programs.

PCRM’s physicians, dietitians, and scientists are leaders in their fields.
They publish their work in peer-reviewed academic journals, present their
findings before scientific conferences, and serve as consultants on
government panels. PCRM’s president Neal Barnard, M.D. (www.NealBarnard.org),
for example, is a respected nutrition researcher whose research has been
funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in major
peer-reviewed journals. PCRM experts are also popular with lay audiences.
PCRM doctors and nutritionists are frequent guests in the national and
international media and popular writers in the lay press.

These industry organizations sometimes mistakenly charge that the American
Medical Association (AMA) disagrees with PCRM’s nutrition policies or with
vegetarian diets. This is patently untrue. PCRM did have disagreements with
the AMA in the early 1990s (PCRM favored vegetarian diets, while the AMA was
initially skeptical), but in February 2004, the AMA released a statement
saying that its previous criticisms of PCRM’s stance on vegetarianism do not
represent current AMA opinion or policy
(www.pcrm.org/news/statement040218.html). There is no longer any acrimony
between the groups. Many PCRM members are also AMA members. PCRM president,
Neal D. Barnard, M.D., is an AMA Lifetime Member.

CCF and other meat-industry organizations also allege that PCRM acts as a
“front” for other groups. This is another unfounded and defamatory claim.
While CCF is indeed an industry front, PCRM is an independent, nonprofit
organization, and has been since its founding in 1985. PCRM works with a wide
range of organizations promoting human health, scientific research, medical
education, and protection of animals in laboratories, as well as consumer
groups, hospitals, universities, corporations, and other health charities.
For more information about PCRM or an interview with one of our senior staff,
please call PCRM’s Communications Department at 202-686-2210, ext. 316.

Exposés and other background information about the Center for Consumer
Freedom:

* The San Francisco Chronicle
* The Washington Post
* USA Today
* The American Prospect
* ABC-TV, San Francisco
* Source Watch

Background information about processed meats and cancer risk:

* The American Institute for Cancer Research advises consumers to “avoid
processed meats.”

* A study conducted by American Cancer Society researchers concludes that
“[p]eople who ate the most processed meats were 50% more likely to develop
colon cancer and 20% more likely to develop rectal cancer compared to those
who ate the least.”

* The American Cancer Society encourages people to “[l]imit intake of
processed and red meats.”

* The National Cancer Institute: “Red meat and processed meat are
associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer, and there is also
suggested evidence for some other cancers, such as prostate cancer.”

* A meta-analysis in Journal of the National Cancer Institute concludes
that “Increased consumption of processed meat is associated with an increased
risk of stomach cancer.”

* USA Today article: “Put down that bacon! Report emphasizes cancer-fat
links”

Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a
nonprofit health organization that promotes preventive medicine, especially
good nutrition. PCRM also conducts clinical research studies, opposes
unethical human experimentation, and promotes alternatives to animal research.





  • [Livingontheland] Physicians' Group Responds to Smear Tactics by American Meat Institute and Tobacco/Meat Industry Front Group, Tradingpost, 10/07/2009

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