Beverage producers have always been environmental leaders and we will continue to innovate and undertake the very best environmental practices to meet the challenge of being good to our planet.
*cough* Excuse me? I'm not saying we don't have Coke products in our fridge, but I don't think for one second that they give an arse about the environment. In fact Corp Watch and Killer Coke might have a few things to say about that.
PepsiCo and America On the Move developed a lesson plan called Balance First™ to help educate kids about energy balance. This program reached three million elementary school students in 2004. In 2005, as part of a partnership with Discovery Education, PepsiCo distributed the Balance First program to 15,000 middle schools in the United States.
Wait. Pepsi is teaching kids about moderation? As in, how Pepsi is a part of a balanced diet? That's just sick. Framing your product, loaded with HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) as part of a balanced diet to impressionable children is evil.
Speaking of HFCS...
Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages in partnership with the American Diabetes Association supports Weight Loss Matters...
As well they should support the American Diabetes Association, considering their product ups rates of obesity and Type II Diabetes. Just Google "high-fructose-corn-syrup diabetes" and you'll get an eye-full.
And don't even get me started on the beef industry or dairy.
There are 65,000 dairy farms in America today; most are smaller farms with less than 200 cows.
Well, that's sort of true. More than 50% of dairy farms are smaller than 500 head (according to the USDA's own 2001 figures but small farms are losing ground, and what percentage in terms of head of cattle do those 61% of farms smaller than 500 make up?
By the USDA's count, there are 9.12 million dairy cattle. If 39% of the 97,560 farms (38,048 farms) have at least 500 dairy cows that's already 19,024,200 cows. I think the USDA may be a little confused. Still, it's hard to pin down how much of a contiribution these small, welfarist farms make compared to large scale farming. (It would be helpful if the USDA could keep its facts straight too, but then how useful would they be protecting their real constituents, the food industries. Maybe veal calves are getting counted as head even though they don't count as dairy cattle.)
And the website doesn't mention veal anywhere. Funny. All we get are lies about cows resting on waterbeds.
The most galling thing about the entire site though, is the complete lack of citation. Some things they say are simple assertions, while others are numbers and stats. Any of these things would be simple to support, yet they don't because they can't.
The one "fact" they can support:
In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the injury and illness rate for eating and drinking places was 4.7 cases per 100 full time equivalent employees...
That's weak at best because in the restaurant industry a higher percentage of the workers is part-time compared to the workforce as a whole.
So, before I completely blow a gasket I'm going to close this post, but please, read through this website of tripe, Google some real answers, and start getting pissed at the garbage you are fed (literally and figuratively) every day from companies, lobbies, and the government agencies and charities that are beholden to them.
For more reading I recommend picking up (at the shops or library) Fat Land, Food Politics, Fast Food Nation, or The China Study for a good overview of issues in nutrition and how it relates to illness.
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