savage, steven

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=
</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> Iowa-based consultant for Context Network

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Savage and Associates

Previous   

    Cirrus partners, The Context Network, Mycogen

Education   

    <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">University of California, Davis</span>

Websites   

    Blog

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Experience

    Principal
    Savage and Associates
    September 1996 – Present (19 years 10 months)

    I am a private consultant to the ag-technology industry, grower groups, and investors. I also blog and speak about agricultural issues
    Partner
    Cirrus partners
    1996 – 2011 (15 years)
    Consultant
    The Context Network
    1996 – 2005 (9 years)
    Bioherbicide Manager
    Mycogen
    1990 – 1996 (6 years)

    Supervised lab studies and external field studies. Filed patents. Interfaced with the fermentation and formulation groups
    Agricultural products
    DuPont
    1983 – 1989 (6 years)

</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">(VIDEO) Banned by Food Babe: The Lady Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks</font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div>Posted on September 23, 2015</div><div>“Thanks for calling out the troll. I’ll make sure to get him”</div><div>
</div><div>–Vani Hari, when asked why she’s selling products containing the dyes Yellow 5 and Blue 1</div><div>
</div><div> </div><div>
</div><div>I, Mark Alsip, am the troll referred to in Vani Hari’s quote (above). We had an interesting encounter yesterday on Periscope.  After being encouraged to ask questions, I very politely and respectfully queried Hari on three products she’s selling. I wanted to know why certain of her wares contain nearly a dozen different chemicals she’s specifically called out as “toxic”.</div><div>
</div><div>If you’re already aware of Vani’s tactics, you probably won’t be surprised I was banned instantly.  However, for those in the Food Babe Army (or the media) who don’t believe that Hari censors all dissenting comment and immediately bans those who point out her gaffes, presented below are video, screen captures, links to Food Babe’s product labels (with ingredient lists), and more, to back up the claims I made on Periscope.</div><div>
</div><div>Food Babe, who encourages followers to “read the ingredients” and mercilessly hound companies such as Subway and Kellogg’s via social media and petitions, does not apply the same standards to herself. She says “the sky is falling” and then tries to sell you a piece of the same sky. And, as demonstrated here, she’s apparently terrified of an honest discussion of the products she offers via her web site.</div><div>
</div><div> </div><div>
</div><div>Three Products, Three Points</div><div>I politely called out Vani on three points, listed below and illustrated in the screen captures that follow. Follow the hyperlinks for product labels and information on the items sold by Food Babe:</div><div>
</div><div>In an article where she falsely links aluminum-based deodorants to Alzheimer’s, Hari sells a deodorant that contains aluminum. In fact, she says it’s her favorite deodorant.</div><div>Food Babe slams dyes such as Yellow 5 and Blue 1, but sells a full line of products containing these dyes (along with at least six other chemicals she calls out by name as toxic). One of her favorites: Tarte Lip Stains (she owns all the colors), which are made with the very dyes over which she fear mongers.</div><div>Writing that erucic acid (found in canola oil used in salad dressings) is poisonous, Vani, in the same article, sells two salad dressings that contain erucic acid.</div><div>Three Screen Captures</div><div>
</div><div>image</div><div>In an article warning us to avoid aluminum-based deodorants, Vani sells Naturally Fresh deodorant, which contains aluminum. Food Babe falsely links aluminum to Alzheimer’s. (click/enlarge)</div><div>
</div><div>image</div><div>Vani’s Tarte Lip Stains contain Yellow #5 and Blue #1, which she claims to be toxic in numerous articles. Her product also contains 3 “endocrine disruptors” she’s warned about, saccharine (she links to cancer), and aluminum. (click/enlarge)</div><div>
</div><div>image</div><div>Vani disparages salad dressings containing canola oil because of “poisonous” erucic acid from rapeseed. However, she sells two salad dressings that contain erucic acid. (click/enlarge)</div><div>
</div><div> </div><div>
</div><div>The Video</div><div>Here’s a glimpse at what happens when you ask Food Babe honest questions (running time 1:07):</div><div>Update: On September 24 Vani Hari tried to silence my criticism by filing a harassing copyright infringement claim on YouTube. She’s apparently unfamiliar with fair use law. While I remind her, you can launch the video in a new window by clicking the image below. I apologize for the inconvenience.</div><div>
</div><div>Temporary Video Location (if YouTube non-functional)</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>YouTube Video (in litigation)</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Image Credits</div><div>All Periscope video and screen captures are used in strict compliance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of United States copyright law (commonly known as “fair use law”). This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.</div><div>
</div><div>References</div><div>Food Babe Slams Kraft Over Three Dyes But Sells Same</div><div>https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/food-babe-slams-kraft-over-three-dyes-but-sells-same/</div><div>
</div><div>Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Naturally Fresh Deodorant</div><div>https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-naturally-fresh-deodorant/</div><div>
</div><div>Food Babe Selling Erucic Acid (Salad Dressing Article)</div><div>https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/08/28/food-babe-selling-erucic-acid-gasp/</div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">bs</font></div><div><p ng-bind-html="contrib_block.display_author.description" class="ng-binding" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 22.4px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">I’ve been involved with agricultural technologies for more than 30 years. After a B.S. in biology at Stanford I pursued an M.S. and Ph.D in Plant Pathology (study of the diseases of plants) at the University of California, Davis, working on grape diseases. Since then I’ve worked in academics (Colorado State), an international technology company (DuPont), and for a small, start-up that specialized in biological controls (Mycogen). Since 1996 I’ve been consulting for large and small companies, for venture capital groups, and for multi-stakeholder organizations studying sustainable. I’ve worked on dozens of crops from strawberries to potatoes to wheat. I’ve worked on topics ranging from biotechnology, to bio-fuels, to pesticide residues assessments, to technologies that reduce food waste. Since 2009 I’ve also been blogging and speaking with the goal of sharing true stories about the people and innovations characteristic of modern food and agriculture.</font></p><p class="short legal-disclaimer ng-scope" ng-if="contrib_block.writtenByForbesStaff !== true && contrib_block.authors[0].authorType !== 'ad'" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1em; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The author is a Forbes con</font></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4em; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Fear has always been an effective tool for exercising influence in society, but the internet age has enabled fear-based marketing to move to a whole new level.  This is particularly true when it comes to generating fears about food as a means to sell alternatives, supplements and various magical offerings (woo).  One of the most successful and egregious examples of this phenomenon is Vani Hari, the self proclaimed “Food Babe.”  There is a new book coming out on Thursday the 29<sup style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">th </sup> titled “The Fear Babe.” The book executes a thorough take-down of Hari’s claims, methods and business model.  The content is well described by the sub-title: “Shattering Vani Hari’s Glass House.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4em; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a title="Wikipedia entry on Hari" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vani_Hari" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 56, 145);">Vani Hari</a> has a degree in computer science and once worked for a large consulting firm.  She has no background in nutrition, toxicology, medicine, or agronomy, but has no qualms about pontificating on almost any issue or about giving advice for how people should protect themselves from what she paints as an sinister, unregulated and callous industry.  She created a website and enlisted her own “Food Babe Army” to supposedly protect society from the evils of the food industry.  She has been successful at times in bullying major food companies to make changes in their offerings, <a title="One particularly blunt assessment of Hari's assertions" href="http://gawker.com/the-food-babe-blogger-is-full-of-shit-1694902226" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 56, 145);">not based on real issues</a> but on the angst she has been able to generate.  Of course along the way she promotes a range of diet supplements and other magical offerings to net a <a title="An article about how Hari makes money" href="http://adage.com/article/news/activist-capitalist-food-babe-makes-money/294032/" target="self" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 56, 145);">nice profit</a>.  Hari is not alone in this “create fear – sell newsletters and magical stuff” sector, which also includes <a title="Wikipedia on Mercola" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Mercola" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 56, 145);">Dr. Mercola</a>,<a title="A good article on Mike Adams, Health Ranger" href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/collideascape/2015/03/10/shining-light-mike-adams-aka-health-ranger/#.VjFWba6rTVo" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 56, 145);">The Health Ranger</a>, <a title="An article about when Oz was called before congress to answer for woo he sold" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/17/dr-oz-congress_n_5504209.