DAIRY Coalition/ IDFA

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is a generic dairy category (see also ranching/beef)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/the-monopolization-of-milk/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/the-monopolization-of-milk/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The monopolization of milk</b></font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Claire Kelloway / Washington Monthly November 21, 2019</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Earlier this year, both The New York Times and National Public Radio reported that Chinese retaliatory tariffs in Trump’s trade war were accelerating the loss of U.S. dairy farms. In the first half of 2019, dairy exports to China were down 54 percent from the previous year, at a time when dairy farmers rely on exports to market a surplus of milk that’s driven milk prices below most farmers’ break-even point for nearly four years.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Meanwhile, Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture has told dairy farmers that the only way to stay afloat in these tough times is to get big, or get out, while promising new markets for U.S. dairy products in the yet-to-be-ratified U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">These declarations reflect a powerful conventional wisdom about the plight of America’s farmers, namely, that agricultural consolidation is inevitable, and that American farmers must export their way to profitability. But that conventional wisdom, which is shared even by some leading voices in the Democratic Party, is seriously out of focus. Although trariffs and technology play a role, they are hardly the main factors in the dairy crisis.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One critical reason dairy farms feel pressure to consolidate is because milk retailers, buyers, and, processors have spent years consolidating around them—and neither the Trump nor previous administrations have done much to stop it. Now, a merger between major milk monopolists threatens to deal another blow to ailing dairy farmers, and its not clear if federal enforcers will do anything to stop it.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last week, America’s largest dairy processor, Dean Foods, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced that it was in advanced talks to sell to America’s largest cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA). These two goliaths are a case study in how unchecked mergers beget abusive monopolies that harm both farmers and consumers. But because Dean has filed for bankruptcy, this otherwise questionable union could avoid antitrust scrutiny under the failing firm defense, which allows for mergers when one firm would otherwise go out of business. In other words, two monopolists may soon join forces to create an even bigger monopoly.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DFA is the amalgamate of a three-way cooperative merger in late 1997 and Dean Foods rose to prominence by buying up regional milk brands since the 1980s. Today, DFA has a near monopoly in many regional markets, and controls roughly 30 percent of all raw milk in the U.S., handling more than two and a half times as much milk as the next largest co-op. At the same time, Dean sells 12 percent of all fluid milk and claimed to be five times larger than its next competitor in 2013.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As detailed by Leah Douglas in the Washington Monthly last year, these giants have been accused of colluding against the interest of dairy farmers and consumers for years. Two groups of farmers have settled multi-million-dollar antitrust claims with DFA, and another has spun-off a case to seek more damages in court. On the consumer end, Dean Foods reached an antitrust settlement with grocery chain Food Lion in 2017 over allegations thatthe firm avoided competing with DFA-owned National Dairy Holdings to raise retail milk prices.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Dean Foods-DFA merger would make this otherwise illegal collusion perfectly legal, since our antitrust laws permit collusion once it occurs within a single corporation. “The more DFA expands downstream into fluid milk processing the greater the leverage it’s going to have in a variety of ways,” Peter Carstensen, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin Law School and former Department of Justice antitrust attorney, told me. So-called “‘tacit’coordination becomes much more possible because … that will be an internal corporate [decision].”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The merger means that dairy farmers have even fewer processors competing to buy their milk. “As a producer, I’m concerned about DFA making this large a purchase,” said Charles Untz, a farmer and former DFA board member. “It puts a lot of the control of the fluid market in the hands of one co-op. That sends a little fear as far as the milk price goes, because they can literally dictate what they pay for milk.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What’s more, the deal would exacerbate DFA’s conflict of interest between its processing operations and its members, since processing operations reap higher profits the less they pay farmers for milk. Proponents argue that investing in processing ultimately helps DFA farmers by guaranteeing markets and eliminating the middleman, but Carstensen argues that a fair share of processing profits “never seems to make it to the farmers.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To make matters worse, DFA takes further cuts from farmers’ milk checks to pay for its processing business under the justification that these investments help farmers in the long-run. A recent report by the Government Accountability Office found that these investment withholdings lower farmers short-term earnings.