Carrot & stick: who walks the walk, who's nothing but talk

Vegetarian Times, May, 2005

CARROT TO

Ed Boks, executive director of New York City's Animal Care & Control (AC&C), for his efforts to make NYC the first metropolitan "no kill" community in the United States by 2008. A "no kill" community is one in which animals in shelters are cared for until they are adopted--not euthanized. In 2004, Boks' first year at AC&C, the agency showed a 101 percent increase in pet adoptions and a 17 percent decline in pet euthanasia. "Fewer animals died in New York City in 2004 than in any other year in New York City history," Boks tells VT.

Revlon and L'Oreal for eliminating from their American personal care products certain toxic chemicals banned in Europe but often found in cosmetics and toiletries sold in this country. The companies agreed to make the changes in response to appeals from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of health and environmental groups. "This is a victory for women's health and for consumers," says Jeanne Rizzo, executive director of the Breast Cancer Fund, a coalition member. "Regrettably, US law still permits companies to put unlimited amounts of toxic chemicals into cosmetics sold in this country."

General Mills for converting its American breakfast cereals--even Chocolate Lucky Charms--to 100 percent whole grains. The change will increase the amount of whole grains eaten by Americans by more than 1.5 billion servings per year, says Susan Crockett, PhD, RD, of General Mills' nutrition research office. It's a good first step, and one that, with luck, other giant cereal makers will emulate.

STICK TO

The US Army Carps of Engineers for issuing permits to private coal companies in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia so they can lop off the tops of mountains and dump the dirt and rocks into valleys--a cheaper way to get to the coal than conventional mining. "More than 2,000 miles of streams over hundreds of square miles are being filled up by this practice," says Joe Lovett, a lawyer with the Appalachian Center for the Economy & the Environment, which is suing to block the permits.

Ex-football star Lynn Swann, chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, for promoting the vending machine industry. On January 13, 2005--the day after the federal government issued its new calorie-conscious Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005--Swann appeared at a press conference for the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA), posing next to a junk-food-filled vending machine. At the event, NAMA announced a program to label the nutritional value of machine-dispensed snacks. But the Center for Science in the Public Interest calls the program "a public relations play to forestall more school systems from banning junk food from vending machines on school grounds."

The makers of Organo and Milorganite for marketing unethical "organic" fertilizers. While technically organic--they're derived from living organisms and contain carbon--the products consist of sewage sludge, the January 27, 2005 New Farm newsletter reports. Sewage is prohibited for use on farm fields, so using the products unwittingly could cost farmers their certification under the US Department of Agriculture's National Organic Program.