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 56, 145);">Dr. Oz</a> and others.</font></p><div id="article-0-inread" article-ad-inbody="inread" class="inread ng-isolate-scope inread-active" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="attachment_261" style="line-height: 21px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><p class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4em; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">A publicly available picture of Vani Hari</font></p></div><p style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">One of the biggest challenges for the authors of the “The Fear Babe” is how to address the staggering list of topics about which Ms. Hari has generated disinformation: vaccines, microwaves, yoga mat components, GMOs, food colorings, sugar, Stevia, Silly Putty, pesticides, preservatives….. to name only a few.  The book is over 400 pages long because that is what it took – not only to address the technical issues, but also to document the emotive strategies and logical fallacies that Hari so deftly employs.  The book also includes examples of the push-back that these authors and others have given as the flood of Food Babe distortions emerged (Twitter and comment threads, blog postings…).</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The primary authors of “Fear Babe” are active players in the realm of science communication and myth busting.  They are not in any way employees or “shills” of the system, just people who are outraged by seeing people manipulated.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">  You can feel that in their writing.  Marc Draco was a veteran member of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BannedByFoodBabeOpen/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 56, 145);">Banned by Food Babe </a>and started the site, “Food Babe in Black and White” which compiled memes about Hari prior to organizing this book effort.  Mark Alsip writes the blog <a href="http://www.badscidebunked.wordpress.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 56, 145);">Bad Science Debunked</a>.  </span></font></p><p style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="line-height: 29.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/">https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/</a></span></font></p><p style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</span></font></p><p style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Kavin Senapathy is a co-founder of “March Against Myths” who <a href="http://www.science20.com/profile/kavin_senapathy" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 56, 145);">blogs on multiple sites</a> and her own loyal following known as the “Senapath Crew.” The Preface to the book is written by </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">veteran science communicator Kevin Folta</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> of the University of Florida.  Several other experts contribute throughout the book as well.</span></font></p><p style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="line-height: 29.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/login.php?next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fgroups%2FBannedByFoodBabeOpen%2F">https://www.facebook.com/login.php?next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fgroups%2FBannedByFoodBabeOpen%2F</a></span></font></p><p style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</span></font></p><p style="line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-margin-before: 0px; -webkit-margin-after: 0px; -webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">This book will probably never be read by those that have bought-in to the Food Babe’s conspiratorial view of the food system. But it can serve as a useful reference for those who have the opportunity to defuse some of the specific fears they see worrying their friends and families. It is well indexed and referenced, and so it can serve as a valuable resource for anyone who plays a role of rational skeptic in the internet age.</font></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/</font></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" align="center"><font size="4"><span style="line-height: 27.6px;">Shots Fired!</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" align="center"><font size="4"><span style="line-height: 27.6px;">Our Response to Food Babe's Response to Her Critics</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" align="center"><font size="4"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" align="center"><font size="4"><span class="GramE">by</span> the admins of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/BannedByFoodBabeOpen/"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">Banned By Food Babe</span></a></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" align="center"><font size="4">December 13, 2014</font></p><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#introduction" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Introduction</a></font></div><font size="4" /><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4"><font size="4"><font size="4"><font size="4"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#laugh" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Then They Laugh At You</a></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#personal" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Personal Attacks?</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#dissent" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Banning Dissent</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#expertise" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Expertise and Expert Testimony</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#fear" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Fear-mongering and #organicmilknext</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#pseudoscience" style="line-height: 18.4px;">She Blinded Me with Pseudoscience</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#fda" style="line-height: 18.4px;">FDA All Day</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#isinglass" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Isinglass Houses</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#orthorexia" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Orthorexia</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#shillin" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Shillin' like a Villain</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#quackmail" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Quackmail</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#fuq" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Frequently Unanswered Questions</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#vaccines" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Vaccinations</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#microwaves" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Microwaves/Hitler Crystals</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/#conclusion" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Conclusion</a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><a name="introduction" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px; font-weight: normal;"><a name="introduction" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="introduction" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="introduction" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="introduction" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="introduction" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Introduction<o:p xmlns:o="o" /></a></h1><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px;"><span class="SpellE" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Vani</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span class="SpellE" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Hari</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, aka "The Food Babe," published on December 7, 2014 on her blog and Facebook page a lengthy rebuttal to address nearly all of the accusations levied against her.  This article, entitled </span><a href="http://foodbabe.com/2014/12/06/food-babe-critics/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><i><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">Food Babe Scam: My Responses to the Attacks on Me and My Movement</span></i></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, features rebuttals to several criticisms made against her in our Facebook group, as well as other groups, pages and blogs that make these attacks on the Food Babe. Also included were screenshots from our forum specifically, so we feel a response is necessary and have worked together to come up with one.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">  Other responses have already been issued by several of our allies in this fight, including <a href="http://www.scibabe.com/miseducation-food-babe/"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">Science Babe</span></a>, <a href="http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/vani-hari-a-k-a-the-food-babe-finally-responds-to-critics/"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">Science Based Medicine</span></a>, and the <a href="http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2014/12/10/evolution-of-food-babe-from-misguided-consumer-advocate-to-crude-bully/"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">Genetic Literacy Project</span></a> and we recommend reading those as well.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Addressing such a verbose diatribe is no simple undertaking.  Almost every sentence of this nearly 5<span class="GramE">,000 word</span> essay is challengeable for multiple reasons.  In an effort to consolidate the accusations made against her, Ms.<span class="SpellE">Hari</span> listed several claims and refuted each with a split response that says, "No, that's not what I said, but I think what you said I said isn't wrong either."  In other words, she doubles down on each of her claims right after denying them, e.g. she says that microwaves don't have Hitler crystals but also says they're creepy.  