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a former DFA board member, Untz stands behind some of the group’s processing investments, but worries that this deal with Dean could put farmers at financial risk given its substantial size. “It’s easy to buy something when it’s going broke, it’s [harder] when you got to pay for it,” he said. “It would have to be paid for by the farmers and that’s a pretty scary situation after making a lot of other purchases.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If DFA operated the way co-ops are supposed to, its farmer owners would be able to decide if a major deal like acquiring Dean Foods was worth the risk. But because of its vast size and entrenched management, farmers have little control—an issue highlighted in the GAO’s recent report. Ironically, a third of Dean’s bondhodlers who have hired an attorney to advocate for alternative bankruptcy solutions may have a better chance at blocking the sale.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Should a Dean and DFA deal go forward, the fate of farmers will ultimately be left to the Justice Department, which may or may not embrace the faulty logic of the failing firm defense.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carstensen, for his part, argues that there are other ways to restructure Dean’s business without selling wholesale to DFA. “My preference would be to break Dean up, seperate out more facilities, and sell to separate operators,” he told me. In fact, Carstensen sees Dean’s relentless efforts to expand as part of the reason for its bankruptcy, calling into question the very notion that bigger is better.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Because, it turns out, the consolidation of American agriculture is not a universally efficient or inevitable result of market forces. It is the product of policies that permit and reward monopoly power, regardless of the risks to producers, consumers, and even, ironically, to monopolists themselves.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Claire Kelloway is a reporter and researcher with the Open Markets Institute and the primary writer for Food & Power, a website covering corporate concentration in the food system. Her writing on food and agriculture has appeared in ProPublica, Civil Eats, Pacific Standard, and more.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/the-devastation-of-farm-country-is-biting-us-all-on-the-loin/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/the-devastation-of-farm-country-is-biting-us-all-on-the-loin/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx jim ht</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The devastation of farm country is biting us all on the loin</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Royalty-free stock photo ID: 581026957 agriculture industry, farming and animal husbandry concept - herd of cows eating hay and man in cowshed on dairy farm.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">written by Jim Hightower / Common Dreams<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>July 3, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A massive depression has been building for years across our vast rural expanse, but don’t feel alone if you didn’t know, for most of our media and political establishments have failed to notice, much less inform the general public. In America’s power centers, farming is almost entirely ignored as something arcane and “out there” — and out of mind. In 1960, John F. Kennedy lightly summed up this attitude: “I don’t want to hear about agriculture from anyone but you,” the urbane president reputedly told Orville Freeman when appointing him Agriculture head. “Come to think of it, I don’t want to hear about it from you, either.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But hear about it we must, and do something we must. Today’s crisis promises not only to devastate our country’s rural economy and culture but also to enter our kitchens and bite us on the butt. Today’s catastrophe is far more desperate than outsiders know — and is caused by another perfect storm of corporate monopolization, financial manipulation and rigged ag policies. How severe is the storm? Start with one eye-popping indicator: The 2018 median farm income for U.S. farm households was minus $1,553! (“Net farm income” is the money left over after a farm family subtracts the cost of producing their crops from the amount they get paid for them.) You can’t pay for groceries, rent, medical bills, kids’ clothing, a trip to Disneyland, etc. on negative income. And $1,553 in debt is the “median,” meaning that half of America’s farm families went even deeper into the hole.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Such hardship is not a one-time blip. For six straight years, more than half of America’s ag producers have lost money on their crops and herds, and this year promises more of the same. Thus, to keep the farm afloat and make ends meet, farmers commonly work a part-time side job and have a spouse who commutes to a full-time city job. With typical dark humor, they refer to these off-farm jobs as the cost of supporting their “farming habit.” Indeed, today’s ag economy is so bleak that about 70% of the total income of U.S. farm families comes from their “secondary jobs.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Are these farmers inept, outmoded, lazy? Au contraire, as we say in Texas: They’re industrious, efficient, productive, innovative … and broke. Indeed, the most worrisome thing for our society is that the operations being eliminated are the mid-sized family farms — the essential backbone of both an economically healthy food system and vibrant rural communities.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>But if they’re good farmers, why are they going broke?</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Because corporate middlemen, commodity speculators and government policy have intentionally perverted the structure of the U.S. ag economy to leave producers with practically no say over the price of their cotton, wheat, milk, chickens, etc. Pious right-wing ideology aside, farmers don’t become financial “winners” just by working hard and smart, outfoxing the pests, lucking out on the weather and producing an abundant, top-quality harvest. When they take their crops to market, even blue-ribbon producers face a take-it-or-leave-it price set by profiteering players they never see.