Market Farming

["Ericka & Rich Dana" <doodles AT netins.net>]

Dennis Avery has been used as a front-man for the pesticide industry for a
long time.  Tom Paine ran an add on Dursban today in the N.Y. Times.  Among
the background information on their website, an item reminded me of Avery's
curiously placed OP-ED the day after the March 1993 PBS "Frontline" show,
"In Our Children's Food."  Click the below link to review.

 This brings back memories because I was taped for 6 straight hours by the
producer of the show and was heavily involved in the reporting on this show
and the NAS report.  Recall the PBS-Moyers show ran about 6 weeks before
the release of the 1993 NAS report in June, 1993.  It was a time of great
concern among the pesticide industry, and they obviously had enlisted Avery
to help spin the press.  I was told by an industry insider that the
chemical industry raised/spent over $3 million in four months in their PR
campaign and response to the PBS special and the NAS report.  That's is
about twice what both the PBS special and the NAS project cost, and was no
doubt more than the government spent in 1993 on focused research on
pesticide impacts on children's health.

http://www.tompaine.com/preview/features/2000/02/04/1.html


Charles Benbrook                          CU FQPA site www.ecologic-ipm.com
Benbrook Consulting Services    Ag BioTech InfoNet www.biotech-info.net
5085 Upper Pack River Road      IPM site www.pmac.net
Sandpoint, Idaho 83864
208-263-5236 (Voice)                   208-263-7342 (Fax)