However, she presents her rebuttals in no discernible order, repeats and contradicts herself several times, and goes into tangents or non-sequiturs so often that reading the document is a difficult and dizzying task.  In order to give you a rebuttal that makes sense as a written document (a concern Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> did not seem to trouble herself with), we must first re-order Food Babe’s post and present it as such. First we’ll address the article’s introduction - why she claims to have written a “rebuttal”. Then we’ll address the parts of her article that feature screenshots from our Facebook group (Banned by Food Babe) specifically, and finally we'll respond to the rest of her defenses as to the criticisms she so often endures.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><a name="laugh" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px;"><a name="laugh" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="laugh" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="laugh" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="laugh" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="laugh" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Then They Laugh At You<font style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p xmlns:o="o" /></font></a></h1><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We all thought it hilarious that the first words of her article are misquoted as having been said by Mahatma Gandhi, when Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> makes her money as an "investigator." However it's also starkly appropriate, as she has no qualms about cherry-picking quotes out of context to help make her points.  Not only is this quote misattributed (it is actually thought to be adapted from a <a href="http://defend-ed.org/first-they-ignore-you-then-they-laugh-at-you-then-they-co-opt-you/"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">Union trade worker's speech</span></a> in the early 1900s), <span class="GramE">but</span> the message couldn't be less relevant to Food Babe LLC.  Part of her sales pitch is that she wants to come across as an ally in the war against "Big Food"… bravely questioning behemoth corporations who do not care what they’re selling to you.  Just like Norma Rae, she is battling her oppressors in the sole interest of exposing how these food corporations do not care what’s in the food they produce. As she mentions several times in this article and elsewhere, people (such as us) are quite obviously paid by the companies she’s trying to expose.  We take umbrage with this notion, as all of us could use even a fraction of her yearly revenue to help pay our bills.  We would love to be able to take exotic vacations and also find it insulting that she has the gall to brag about these exorbitantly priced excursions while claiming to fight for people’s well being.  She continuously insists that this is just her way of making a living, and that she has to be able to put food on the table as well, which we believe could not be further from the truth.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">She brings this up again when she tries to refute those calling her a snake oil salesman, so we’ll address it again below.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But first, the second line of the article: "We are close to winning."  This is probably in reference to her book coming out in February and the rumored TV contract in the year following.  It's great that she led with this, because several parts of this sentence are representative of everything she stands for.  "We" indicates that this is a team effort.  She relies on the support - and payment - of her fans to continue to fight for her “truth”.  "Close to winning<span class="GramE">"</span> means that the pages like ours and others have finished laughing at her, have started to fight her, and will soon be shown why she is right and we are wrong.  As usual, there is a nugget of truth in what she's saying, but it is buried so deep in her fog of manipulation that there is no point in bringing it up.  We wish we could ignore her, we haven't stopped laughing at her, and we will continue to fight her, but she will continue to win as long as she gets subscribers at $17.99/month.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But with this statement Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> brings up an interesting point and touches on one of the only claims she has made that isn’t refuted in her article: the claim that her detractors are paid by “Big Food” or similar companies. She says, "...some powerful corporate executives and some ‘independent’ voices they help to finance, disagree with our work," implying that we play the role of the financed voices.  The irony here is delicious: Food Babe actually does pay people to operate her website, scan her comments section and Facebook page for detractors, and pre-emptively ban members of opposing pages or groups. There are, at this very moment, people receiving signed paychecks from Food Babe LLC in exchange for maintaining the illusion of legitimacy and the integrity of her false - but completely unchallenged - opinions. None of the admins of this group have ever received a single cent from any of the group's contributors, nor have we received any money from the companies we have been accused of representing. We have not been paid at all for our claims against Food Babe.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><a name="personal" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px; font-weight: normal;"><a name="personal" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="personal" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="personal" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="personal" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="personal" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Personal Attacks?<o:p xmlns:o="o" /></a></h1><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The centerpiece and probably most impactful portion of her article is the section she devotes to sharing screenshots of inflammatory posts from our forum and others in an effort to elicit sympathy for herself as an activist. She repeats this self-aggrandizing description several times throughout the article and hammers home the notion that she’s just one of a team fighting for the rights of Americans.  She then posts a screenshot from a discussion on our page… one where several people were hurling <i>ad hominem</i> insults at Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> and were called out for being sexist by one of our own group members.  We had been a group for a couple of weeks at this point with only a few hundred members, and this exact post prompted us to formulate rules for the group - yet it is this post out of tens of thousands that Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> has chosen to display in her article.  That very night we got together online and created a detailed and descriptive list of how we feel the page should be run. We defined which types of comments are off limits and our goals for the group.  Since that night we have made every effort to curb these types of statements and have deleted anything that could be construed as a personal attack on either Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span>, our members, or any of the Food Babe Army members. We have warned and even removed people from the group for these attacks, and it is <span class="GramE">well-known</span> that we focus solely on the Food Babe’s ideas. Attacks on Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari’s</span> race, sex, religion, or other personal attributes are strictly intolerable.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In writing the long pinned post that still sits atop our page, we were able to more concisely define why we created the group: we wanted to have a place where the questions left unanswered by Food Babe would have a chance to be tackled calmly and completely. We also wanted to provide a forum in which people could engage in spirited discussion on the issues Food Babe tackles in her posts, without the possibility of our users being banned or silenced.  In this manner we have answered dozens - possibly hundreds - of questions from former “Food Babe Army” members. While we do enjoy ridiculing Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> for some of her particularly puzzling beliefs on nutrition and food safety, the main focus of our page has always been to educate and provide sources which allow people to realize that the food they’re eating isn’t actually poison.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Because Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> was so thorough in addressing most of the criticisms of her various advices, we felt it only appropriate to address each one in turn ourselves.  Not one of the points of her article constitutes a full denial, and with unerring regularity she quickly makes an attempt to obfuscate the facts and lead the reader away from the actual questions.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><a name="dissent" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px; font-weight: normal;"><a name="dissent" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="dissent" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="dissent" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="dissent" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="dissent" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Banning Dissent<o:p xmlns:o="o" /></a></h1><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Even though this is the last accusation she addresses in her article, we think it should be addressed first:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">What they say: I ban anyone that disagrees with me on social media</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">