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>For the past several years, prices have crashed. </b>Dairy farmers, for example, are in the fourth consecutive year of incomes below their production costs: In 2018, they got $1.35 for a gallon of milk that cost them $1.90 to produce. This financial bomb has been exploding throughout dairy country. From 2007 to today, the number of American dairy farms dwindled from 70,000 to only 40,000, and most of them are imperiled. For example, last year in Wisconsin, where milk and cheese have long been economic and cultural mainstays, dairy farms shut down at the rate of nearly two a day.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And it’s not just our nation’s dairy farmers that are hurting. Small farmers and ranchers across the country are facing demise of their livelihoods. Fortunately, there are groups across the country fighting for family farms. The National Farmers Union — serving family farmers and ranchers — recently released its detailed recommendations for much-needed farm policy reforms. Farm Aid has a hotline for farmers in crisis: 800-FARM-AID. And People’s Action has started a rural strategy to help family farmers.</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/largest-undercover-dairy-investigation-in-history-uncovers-shocking-abuse-at-disneyland-of-farms-2638712260.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">‘Largest Undercover Dairy Investigation in History’ Uncovers Shocking Abuse at ‘Disneyland’ of Farms</font></a></h1><div class="post-tags-primary" style="margin-top: 5px; vertical-align: middle; font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase; display: inline-block; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="post-tags-primary-link" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/animal%20rights" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ANIMAL RIGHTS</font></a></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">got good deal on new nafta 10/18</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/when-will-people-realize-theyre-being-duped-by-republicans">https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/when-will-people-realize-theyre-being-duped-by-republicans</a>  MI WI swing foconn</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</div><div>Trump beat Clinton by less than a point in Wisconsin. Since then, Democrat Tony Evers squeaked out a win for governor against Republican incumbent Scott Walker. That should firmly place the state in the “swing” column.</div><div>
</div><div>As a resident of next-door Minnesota, the symbol that most represents Wisconsin is the ubiquitous cheesehead.</div><div>
</div><div>The fact that an entire state—but especially its Packer fans—have associated themselves with the dairy industry tells you just how important cows are in Wisconsin. All kidding aside, that suggests that this is really bad news.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Wisconsin is known as “America’s Dairyland,” but the milk makers who gave the state its moniker are vanishing, falling prey to a variety of impediments, including President Trump and his global trade war</b>.</div><div>
</div><div>Over the past two years, nearly 1,200 of the state’s dairy farms have stopped milking cows and so far this year, another 212 have disappeared, with many shifting production to beef or vegetables. The total number of herds in Wisconsin is now below 8,000 — about half as many as 15 years ago. In 2018, 49 Wisconsin farms filed for bankruptcy — the highest of any state in the country, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.</div><div>
</div><div>Racine, Wisconsin, located in the southeastern part of the state on the shore of Lake Michigan, isn’t known for cows.</div><div>
</div><div> </div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The Racine County area was once among the wealthiest in the state,</b> credited with inventing products from the garbage disposal to malted milk, and home of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed headquarters of SC Johnson, maker of Pledge, Raid and Drano. The county lost major employers with the manufacturing decline. The city of Racine has one of the state’s highest poverty rates.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Early in his presidency, Trump promised Racine a megadeal with the Taiwanese firm  Foxconn, which was slated to bring 13,000 jobs to the area. The state of Wisconsin offered $2.85 billion in tax credits, while the city and county mortgaged their future and borrowed around $350 million to buy land and make infrastructure improvements.</div><div>
</div><div>Contractors have bulldozed about 75 homes in Mount Pleasant and cleared hundreds of farmland acres. Crews are widening Interstate 94 from Milwaukee to the Illinois state line to accommodate driverless trucks and thousands of employees.</div><div>
</div><div>On Foxconn’s part, here is the latest.</div><div>
</div><div>As of Dec. 31, the Taiwanese manufacturing giant, famous as an Apple Inc. supplier, had spent only $99 million, 1% of its pledged investment, according to its latest state filings. The company projected as many as 2,080 in-state employees by the end of 2019 but had fewer than 200 at last year’s end, state filings show. The village is still awaiting factory building plans for review. Locals said Foxconn contractors have recently been scarce on the site.</div><div>
</div><div>Lately, Foxconn representatives aren’t even showing up at town hall meetings to discuss the project.</div><div>
