Pen-Elayne on the Web

The Latest Skein

There are so many varieties of wool the Bush administration is attempting to pull over American citizens' eyes that it gets mighty hard to catalog. Thank goodness for the blogosphere. Ampersand (link at sidebar) has done a couple great entries on companies, Nike and Monsanto, trying to subvert the free market and hoodwink consumers by making false claims, bringing lawsuits, and generally acting scummy and getting away with it. On Amp's comment section, Evan mentions this entry from Mitch Ratcliffe discussing how the FDA has now lowered limits on food manufacturers where, "instead of having to be able to back statements with 'significant scientific agreement' (which is usually purchased with sponsored studies today), companies may make any claim and then must disclose whether anyone agrees... through the placement of a letter 'grade' (A through D, as defined by the FDA) 'evidence-based rating system'," a lovely little piece of doublespeak. He quotes the FDA Commissioner extolling the virtues of this nontruth-in-advertising scheme as beneficial and "protecting consumers by helping them get better nutrition information"! And he makes the astute observation that "The interesting phenomenon here is the way this language is couched in the same terms as the security pronouncements of the Bush Administration." Worth reading, even with the slightly fatphobic slip (some of us obviously don't agree with the statement "There's no doubt we're getting fat and that this is bad").