</span></div><font style="line-height: 18.4px;" /><div style="text-align: left;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span class="GramE">The</span> truth: I give my moderators full authority to delete comments and ban insulting, harassing, or <span class="SpellE">cyberbullying</span> commenters.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Food Babe says two things in this statement, and neither is a denial of the accusation.  Her moderators can ban whomever they wish (including anyone who disagrees with her), and she bans obviously offensive posters (so do we). The truth is that Food Babe and her employees have banned thousands of people for making polite, innocuous statements challenging the veracity of her claims. Many members of Banned By Food Babe have been banned for such egregious offenses as asking for textbook recommendations or contradicting her claim that microwaves form “Hitler crystals” in water.  Many have been banned not for posting at all, but for being a member of our Facebook group.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Here are some examples of some completely harmless questions posed of Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span>. In each case, the question was not answered, the post was removed, and the user was banned:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><img src="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/index_files/image004.gif" alt="Description: amber.jpg" v:shapes="image09.jpg" border="0" height="406" width="405" xmlns:v="v" /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><img src="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/index_files/image006.gif" alt="Description: SSB.jpg" v:shapes="image03.jpg" border="0" height="205" width="307" xmlns:v="v" /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In each of these cases, the poster was asking a simple question, and was banned without response. It is true that the personal attacks on Food Babe’s wall have been in very poor taste, and that many of our members have used sarcasm when pointing out inconsistencies in her arguments - perhaps this is what <span class="SpellE">Ms</span> <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> is referring to when she mentions “<span class="SpellE">cyberbullying</span>”. However, a vast majority of deleted comments and “<span class="SpellE">bannable</span>offenses” are polite contradictions or disagreements with the unsupported claims made in her blog posts, Tweets, or Facebook missives. We feel these posts are deleted and users are banned because she would lose subscribers - and money - if her "investigations" were deemed to be fraudulent or even questionable.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In our group, we encourage people to ask scientific questions, and we ask all members to engage in fruitful and honest debate.  We ask for sources to claims and assess their content, rather than the background or motives of the person posting.  We don't have any ulterior motive for posting what we do or running our page.  Again, we are not paid by anyone in any specific industry, and the size of our membership will never translate to dollars in our pockets.  We do what we do because we abhor the spread of and profit from misinformation. We dislike seeing someone making millions from outright lies, boasting about it by taking vacations to exotic ports of call while trying to maintain the image of a valiant crusader for truth and justice.  There are actual activists working on legitimate problems in this country and the world. It is an insult to these people for Food Babe to count herself among their numbers.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Our accusation is sound: Food Babe deletes comments and bans people from her Facebook page simply because they disagree with her. Her rebuttal is erroneous and factually inaccurate. We have supported this claim with evidence from numerous banned users - anyone wishing to verify this claim independently can post a polite dissenting comment to her Facebook page and watch as their posting permissions are revoked and their comment deleted within minutes.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As if this weren’t bad enough, Food Babe continues the hypocrisy by allowing posts like these to remain on her social media pages:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><img src="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/index_files/image008.gif" alt="Description: cancer.jpg" v:shapes="image08.jpg" border="0" height="80" width="470" xmlns:v="v" /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><img src="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/index_files/image010.gif" alt="Description: SJB.jpg" v:shapes="image11.jpg" border="0" height="93" width="383" xmlns:v="v" /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><img src="http://www.bannedbyfoodbabe.com/index_files/image012.gif" alt="Description: phan.jpg" v:shapes="image10.jpg" border="0" height="174" width="470" xmlns:v="v" /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">While we will post these inflammatory screenshots in this essay to illustrate that we do, in fact, have these types of trolls frequent our page as well, they aren’t indicative of any plight we might have in defending our page and views from ad hominem attacks.  The Internet is full of people like this, and both Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari’s</span> followers and our own have to deal with them.  The difference is that we will not be using these posters as evidence of our persecution the way Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> does.  It is also interesting to us that Food Babe doesn’t differentiate between these horrible posters and others who have provided legitimate criticism to her outlandish claims.  It seems as though people who ask for clarification on why eating Subway will cause one to develop cancer are no better than those who would wish death upon Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span>.  Nor does she differentiate between abusive trolls and others who are simply misguided within her own ranks.  We feel she is fine with taking anyone's money.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We do not allow any personal attacks whatsoever. Food Babe’s claims fall flat on <span class="GramE">their</span> own merit - we do not need to go after her appearance, her race, or her gender to discredit what she has to say. As described above, this is referred to in our pinned post at the top of our page and is part of our group’s mission.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p><a name="expertise" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px; font-weight: normal;"><a name="expertise" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="expertise" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="expertise" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="expertise" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="expertise" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Expertise and Expert Testimony</a></h1><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">What they say: I’m not an expert because I am not a scientist or doctor or nutritionist. </span></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">
</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;">Truth: There is an old saying, “these issues are too important to leave up to the experts.”</font></span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">We don't know who said this "old saying," but when it comes to nutrition and food safety, we at BBFB will stick with the experts. <span class="SpellE">Vani</span> <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> has built her empire on this idea: she vaguely denounces the entire concept of systematic observation and empirical evidence, sowing doubt in the reader’s mind and claiming that she just wants people to “think for themselves”. She attempts to support her “truth” with citations from the handful of charlatans who have agreed with her and claims that the companies she’s targeted have changed their ingredients solely because they were swayed by her “discovery” of the harmful effects. She concludes her explanation by saying that we - her detractors - are all dependent on the food industry staying exactly the way it is. Once again, Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari’s</span> argument is predicated upon her detractors being “paid shills” - which we’ve shown, time and again, that none of us are. She creates the illusion of “empowering” everyday people to make better choices about their diet, which is nowhere close to the truth.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">The truth of the matter is that Food Babe is not “empowering” anyone. In this paragraph, Food Babe compares herself to Upton Sinclair, who exposed unsafe and unsanitary conditions in the US meatpacking industry in his 1906 novel</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">The Jungle</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">. The supreme irony of this comparison is that</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">The Jungle </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">is not about government oversight or the meatpacking industry - it’s about the despair of the common man and the exploitation of the working class in the early 20th century.</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">The Jungle </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">is about poor people who feel they have run out of options - immigrants living in industrialized cities who work for a fraction of what their output is actually worth. By pushing her expensive, useless diet on people, Food Babe is doing the opposite of “empowerment”. Food Babe’s paranoia over “toxins” in food and her constant sales pitch for her expensive affiliate products has undoubtedly led many of her readers to adopt a lifestyle they cannot afford, hoping for benefits they will never receive. We sincerely doubt that Food Babe has ever stood in solidarity with the working class a day in her life. If she had, maybe she would understand that the problem isn’t “toxins” or fast food, but a lack of access, money, and preparation time. Maybe she would understand that the best thing she can do for people who aren’t eating healthy isn’t to convince them to triple their grocery bill or pay $17.99 a month for her “eating guides”.</span></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">