</div><div>You have to wonder how much the residents of a state like Wisconsin can take from Republicans before they realize that they’ve been duped.</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">IRATE:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">International Dairy Foods Assoc'n v. Amestoy, 876 (95-7819) (2nd Cir 1996)</font></b></div><div><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In International Dairy, the federal court of appeals decided in favor of International Dairy Foods</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(IDF). <b>The court ruled that the state of Vermont did not have the authority to require that all</b></font></div><div><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dairy products from cows given the synthetic growth hormone, rBST, carry a certain warning</font></b></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>label. </b>Note that this issue was settled in a federal court of appeals, not the Supreme Court of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the United States.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Issue: Is a corporation or a trade association (also a corporation) protected by the First</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amendment right of negative free speech (the right not to speak)?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rule: Negative free speech (the right not to speak) is a First Amendment protection. No</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">government authority may compel a person to “speak.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Application: The chemical rBST (recombinant Bovine Somatotropin) is a synthetic growth</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hormone that increases milk production by cows. The court declared in this 1996 case that:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is undisputed that the dairy products derived from herds treated with rBST are</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">indistinguishable from products derived from untreated herds; consequently, the FDA</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">declined to require the labeling of products derived from cows receiving the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">supplemental hormone.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The state of Vermont enacted a statute in 1994 that required any milk product from cows given</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rBST to be labeled as such. The required label does not claim that the product is dangerous or</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">deficient in any way, only that it was derived from cows given this hormone.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The IDF argued that the Vermont law violated their rights under the First Amendment and the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Commerce Clause, which authorizes Congress to regulate interstate commerce. The court</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">focused on the First Amendment in deciding whether the labeling constituted “irreparable</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">harm” to the IDF when deciding a motion for a preliminary injunction. The court stated that,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">under First Amendment precedents, IDF would suffer irreparable harm if not granted the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">preliminary injunction.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Transformation:</b> Corporations cannot be required to label their products as containing certain</font></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ingredients under state or federal statutes, and may seek relief from any such restriction</font></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">through the courts.</span> The corporations may receive relief from the courts in the form of an</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">injunction. The Supreme Court has been granting corporations constitutional rights. The ruling</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in this federal court of appeals case is consistent with Supreme Court rulings because this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ruling provides the rBST manufacturer the First Amendment right not to speak.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Effect: This decision will likely provide the Supreme Court with the reasoning to overturn GMO</font></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Labeling laws that any state might pass. California has a GMO Labeling initiative on the</font></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">November 2012 ballot. If it passes, Monsanto will very likely file a lawsuit the day after the</font></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">election claiming that the state law violates its First Amendment right not to speak.</font></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Representational Story: A Google search of “Health concerns about rBST milk” garnered over</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">35,000 hits. Although the FDA has certified its safety, there are independent studies that cast a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">doubt on the FDA’s findings.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I’m Dr. Jenny Pompilio of the Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility. I claim there are</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">significant human cancer risks from using rBGH (also know as rBST). Watch my video at</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlKsdyTO7jE for the details. I consider it unconscionable</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">that any company would fight the disclosure of any foreign substance in any products for the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sake of their corpoorate profits, and depriving consumers of the freedom to choose what's best</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">for their families.</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> by: W. A. Barrett Disclaimer: For educational purpose only.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">our national organizations whose members would be affected by Vermont's new labeling law for genetically engineered foods filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court challenging the measure's constitutionality.