Latest Articles

Iowan's USDA appointment raises concern

July 18, 2014  •  The Des Moines Register

The appointment of Iowa's Angela Tagtow, a controversial "environmental nutritionist" and local food activist, to head the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion is causing more headaches for the agency, already facing criticism about politicization of federal nutrition advice and its consequences for public health.

By using the government's official dietary guidelines as a tool to advance her well-established environmentalist agenda, Tagtow would undermine the USDA's mandate — to provide families with science-based, impartial nutrition advice.

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You Can't Sugarcoat Distasteful Legislation

June 18, 2014  •  Forbes

Obesity is a public health time bomb in young as well as older Americans. It affects 12.4 percent of children ages 2 to 5, 17 percent of those ages 6 to 11 and 17.6 percent of those ages 12 to 19. And it is insidious. It takes a toll on the joints, is associated with several risk factors for cardiovascular disease (including high blood pressure, abnormal lipid patterns, and Type 2 diabetes), and is linked to cancers of the esophagus, breast, uterus, colon, rectum, kidney, pancreas, thyroid, and gallbladder.

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The Christie-and-Kasich Tax Show
Why are they taxing people who are trying to quit smoking?

June 16, 2014  •  National Review Online

New Jersey governor Chris Christie and Ohio governor John Kasich have asked their legislatures to enact an excise tax, or sin tax, on the sale of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). The stated goal of both governors is to equalize the tax applied to e-cigarettes with that applied to combustible-tobacco cigarettes.

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Celebrity-Studded Anti-Obesity Film Is Pure Propaganda

June 2, 2014  •  Politix

If you couldn't stomach watching "Fed Up," the Katie Couric and Laurie David ("An Inconvenient Truth") obesity film, here's the only word you need to know. "Masterpiece."

That's what former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called it.

The film lays the groundwork for the nanny state food policies that Bloomberg and others are pushing. On Thursday, May 29, the California Senate passed a bill that would mandate obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay warning labels on sugary soft drinks. The bill now moves to the state assembly, and if it passes, to Gov/ Brown to sign into law.

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Consumer Groups Fight Back Against Junk Science Tactics

May 27, 2014  •  Politix

With increasing frequency, activist groups are trying to remove safe and useful products from the market. Why? Because they think they can fool consumers, retailers and legislators into thinking that the extensively-reviewed chemicals in everyday products are unsafe.

Remember when the Consumer Product Safety Improvement act banned ATVs and sport bikes designed for youth because of lead in the engines? The rationale, if one could call it that, was that lead in the batteries presented a risk to children, since children are known to mouth their toys.

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