</span></div><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">Upton Sinclair’s novel created a new body for government oversight entirely by accident. It’s true that he didn’t have a food science degree - but it’s also true that he didn’t set out to become a crusader for food sanitation. By comparing herself to Sinclair and claiming that her detractors “don’t want the truth coming out”, Food Babe once again displays an astounding ignorance of the reality of the situation. We are not employed by Monsanto, Syngenta, Kraft, Subway, Sysco or anyone else to think what we think and type what we type. We do what we do because we believe Food Babe’s misinformation is harmful and we are offended by her profiteering.</span></div></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">We are not experts and our food advice is generally limited to debunking Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari's</span> spurious claims about dangers in the food you and we eat every day.  We believe that the issues are exactly important enough to leave up to the experts. We do have a number of scientists among our members, and they often aid in the aforementioned debunking.  It should be noted that Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> only seems to care about expertise when it furthers her crusade. She and her “army” <a href="http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2014/08/06/food-babe-baffled-by-neil-degrasse-tysons-support-of-biotech/"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">dismissed the opinions</span></a> of renowned astrophysicist Neil <span class="SpellE">deGrasse</span> Tyson on genetically modified organisms because he is not an expert in genetics, yet the Food Babe’s own lack of relevant credentials is somehow irrelevant and her advice totally permissible.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><font style="font-style: normal;"><a name="fear" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px;"><a name="fear" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-style: normal;" /></a><a name="fear" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="fear" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fear-mongering and #<span class="SpellE">organicmilknext</span></a></h1><span style="font-style: normal;"><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">What They Say: Our findings are based on pseudoscience or we hate science and we are “fear mongering”. </span></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">
</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;">The Truth: If our findings didn’t have any concerns, do not have a solid basis in fact, why are companies willing to drop these controversial chemicals?</font></span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">Companies are willing to drop these chemicals for the same reason they are willing to do anything: profit. When there is significant backlash over the</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span class="SpellE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">azodicarbonamide</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">in Subway’s bread, it benefits Subway to remove the ingredient - whether it is actually harmful or not. Food Babe knows this, and a portion of her revenue comes from the “consulting fees” she receives for solving a problem she created. She unleashes her “army” on a company to harangue them over a specific ingredient,</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span class="GramE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">then</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">offers to “improve” their product by telling her army to back off after they’ve removed it - simple, effective, and insidious. But here, she places the burden of wrongdoing on the companies themselves. “If these ingredients are so harmless, why would the company remove them?”</span></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">
</span></div><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">Shortly after her campaign against Starbucks for the inclusion of 4-methylimidazole in their Pumpkin Spice Latte, Food Babe and some of her collaborators tried to get a new </span><span class="SpellE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">hashtag</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> trending: #</span><span class="SpellE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">organicmilknext</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">. The thrust behind this movement was simple: you’ve already catered to our demand that you remove caramel coloring, now we want you to start serving organic “non-GMO” milk.  Aside from being patently absurd - how can milk be a genetically modified organism? - </span><span class="GramE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">this</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> claim was remarkably unsuccessful. Starbucks had already dealt with a 90% increase in coffee prices since the beginning of 2014 and was not about to spend more money on a product offering that a minority of consumers wanted. The petition pushed by Food Babe gathered about 150,000 signatures at its high point - a number that seems large until you realize that Starbucks sold approximately four billion (4,000,000,000) cups of coffee in </span><a href="http://www.quora.com/Starbucks-Coffee-How-many-cups-of-coffee-does-Starbucks-sell-each-year" style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">2010</span></a><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">, with revenues going nowhere but up since.</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></div><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">To make things more embarrassing, Starbucks had already tried offering organic milk at a number of locations. The milk was more expensive than “conventional” milk and was roundly rejected by consumers. Since nobody bought it, Starbucks stopped offering it. We really have to wonder: where were Food Babe’s fanatics when this Starbucks program started? Do they even buy Starbucks products? Whatever the case may be, the failure of the #</span><span class="SpellE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">organicmilknext</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> campaign highlights the real reason why Food Babe’s campaigns succeed: they line up with the profit motives of the target corporation. She knows this and uses it to her advantage.</span></div></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><font style="font-style: normal;"><a name="pseudoscience" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px;"><a name="pseudoscience" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-style: normal;" /></a><a name="pseudoscience" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="pseudoscience" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">She Blinded Me with Pseudoscience</a></h1><span style="font-style: normal;"><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">What they say: The phrase “If you can’t pronounce it, you shouldn’t eat it” is not scientific.</span></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">
</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;">The truth: I didn’t come up with this clever phrase, but think it’s great advice.</font></span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">The solution to this problem is simple: if you can’t pronounce it, learn to pronounce it. Learn what</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span class="SpellE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">ergocalciferol</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">is and how it interacts with the cells in your body. Learn why</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span class="SpellE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">butylated</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span class="SpellE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">hydroxytoluene</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">is a valued preservative for prepared foods incorporating fats. Learn how much brominated vegetable oil is</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">really </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">in one can of Mountain Dew, how much bromide you might be exposed to as a result, and what the possible effects of bromine are at that dose. The answers may surprise you!</span></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">
</span></div><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">In our group, we facilitate this knowledge as much as possible. Many of our members are students, scientists, nutritionists, or medical professionals. One of our most popular threads in the past month revolved around biochemistry textbook recommendations. Our users are serious about furthering their scientific knowledge, and for a good reason: this helps them understand the world around them and why certain chemicals do what they do.</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></div><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">But instead of helping people learn how to pronounce the names of these chemicals and learn how they work, Food Babe immediately jumps on the “this is poison” bandwagon. This is a dangerous, paranoid way to approach food safety. Consider the food additive BHT - </span><span class="SpellE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">butylated</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span class="SpellE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">hydroxytoluene</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">. Clinical studies have never demonstrated toxic effects from BHT use at the levels currently prescribed. Do you know what has been clinically shown to be toxic and dangerous to humans? Rancid fats - the things that form when you leave butter sitting out on a hot day. That’s what BHT in your food is designed to prevent. In fact, BHT is useful as a preservative because it’s a potent anti-oxidant - the very same type of chemical Food Babe and her ilk are always pushing in the form of “</span><span class="SpellE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">superfoods</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">” or supplements. BHT is even sold as a dietary supplement in some places because of its antioxidant properties!</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></div><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">The real truth is that a “chemical” is not bad, and that all matter is made of chemicals. It is up to us - the consumers - to learn what chemicals are and how they operate in our bodies. Someone like Food Babe - who has a profit motive to scare you away from chemicals and sell you her “organic” </span><span class="GramE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">alternatives</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> instead - isn’t going to give you the straight dope on how a chemical works. We’ve recognized a need for proper consumer education and are filling it as best we can by answering the questions in our group. We only wish that Food Babe would do the same.</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></div><font style="font-style: normal;"><a name="fda" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px;"><a name="fda" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-style: normal;" /></a><a name="fda" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="fda" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">FDA All Day</a></h1><span style="font-style: normal;"><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">What They Say: The dose makes the poison and food additives are safe.</span></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">