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Vermont's mandatory GMO labeling law — Act 120 — is a costly and misguided measure that will set the nation on a path toward a 50-state patchwork of GMO labeling policies that do nothing to advance the health and safety of consumers," the Grocery Manufacturers Association said in a statement about the lawsuit.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Act 120 exceeds the state's authority under the United States Constitution and in light of this GMA has filed a complaint in federal district court in Vermont seeking to enjoin this senseless mandate."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Legislature passed the labeling law in April, and Gov. Peter Shumlin signed the bill in May. The labeling requirements would take effect in two years: July 1, 2016.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lawmakers, the governor and the attorney general expected the law to be challenged in court. Trade groups had promised to fight the law in court.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">READ THE LAWSUIT: <a href="http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2014/06/12/lawsuit-against-vermont-gmo-law/10392197/" title="http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2014/06/12/lawsuit-against-vermont-gmo-law/10392197/" style="text-decoration: none;">PDF: Lawsuit vs. Vermont GMO law</a></font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Attorney General William Sorrell noted Thursday he had advised lawmakers as they deliberated that the law would invite a lawsuit from those affected "and it would be a heck of a fight, but we would zealously defend the law."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We have been gearing up," Sorrell said when reached Thursday afternoon in New York City. His office had yet to be served with the complaint.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I want to see the nature of the attack on the law," he said, but added, "I don't think there are going to be any surprises."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The statement from the Grocery Manufacturers Association summarizes the grievances of the four plaintiff organizations: GMA, the Snack Food Association, the International Dairy Foods Association and the National Association of Manufacturers.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/life/green-mountain/2014/06/08/farmers-disagree-impact-gmos/10084993/" title="http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/life/green-mountain/2014/06/08/farmers-disagree-impact-gmos/10084993/" style="text-decoration: none;">Farmers disagree on impact of GMOs</a>
</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/life/green-mountain/2014/05/25/progress-questions-vermont-gmo-law/9492493/" title="http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/life/green-mountain/2014/05/25/progress-questions-vermont-gmo-law/9492493/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Real progress, big questions after GMO law</font></span></a></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Act 120 imposes burdensome new speech requirements — and restrictions — that will affect, by Vermont's count, eight out of every ten foods at the grocery store," the GMA said. "Yet Vermont has effectively conceded this law has no basis in health, safety, or science. That is why a number of product categories, including milk, meat, restaurant items and alcohol, are exempt from the law. This means that many foods containing GMO ingredients will not actually disclose that fact.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The First Amendment dictates that when speech is involved, Vermont policymakers cannot merely act as a pass-through for the fads and controversies of the day," the association continued. "It must point to a truly 'governmental' interest, not just a political one."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The groups added that the federal government has the sole authority over regulating nationwide distribution and labeling practices that facilitate interstate commerce, and the U.S. Constitution prohibits Vermont from doing so.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The U.S. Food & Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency have both the mandate and expertise to incorporate the views of all the stakeholders at each link in the chain from farm to fork," the association said.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Vermont Right to Know GMOs Coalition, which lobbied for the law, argued that labeling would bring transparency to the information consumers would have about their food.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The people of Vermont have said loud and clear they have a right to know what is in their food," said Falko Schilling, consumer protection advocate with the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schilling said lawmakers determined there was a lack of consensus about the safety of genetically engineered foods "so putting labels on is a reasonable and prudent thing so people can decide for themselves."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The lawsuit, filed at U.S. District Court in Burlington, contends the Food and Drug Administration has "confirmed the safety of more than 100 genetically engineered crops for human consumption" since 1994.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The court complaint suggests the motivation for the new mandate is to respond to public-opinion polling "showing a consumer desire for labeling," but notes the law exempts dairy and restaurants, creating big gaps on the information consumers will have if they are concerned about genetically modified foods.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The lawsuit argues the state needs a compelling interest to restrict information that food manufacturers provide about their products. But at the same time, the complaint states that the law indicates private dollars should be tapped first for any legal battles. The measure caps state funding at $1.5 million.