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

CARROT TO

Advocacy group Ban Trans Fats for forcing McDonald's Corporation to pay for misleading consumers. In 2002, the fast food giant announced that within five months it would stop cooking french fries in artery-clogging "bad fats." When McDonald's failed to meet its goals but did not tell the public, Ban Trans Fats sued in a California court, and in February 2005, the company settled, agreeing to donate $7 million to the American Heart Association for educational activities.

Scientists Matias Vanotti, Ariel Szogi and Patrick Hunt of the Agricultural Research Service for inventing a plant-based system that cleans up wastewater lagoons. The technology uses bacteria to remove ammonia from swine waste. Tested at a factory farm in South Carolina, the system cleansed wastewater of more than 99 percent of its ammonia, 95 percent of its phosphorous and 97 percent of odor-causing ingredients, turning the water from brown to blue and converting solid waste into plant fertilizer.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) for holding the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accountable for its secret deals with pesticide manufacturers. Through the Freedom of Information Act, the NRDC obtained documents proving that EPA negotiated backroom agreements with lobbyists for the makers of atrazine and dichlorvos, with the federal agency agreeing not to restrict their use. In February 2005, the NRDC sued in federal court, claiming that EPA violated laws governing how dangerous chemicals are approved for use and reported to the public. NRDC attorney Aaron Colangelo expects a ruling by the end of the year at the earliest.

STICK TO

KQED in San Francisco and other Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) affiliates for running advertising from Chuck E. Cheese restaurants, Chick-fil-A and McDonald's on its children's programming, in apparent violation of its own values. In the "PBS Parents Guide to Children and Media," the network encourages parents to "speak out against aggressive advertising" in venues they "consider inappropriate--especially those commercial messages you or your kids may encounter in schools, museums or other public places."

Dupont for insisting that Teflon poses "no known health effects" despite mounting scientific evidence to the contrary. In January 2005, Dupont's own chemists found 10 percent increases in the levels of LDL, the "bad" cholesterol, in workers exposed to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), the chemical used to make Teflon. "This new Dupont finding is the fourth in a string of studies conducted since 1994 pointing to excess risks for stroke and heart attack among workers exposed to the Teflon chemical," according to the Environmental Working Group.

Forbes magazine for its sneering story on Whole Foods groceries. In its February 2005 issue, Forbes calls each Whole Foods Market a "temple of wholesome eco-righteousness, a refuge from fears (valid or not) of synthetic pesticides, growth hormones and genetically modified Frankenfoods." This "glutton's paradise" plays up "the pious organic angle." Forbes concedes, however, that Whole Foods keeps customers happy. In 2004, its net income rose 32 percent, while the earnings of Safeway, A&P, Albertsons, Pathmark and Winn-Dixie fell.

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