</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;">The Truth: That food industry orthodoxy is outdated and dangerous.</font></span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">“The dose makes the poison” is a phrase attributable to Paracelsus, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">the founder of Toxicology</span></a>.   While Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> may be alluding to the fact that Paracelsus lived some 500+ years ago, the principles discovered by Paracelsus remain true today.  Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> goes on to describe how we don’t know how many “chemicals” are in the food we’re eating (not true at all, there are strict <a href="http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/RetailFoodProtection/FoodCode/"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">standards</span></a> set by the FDA in this regard, which is in fact the reason for the agency) and disease rates are skyrocketing (not true either for <a href="http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@epidemiologysurveilance/documents/document/acspc-037126.pdf"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">males</span></a> or <a href="http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@research/documents/document/acspc-041779.pdf"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">females</span></a>).  She reverts to her tried and true fear mongering when asking questions “<span class="GramE">Who</span> should we trust? <span class="GramE">the</span> FDA? The scientists?” The answer again is yes, Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span>, that’s who we should trust.  We find it comical that she would try to disparage the efforts of those actually trying to keep our food safe and promote her own unsubstantiated efforts instead.  This is a recurring theme with Food Babe: “don’t trust scientists but you can trust me because I’m fighting for you!”  Well, she’s almost telling the truth, but it’s certainly not you she’s fighting for… it’s your dollars.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">By casting aspersions on the FDA and scientists, we believe she is ignoring the overwhelming <a href="http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2013/10/08/with-2000-global-studies-confirming-safety-gm-foods-among-most-analyzed-subject-in-science/"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">scientific evidence</span></a> compiled over several decades regarding GMOs.  This is quite clearly an effort to create the idea of an alternative, natural, organic product to help cleanse their body (and soul) from the toxins, chemicals, and toxic chemicals accumulated over our whole lives.  Once again, absurd, but believable enough to enough people that Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari's</span> campaign against the system can only be deemed successful in its goal (which, again, isn't to have people educate themselves about healthier eating and living.)</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><font style="font-style: normal;"><a name="isinglass" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px; font-weight: normal;"><a name="isinglass" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-style: normal;" /></a><a name="isinglass" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="isinglass" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Isinglass Houses</a></h1><span style="font-style: normal;"><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">What they say: I exaggerated claims about the ingredients in beer – from Propylene Glycol and it’s derivatives to Isinglass (fish swim bladders).</span></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">
</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;">The truth: The beer campaign was all about transparency and we have the right to know what we are drinking.</font></span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">We always have a chuckle when Food Babe complains about food additives with total disregard of the alcohol she frequently posts about consuming.  Her crusade against the Anheuser-Busch was also quite funny... as isinglass, a clarifying agent that <a href="http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/scdocs/doc/536.pdf"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">doesn't affect</span></a> taste or caloric content, certainly isn't going to make the beer less healthy to drink.  But, as with her Subway and Chick-<span class="SpellE">fil</span>-a campaigns, she convinced their marketing department that AB could sell more beer if they had the Food Babe Army with them instead of against them. So, Food Babe LLC wins another victory, even though the information she "exposed" was laughably irrelevant.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">Food Babe wants people to know what they're drinking, since eating healthy and drinking healthy (?) are supposedly important to her, and should be important to us.  Well yes, of course that's true, we have a right to know what we're drinking, and we're drinking alcohol, one of the most dangerous things you could possibly put in your body.  But since Food Babe is just a crusader for truth, and can testify to how much better her investigations have made her feel, people should listen to her about what is really being put in beer.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">One of Food Babe's main hooks is that she herself eats this food (and drinks this vodka) and look, she's a very attractive woman.  Her subscribers see her and want to look like her, so they'll listen to what she says about how she eats in hopes they might lose some weight, or be happier, or live better.  It's amusing that she takes no regard for the expense of product when outlining her menus... most are rife with organic ingredients or other exotic foods.  It would be fine with us if she were another diet fad guru.  But she is so much more... she continuously implies that it's crazy that so many people eat like they do, and that something has to be done to stem the tide of disease around the world caused by the food we eat every day.  This alarmist rhetoric is part of why we have a page: to reassure people that they're not eating poison every day.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><font style="font-style: normal;"><a name="orthorexia" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px; font-weight: normal;"><a name="orthorexia" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-style: normal;" /></a><a name="orthorexia" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="orthorexia" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="SpellE">Orthorexia</span></a></h1><span style="font-style: normal;"><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">What They Say: I have an eating disorder. </span></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">
</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;">The Truth: Deciding to opt out of the “Standard American Diet” is not an eating disorder.</font></span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">This topic, <span class="SpellE">orthorexia</span>, is not something we allow to be used against Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> in our group.  It comes too close to the "no personal attacks" line and we feel that Food Babe says enough questionable and challengeable statements that we don't need to resort to ad <span class="SpellE">hominems</span>. However, it is interesting that she once again does not deny the claim made against her - she merely attempts to redefine the question.  Her explanation of the "Standard American Diet" is predictably absurd, laced with conspiracy theories involving seed companies and the FDA, and cleverly worded to steer the reader toward purchasing more organic food, as it has aided in her feeling "amazing and confident." </font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">We wouldn't claim that Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> has a psychological condition limiting her to eating certain foods for two reasons: (1) as said before, we have no place to make a judgment on her personal life.  This page is about what she says and the ability to challenge it and (2) Food Babe LLC is a business out to make a profit and will use flowery descriptions of how uplifting their product is to sell more subscriptions. It's a simple marketing tool to instill an ephemeral value in her product.  So her motives for saying what she's saying are financial, not spiritual.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><font style="font-style: normal;"><a name="shillin" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px; font-weight: normal;"><a name="shillin" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-style: normal;" /></a><a name="shillin" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="shillin" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="SpellE">Shillin</span>’ like a Villain</a></h1><span style="font-style: normal;"><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">What They Say: I’m in it only for the money or I’m a <span class="SpellE">snakeoil</span> salesman</span></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">