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The state's unwillingness to use its own funds to administer and defend Act 120 is express confirmation that Vermont does not have a 'state' interest in the survival of the law," the lawsuit reads.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schilling at VPIRG countered that Vermonters wanted the law so badly they were willing to share in the cost of defending the measure, and lawmakers decided to give them the opportunity to help. "But the state does fully support this law."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The lawsuit has drawn attention from national organization on the other side of the issue from the four plaintiffs.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ronnie Cummins, national director of the Organic Consumers Association, defended the Vermont law, saying 60 other countries either have banned GMOs or require mandatory labeling of foods that contain them.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cummins added, "Every U.S. citizen should be concerned when a multi-billion dollar corporate lobbying group sues in federal court to overturn a state's right to govern for the health and safety of its citizens." He called the lawsuit was a way to intimidate other states considering labeling laws.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><i><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contact Nancy Remsen at 578-5685 or nremsen@freepressmedia.com. Follow Nancy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nancybfp.</font></i></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> <a href="http://www.idfa.org/">http://www.idfa.org/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">1250 H Street, N.W., Suite 900</span><br style="line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Washington, DC 20005</span><br style="line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Phone: 202 737-4332</span><br style="line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">FAX: 202 331-7820</span><br style="line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Website: </span><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.idfa.org/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; line-height: 19.2px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" rgb="rgb" xmlns:data="data">http://www.idfa.org/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ice cream month and<span style="line-height: 18.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The annual Capitol Hill </span><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ice Cream</span><span style="line-height: 18.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Party will return to Upper Senate Park on June 26, marking the 32nd year of celebrations</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><span style="line-height: 19.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">IDFA has named J. David Carlin to the position of senior vice president of legislative affairs and economic policy. In this role, Carlin will be responsible for managing all of the association's legislative, political and economic policy activities. He replaces Jerry Slominski, who left IDFA earlier this year. Carlin, who was a partner with <b>Akin Gump</b> Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP until joining IDFA, has extensive experience in food and agriculture policy.</font></span></div><div><span style="line-height: 19.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 19.5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Connie Tipton</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>President and Chief Executive Officer</div><div>During her career of more than 30 years with IDFA, Connie Tipton has held a leadership role in virtually all areas of the association, including legislative and international affairs, economic policy analysis, public relations, marketing, education and training, and trade shows. She helped to launch the annual Capitol Hill Ice Cream Party and encouraged legislation that created the famous "Milk Mustache" campaign. Tipton also led successful legislative campaigns to lessen government involvement in regulations that reduce dairy product marketability.</div><div>
</div><div>Tipton serves on the board of directors for BIPAC, a broad business-oriented political activation organization, and the Capitol Hill Day School. She is past chair of the Bryce Harlow Foundation Board, a group that provides scholarships and leadership in professional advocacy. In September of 2011, Tipton was selected as a “Top Association CEO” by CEO Update, and in 2009 she was named Association Executive of the Year by Association Trends magazine. Previously, Tipton was designated a top trade association lobbyist in Washington by two Capitol Hill publications. See LinkedIn profile.</div><div>
</div><div> </div><div>
</div><div>Clay Hough</div><div>Clayton L. Hough</div><div>Senior Group Vice President and General Counsel</div><div>Clay Hough oversees IDFA's international trade, regulatory and scientific affairs, and serves as general counsel. He helps develop regulatory strategies and association policies in such areas as biosecurity, food safety, federal standards of identity, nutrition guidance, labeling and biotechnology. In addition, he serves as the primary contact on international trade issues and manages the association's legal affairs.</div><div>
</div><div>Prior to joining IDFA, Hough was an associate and partner for 13 years in the public policy practice group at the law firm of Patton Boggs LLP, where he specialized in commodity and trade policy. While at Patton Boggs, he established strong relationships with federal agencies and Congress during his work on the federal sugar program, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines and dairy import rules. <b>Before joining Patton Boggs, Hough worked for two members in Congress. </b>See LinkedIn Profile.</div><div>
</div><div> </div><div>
