Hollywood film producer Robert Evans once said that “There are three sides to every story: Your side, my side, and the truth. And no one is lying.”
I would have to say that it does seem one side is lying when it comes to Agri-Corp and food issues. Or at least they are not telling the whole story. They are piecing together half truths to lead people to a conclusion that supports their business.
Take these two web sites for example:
The Center for Global Food Issues or CGFI
Milk is Milk
Both of these sites look like professional and reliable informational sites. Heck the CGFI uses their acronym all over their site making us think they are some big, important, possibly governmental organization that cares about global food issues and the politics that govern it.
This quote is taken from the CGFI web site:
The Center uses its worldwide overview of food and farming to assess policies, improve farmers’ understanding of the new globalized farm economy, and heighten awareness of the environmental impacts of various farming systems and food policies. The key to the Center’s success has been its global perspective, the only relevant viewpoint for the 21st century.
Wow that sounds nonpartisan and even handed right? One word about that: Hogwash!
Do you know who is behind both of these sites? These sites are the projects of the Hudson Institute, a think tank funded by big Agri-Corp like ConAgra, Archer Daniels, Monsanto, and Midland. The director of the CGFI is Dennis T. Avery, a proponent of chemical farming and a critic of organic farming. He actually wrote a ludicrous book called “Saving the Planet with Pesticides and Plastic”. He and his organization purposefully ignore the “whole” truth. And the partial or half truths he and his organizations are so famous for are as good as a lie in my opinion. These are front groups that claim they have the best interests of society in mind.
Don’t be fooled by front groups! If you want “real” information from reputable organizations try Organic Consumers or FoodSecurity.org. There is an awesome pdf report on their site that you can print out called What One Person Can Do To Support Community Food Security
Do you know of any front groups or disreputable web sites that we should be aware of? I would love to hear about them!