</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;">The Truth: I left a secure career without any guarantee or safety net that this new role as a full time food activist would ever support me.</font></span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">Like clockwork, this is not a denial.  At least in this one she makes a blatant and very noticeable lie by claiming she didn't have a safety net when her husband, then Vice President at Wachovia Corporate Investment Bank, brought in a salary most likely more than enough to help shelter, clothe and feed Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> alone while she started building her empire. </font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">But more curious is her response below the heading that seems to misinterpret the meaning of what a snake oil salesman is.  She tells (AGAIN) a story of a hard working activist who puts in tireless hours making phone calls and writing petitions, without ever actually saying that the claims she's making about food are bogus, as though a snake oil salesman couldn't possibly work hard selling her phony product.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">We don't know exactly how much money Food Babe LLC nets, but given that her page has 800,000 plus followers, if only 8,000 people (1% of her Facebook followers) subscribe to her monthly magazine at $17.99, that's $1.7M/year! That figure doesn't include the money she gets from her organic endorsements, or her “consulting fees” from companies like Subway and Chick-</span><span class="SpellE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">fil</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">-A.</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">We feel she probably has a lot more than 8,000 subscribers.</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">One of our admins recently tried to ask just how many monthly subscribers Food Babe had, but his question was deleted and he was banned from her new Facebook group…</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span class="GramE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">“Food Babe Army”.</span></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><font style="font-style: normal;"><a name="quackmail" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px; font-weight: normal;"><a name="quackmail" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-style: normal;" /></a><a name="quackmail" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="quackmail" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="SpellE">Quackmail</span></a></h1><span style="font-style: normal;"><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">What They Say: I blackmail companies, extorting food companies for money after investigations.</span></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">
</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;">The Truth:  For companies that truly want to gauge consumer sentiment, and position their brands in a more healthy “space” in the supermarket I’m available as a consultant — but that work has never impacted the information that’s available on foodbabe.com</font></span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">It's interesting that she would say that her work has never impacted the information available on foodbabe.com when she posts essays on foodbabe.com about how Subway is including dangerous chemicals in their bread or how Starbucks has no pumpkin in their pumpkin spiced latte.  And, on cue, this is not a denial.  She admits the scope of the information she is willing to provide as a consultant, and this admission is where she once again tries to sell the "better living" pitch to companies that think they can sell more food or drinks by agreeing with her than by disagreeing with her.  And because she is able to bring in this extra revenue (by easing back on her smear campaigns), she gets a cut of the profit. </font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">But in her explanation she paints herself as an anti-corporate activist, fighting for the rights of the common person by keeping these large corporations in check through the support of her huge army.  This is quite similar to the rest of Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari's</span> half-truths in that she is using her army to leverage these companies, but she fails to mention that she is primarily using them to earn her consulting fee (in addition to the subscriptions).</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><font style="font-style: normal;"><a name="fuq" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px; font-weight: normal;"><a name="fuq" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-style: normal;" /></a><a name="fuq" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="fuq" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Frequently Unanswered Questions</a></h1><span style="font-style: normal;"><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">What They Say: When I give speeches I won’t stick around for Q&A</span></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">
</span></div><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;">The Truth: I will gladly answer questions on stage, but follow the guidelines of the event coordinators decisions.</font></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">
</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">We aren’t sure which person Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> is referring to here, but we’ve heard a few reports of her not answering questions, most notably Dr. Kevin <span class="SpellE">Folta</span> and the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/#!/FoodHunk"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">Food Hunk</span></a>.  Here is an excerpt of an <a href="http://kfolta.blogspot.com/2014/10/food-babe-visits-my-university.html"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">article</span></a> Dr. <span class="SpellE">Folta</span> issued immediately following the event in question, outlining that there was never in fact a Q&A period following the speech to which he is referring:</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">While microphones stood ready in the audience to answer questions, there was no public Q&A period where a scientist that knows the research could publicly challenge her false assertions. The audience filed out of the building, and apparently she may have stuck around to meet with individuals. However, I wanted her answers <span class="GramE">in a way students</span> could hear, helping them to critically assess the arguments of scholars vs. self-appointed celebrities. Questions like:</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">●      Why am I blocked for posting hard science facts to your websites?</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">●      How do you feel about transgenic solutions to citrus greening?</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">●      What is your evidence for higher pesticide rates?</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">... <span class="GramE">and</span> a dozen others.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">Dr. <span class="SpellE">Folta</span> also wrote a <a href="http://kfolta.blogspot.com/2014/11/a-letter-to-support-my-claims-against.html"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">response</span></a> to the article in which Food Babe posed this question to him, and here is his further clarification:</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">So there you have it. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> did not hold a public Q&A as she claimed. She also took the liberty of making a false association between a public scientist and university professor to a company that does not exist, purely to discredit him.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">Here are two clear falsehoods that <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> stands by. Why anyone would take any advice from her, ever, is beyond me.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">And here is a <a href="http://www.biofortified.org/2014/10/the-day-i-unwittingly-became-a-pro-science-activist/"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">retelling</span></a> of when Food Hunk tried to ask Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> a question:</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">What I’m going to recount next may resemble conspiracy, but I’m almost certain that Food Babe knew exactly who I was when she entered the auditorium. Before going on stage, she stared right at me (I was only about 15 feet away), and summoned her handlers and event coordinator. They all whispered covertly for half a minute while occasionally glancing over at me. For a moment I thought I might be asked to leave. Keep in mind that I am still wearing my sweatshirt over my GMO shirt, and at this point I hadn’t spoken to anyone at the event about my intentions of being there. But I had been all over Facebook posting about it in public groups. I also know that she, or more likely someone that works for her, ironically pre-banned members of a Facebook group called Banned by Food Babe.  You see, she has a reputation for immediately silencing anyone who dares ask actual science questions on her page, and so a group was created for people to discuss their <span class="SpellE">bannings</span>. Many members were surprised to find out that <span class="GramE">they had been preemptively silenced just by joining this public group</span>. Thus, it makes logical sense to conclude that she must also know about the various Food Babe parody pages, and my face is plastered all over mine. In fact, after hearing her speak and noticing just how concerned she was about herself and her image, I’ve concluded that there is no way that she could NOT know about a semi-popular Facebook page that is making fun of her. My suspicions were further confirmed when I later saw her walking alone through another area of the expo. She spotted me and quickly looked away. She then met up with her handlers and they pulled the ‘don’t look now, but that’s the guy’ routine, which of course means all four of them simultaneously turned around and checked me out as they scampered away. At the risk of sounding like a stalker, I only wanted to ask her a question.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">This is an unusual break from Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> actually denying an accusation levied against her, although she does replace the denial with an outright lie.  We don’t know why Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> is avoiding Q&A sessions: is she trying to avoid exposure by her opposition?  Is she trying to avoid letting her followers find out about the scientific evidence contradicting her claims? Maybe it’s a little of both.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">One thing is for sure: her unwavering modus operandi throughout real life appearances as well as online activity seems to be that it’s her way or the highway, and she will seize on any chance to have her voice be the only one her followers hear.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><font style="font-style: normal;"><a name="vaccines" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px; font-weight: normal;"><a name="vaccines" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-style: normal;" /></a><a name="vaccines" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="vaccines" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Vaccinations</a></h1><span style="font-style: normal;"><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">What They Say: I’m anti-vaccine.</span></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">