</div><div>Neil MoranNeil Moran</div><div>Senior Vice President, Finance, Administration & Trade Show</div><div>Neil Moran is responsible for directing the association's financial and accounting, human resources, information technology, administrative activities and the annual trade show.</div><div>
</div><div>Prior to joining IDFA, Moran served as chief financial officer for the National Capital Revitalization Corporation and for the RLA Revitalization Corporation, where he provided financial guidance relating to valuation, pricing and modeling of the organizations' developments and projects. Before that, Moran served as vice president for finance and CFO for Black's Guide, Inc., a commercial real estate information service, where he guided the company through the acquisition phase, as well as its subsequent sale. As CFO and director of finance and administration for the National Center on Education and the Economy, Moran was responsible for all financial and administrative functions.</div><div>
</div><div>Moran also served as the CFO for the Drug Policy Foundation, vice president of finance and administration for Sky Courier Network, and as vice president of finance for the Aeromaritime Group. He began his career in the Washington, D.C., office of PricewaterhouseCoopers.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="line-height: normal;">FAIL: </span></div></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div class="sfContentBlock" style="line-height: 16.9px;"><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; line-height: 1.1; font-weight: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NextGEN Dairy Network</font></h2></div><div class="sf_cols inside-content" style="width: 286.719px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1; border-top: 1px solid rgb(229, 229, 229); clear: both; line-height: 16.9px; background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, rgb(246, 246, 246) 0%, rgb(255, 255, 255) 120px); background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><div class="sf_colsOut sf_1col_1_100" style="float: none; margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 13px 13px 0px; width: auto !important;"><div id="Body_C056_Col00" class="sf_colsIn sf_1col_1in_100"><div class="sfnewsDetails"><h3 class="sfnewsTitle" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.2; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: inherit;"><a href="http://www.idfa.org/news-views/washington-insider/article/2014/06/04/nextgen-dairy-network-gains-86-members-in-first-week" style="text-decoration: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(137, 148, 20);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">NextGEN Dairy Network Now 137 Members Strong</font></a></h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><img id="ctl00_Body_C097_newsFrontendDetails_ctl00_ctl00_DetailsView_ctrl0_ctl01_ctl00_rlvImages_ctrl0_imgDisplay" src="http://www.idfa.org/images/default-source/i-news/nextgen_homepage24069b9c41746fcd88eaff000002c0f4.jpg?sfvrsn=0" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; width: 260.71875px;" /></font><div class="summary"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since the launch of IDFA’s NextGEN Dairy Network this month, 137 dairy professionals have joined. What about you?</font></p></div></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dairy_Coalition"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dairy_Coalition</font></a><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This article was first published as "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/2000Q4/dairy.html" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaafzjrefuef59z4ejadeiq1f36k7u5e7zkxeuqpacj3wk7unokvxvk9khnqh7by9hbdydhnxgjprlqflo4m2ggfyjhhjq8v4agfrgpqx3jtjqgbofmchga="AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA" nakks="nAKks" jajfaaaaaelftksuqmcc="JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" background-position="background-position" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Who Is the Dairy Coalition?</a>", <i>PR Watch</i>, volume 8, number 1, First Quarter 2001. The original article was authored by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber and is used here with permission. As with all SourceWatch articles, feel free to edit and revise.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Created by the PR and lobby firm of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Capitoline&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Capitoline (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Capitoline</a>/ MS&L with funding from the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Milk_Producers_Federation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="National Milk Producers Federation (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">National Milk Producers Federation</a>, the Dairy Coalition is composed of business, government and non-profit groups, including university researchers funded by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Monsanto" title="Monsanto" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Monsanto</a> as well as other carefully selected "third party" experts. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dick_Weiss&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Dick Weiss (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Dick Weiss</a>, director of the Dairy Coalition, now works with former Monsanto <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/RBGH" title="RBGH" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">rBGH</a> lobbyist <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Carol_Tucker_Foreman" title="Carol Tucker Foreman" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Carol Tucker Foreman</a> at the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Consumer_Federation_of_America" title="Consumer Federation of America" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Consumer Federation of America</a>. Dairy Coalition participants include:</font></p><ul style="line-height: 