</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;">The Truth: I’m not against all vaccinations.</font></span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">No, she's not against the vaccinations she already has.  She's not against the vaccinations for diseases like measles, mumps and polio because she knows that drinking organic juice couldn't be passed off as possibly being able to fight those deadly diseases.  However, it's easy for her to cast wild aspersions on the CDC and “Big <span class="SpellE">Pharma</span>” for peddling the flu vaccine while pushing a line of organic juices that would not actually do anything against the flu. Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> ignores the fact that the flu kills tens of thousands of Americans every year, and that the flu shot saves lives. She first says that people are using an "old card" against her, even though she only wrote the article three years ago.  Well, here is how far her investigative journalism skills have come in those three years:</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">She links an opinion piece in the USA Today saying that only 34% of adults get the flu shot... an article that repeatedly emphasizes how disappointed scholars, doctors and scientists are with this unfortunately low number.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">The disparity is striking given that influenza vaccines are available more widely than ever — including at supermarkets, drugstores and many workplaces — and there are options to accommodate just about everyone's preferences, from needle-free shots to high-dose versions, said William</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span class="SpellE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Schaffner</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">, a professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span class="GramE" style="line-height: 18.4px;">a flu</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">shot for everyone older than 6 months.</span></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">There are several quotes in the article of this nature, as well as additional information about other vaccines Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> would probably find some absurd objection to.  Next she claims she doesn't like some of the ingredients in them (no doubt Mercury and probably formaldehyde are at the top of her flagged toxins) and claims them ineffective.  It's humorous that in the CNN article she links as evidence, this quote appears:</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">While this year's version is not as protective against a mutated strain, it can still decrease the severity of illness caused by the virus. It can also protect against other circulating strains of the virus, which is why the CDC still recommends getting the vaccine.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;"><span class="GramE">More excellent research by Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span>.</span>  It's certainly convenient that we can use her own sources to point out the inconsistencies in her argument.  Finally, she lists other sources from such esteemed physicians as Dr. Joseph <span class="SpellE">Mercola</span> and Dr. Mark Hyman, two of the more notorious quacks in the pseudoscience arena.  Not surprising that she would sidle up to these like-minded charlatans, as they all are working toward the same cause.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><font style="font-style: normal;"><a name="microwaves" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px; font-weight: normal;"><a name="microwaves" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-style: normal;" /></a><a name="microwaves" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="microwaves" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Microwaves/Hitler Crystals</a></h1><span style="font-style: normal;"><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span><div style="line-height: 18.4px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">What they say: I believe water can turn into Satan or Hitler crystals when they are microwaved</span></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; font-style: normal;">
</span></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><font style="line-height: 18.4px;">The Truth: I consulted several different sources, and made a personal decision to avoid microwaves in my house.</font></span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">We saved the best for last... and this one is a perfect example of why Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> offends us so much.  Microwaves are completely safe and harmless when it comes to cooking your food.  Yet they go against the Food Babe Way (the title of her upcoming self help book), because they're "creepy."  She first attempts to dismiss her own writing (again from three years ago... must have been a rough month from an investigative standpoint), and then doubles down on her original claim that one should really just stay away from microwaves.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">So Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> used her budding investigative skills to find food guru and outspoken agribusiness opponent Michael <span class="SpellE">Pollan</span>, who was quoted in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/may/25/michael-pollan-family-meal-civilisation"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">The Guardian</span></a> as saying:</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">When you compare a microwave with a real fire or a casserole – these things speak sharing. They draw people around them. The microwave doesn't. Nobody wants to get too close to a microwave. It gives them the willies because of the mysterious waves jumping round inside.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">That's right, mysterious waves.  For more on the dangers of microwaves, click <a href="http://www.drjones.tv/topics/conclusive-evidence-on-how-toxic-your-microwave-is/"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">here</span></a>.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><font style="font-style: normal;"><a name="conclusion" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font><h1 style="margin: 1em 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 27.6px; font-weight: normal;"><a name="conclusion" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-style: normal;" /></a><a name="conclusion" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><a name="conclusion" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Conclusion</a></h1><span style="font-style: normal;"><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">We will continue to provide a forum for the people Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> has tried to silence to gather and discuss the issues she ignores.  As of the writing of this article, we have accrued over 4,000 members in just over 4 months and that number keeps going up every day. A large number of our members have been banned from her various online venues, more than we ever thought possible, really.  While these numbers are dwarfed by the 800,000+ likes the Food Babe has on her Facebook page, we feel that Ms. <span class="SpellE">Hari</span> quoting our page as an example of her detractors will only help spread the word of her hypocrisy and we encourage everyone, Food Babe Army soldier or opposition, to come join our group and help us reach our goals.  We truly believe it’s through our community’s support that we’ve grown to the size we’re at now, and although Food Babe has said something similar in the past, we’re obviously not talking about the financial support to which she is referring.  We just want to make sure that people aren’t buying into Food Babe’s scare tactics and remain confident that what they’re eating and choosing to feed their families is not going to get them sick.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">Banned By Food Babe admins:</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"><font style="font-style: normal;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;"><span class="SpellE">Bryleigh</span> Goff</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">Alexander <span class="SpellE">Huszagh</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">Maxwell Katz</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">Cheri Kent</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">Ron Scott</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">Jason Smith</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="font-style: normal;">Anita Wu</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-style: italic; text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 18.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><o:p xmlns:o="o"> </o:p></p></span></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">==</font></div></div>