19.2px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaancamaaabw4ls6aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaaazqtfrfafkm="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANCAMAAABW4lS6AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAAZQTFRFAFKM" qiuk9qaaaaj0uk5t="QIUK9QAAAAJ0Uk5T" wdltzbkaaaagkleqvr42mjgbaegokggbjbgbxbxsbqaaamachwald5r8ygaaaaasuvork5cyii="); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/International_Food_Information_Council" title="International Food Information Council" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">International Food Information Council</a>, which calls itself "a non-profit organization that disseminates sound, scientific information on food safety and nutrition to journalists, health professionals, government officials and consumers." In reality, IFIC is a public relations arm of the food and beverage industries, which provide the bulk of its funding. Its staff members hail from industry groups such as the <b><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sugar_Association" title="Sugar Association" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Sugar Association</a> and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/National_Soft_Drink_Association" title="National Soft Drink Association" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">National Soft Drink Association</a>,</b> and it has repeatedly led the defense for controversial food additives including monosodium glutamate, aspartame (Nutrasweet), food dyes, and olestra.</font></li></ul><ul style="line-height: 19.2px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaancamaaabw4ls6aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaaazqtfrfafkm="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANCAMAAABW4lS6AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAAZQTFRFAFKM" qiuk9qaaaaj0uk5t="QIUK9QAAAAJ0Uk5T" wdltzbkaaaagkleqvr42mjgbaegokggbjbgbxbxsbqaaamachwald5r8ygaaaaasuvork5cyii="); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Farm_Bureau_Federation" title="American Farm Bureau Federation" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">American Farm Bureau Federation</a>, the powerful conservative lobby behind the movement to pass food disparagement laws like the one under which Oprah Winfrey was sued in Texas.</font></li></ul><ul style="line-height: 19.2px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaancamaaabw4ls6aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaaazqtfrfafkm="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANCAMAAABW4lS6AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAAZQTFRFAFKM" qiuk9qaaaaj0uk5t="QIUK9QAAAAJ0Uk5T" wdltzbkaaaagkleqvr42mjgbaegokggbjbgbxbxsbqaaamachwald5r8ygaaaaasuvork5cyii="); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Dietetic_Association" title="American Dietetic Association" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">American Dietetic Association</a>, a national association of registered dietitians that works closely with IFIC and hauls in large sums of money advocating for the food industry. Its stated mission is to "improve the health of the public," but with 15 percent of its budget--more than $3 million--coming from food companies and trade groups, it has learned not to bite the hand that feeds it.</font></li></ul><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"They never criticize the food industry," says Joan Gussow, a former head of the nutrition education program at Teachers College at Columbia University. The ADA's website even contains a series of "fact sheets" about various food products, sponsored by the same corporations that make them (Monsanto for biotechnology; Procter & Gamble for olestra; Ajinomoto for MSG; the National Association of Margarine Manufacturers for fats and oils).</font></p><ul style="line-height: 19.2px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaancamaaabw4ls6aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaaazqtfrfafkm="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANCAMAAABW4lS6AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAAZQTFRFAFKM" qiuk9qaaaaj0uk5t="QIUK9QAAAAJ0Uk5T" wdltzbkaaaagkleqvr42mjgbaegokggbjbgbxbxsbqaaamachwald5r8ygaaaaasuvork5cyii="); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Association_of_State_Departments_of_Agriculture&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">National Association of State Departments of Agriculture</a>, representing the top executive of every department of agriculture in all 50 states.</font></li></ul><ul style="line-height: 19.2px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaancamaaabw4ls6aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaaazqtfrfafkm="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANCAMAAABW4lS6AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAAZQTFRFAFKM" qiuk9qaaaaj0uk5t="QIUK9QAAAAJ0Uk5T" wdltzbkaaaagkleqvr42mjgbaegokggbjbgbxbxsbqaaamachwald5r8ygaaaaasuvork5cyii=");" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Grocery_Manufacturers_of_America" title="Grocery Manufacturers of America" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Grocery Manufacturers of America</a>,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> whose member companies account for more than $460 billion in sales annually. GMA itself is a lobbying powerhouse in Washington, spending $1.4 million for that purpose in 1998 and currently-funding a multi-million-dollar PR campaign for genetically engineered foods.</span></font></li></ul><ul style="line-height: 19.2px; list-style-type: square; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaancamaaabw4ls6aaaagxrfwhrtb2z0d2fyzqbbzg9izsbjbwfnzvjlywr5ccllpaaaaazqtfrfafkm="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANCAMAAABW4lS6AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAAZQTFRFAFKM" qiuk9qaaaaj0uk5t="QIUK9QAAAAJ0Uk5T" wdltzbkaaaagkleqvr42mjgbaegokggbjbgbxbxsbqaaamachwald5r8ygaaaaasuvork5cyii="); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Food_Marketing_Institute" title="Food Marketing Institute" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Food Marketing Institute</a>, a trade association of food retailers and wholesalers, whose grocery store members represent three fourths of grocery sales in the United States.</font></li></ul></div>