Center for Science in the Public Interest
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The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is a U.S. not-for-profit consumer organization headed by Michael Jacobson. Founded in 1971, CSPI's mission statement states that its twin missions are to "conduct innovative research and advocacy programs in health and nutrition and to provide consumers with current and useful information about their health and well-being." The CSPI lists its goals as:
- To provide useful, objective information to the public and policymakers and to conduct research on food, alcohol, health, the environment, and other issues related to science and technology;
- To represent the citizen's interests before regulatory, judicial, and legislative bodies on food, alcohol, health, the environment, and other issues; and
- To ensure that science and technology are used for the public good and to encourage scientists to engage in public-interest activities.[1]
CSPI is a section 501(c)(3) organization exempt from federal income tax. All contributions are tax-deductible as provided by law. The CSPI's chief source of income is its Nutrition Action Healthletter, which has 900,000 paid subscribers and accepts no advertising, and accepts no corporate or government grants, although it does receive grants from trade groups.[2][3]Private foundation grants make up approximately 5-10 percent of CSPI's annual revenue of $15 million.
CSPI concerns
CSPI's concerns include:
- Acrylamide[4]
- Alcohol (see effects of alcohol on the body and alcohol consumption and health)[5]
- Antibiotic resistance[6]
- Biotechnology[7]
- Bovine spongiform encephalopathy/variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ("mad cow disease")[8]
- Caffeine[9]
- Coconut oil[10]
- Colorants (particularly Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 2, Red 3, Yellow 6, carmine, and cochineal[11][12]-
- Commerical baby food[13]
- Food safety (including the safety of eggs, poultry, and shellfish)[14] [15][16]
- Hypertension (high blood pressure, exacerbated by poor diet)[17]
- Nutrition labeling (at fast-food and other chain restaurants)
- Obesity[18]
- Olestra[19]
- Palm oil[20]
- Quorn[21]
- Salt[22]
- Soft drinks (especially those sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup[23][24]
- Sugar[25]
- Sweeteners (especially acesulfame potassium, saccharin, and Stevia)[26][27][28]
- Trans fats[29]
The CSPI also runs the Integrity in Science project, which "investigates and publicizes conflicts of interest and other potentially destructive influences of industry-sponsored science." [30]
CSPI has criticized many foods as being potentially contaminated:
- Campylobacter toxin: chicken, raw milk[31]
- Ciguatera toxin: grouper, barracuda, snapper, jack, mackerel, triggerfish[32][31]
- Clostridium botulinum: home-canned foods, sausages, meat products, commercially canned vegetables, seafood products[31]
- Cyclospora cayetanensis: berries, raspberries, lettuce, basil[33] [31]
- Escherichia coli (E. coli): ground beef, raw milk, lettuce, sprouts, unpasteurized juices[33][31]
- Hepatitis A: shellfish, salads, cold cuts, sandwiches, fruits, vegetables, fruit juices, milk, milk products[31]
- Listeria: hot dogs, deli meats, raw milk, cheeses (particularly soft-ripened cheeses like feta, Brie, Camembert, blue-veined, or Mexican-style “queso blanco”), raw and cooked poultry, raw meats, ice cream, raw vegetables, raw and smoked fish
- Norwalk virus: shellfish salads[31]
- Salmonella: Alfalfa sprouts, cantaloupe, eggs, fish, milk and dairy products, raw meats, poultry, sauces and salad dressings, seafood, shrimp, tomatoes, and cream-filled desserts and toppings[34][31]
- Scombroid toxin: fresh tuna, mahi mahi, bluefish, sardines, mackerel, amberjack, abalone[32][31]
- Vibrio parahaemolyticus: raw oysters and clams, crabs, shrimp[32] [31]
- Vibrio vulnificus: raw oysters and clams, crabs[32][31]
Other foods
- CSPI periodically identifies "Ten Foods You Should Never Eat!"[35] The curent list is:
- Pepperidge Farm Original Flaky Crust Roasted Chicken Pot Pie ("Artery Crust")
- McDonald's Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips ("Strip Tease")
- The Cheesecake Factory's 6 Carb Original Cheesecake ("Factory Reject")
- Marie Callender's Herb Roasted Chicken with Mashed Potatoes ("Discomfort Food")
- Mrs. Fields Milk Chocolate & Walnuts cookies ("Out in Left Field")
- Starbucks Venti Strawberries & Crème Frappuccino Blended Crème ("Starbucks on Steroids")
- Burger King French fries ("Coronary King")
- Campbell's red-and-white-label condensed soups ("Salt’s On!")
- Swoops candy ("Oops!")
- Häagen-Dazs Mint Chip Dazzler ("Razzle, Dazzle ‘em")
The previous "Ten Foods You Should Never Eat!" listed "Quaker 100% Natural Oats & Honey Granola, Bugels, Contadina's Alfredo Sauce, Pizza Huts' New Yorker Pizza, Entenmann's Frosted Donuts, Nissin's Cup of Noodles and Shrimp, Burger King French fries, Campbell's Red and White label condensed soups, Frito-Lay's Wow Potato Chips and Denny's Grand Slam breakfast."
Opposition
CSPI has attracted the attention of many groups. One such is the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), which receives funds from "restaurants, food companies and more than 1,000 concerned individuals." The CCF maintains a number of sites, which are a frequently used source of anti-CSPI material: Center for Consumer Freedom, ActivistCash.com, AnimalScam.com, CSPIscam.com, and Fishscam.com.
The Capital Research Center is devoted to "analyzing organizations that promote the growth of government and in identifying viable private alternatives to government regulatory and entitlement programs". CRC maintains a CSPI page.
The Heartland Institute's "mission is to discover and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. Such solutions include … choice and personal responsibility in health care". In an article, economics Professors James Bennett and Thomas DiLorenzo say, "What makes officious nannies like CSPI so maddening is that they cloak their apparent goal of prohibition in the language of health advocacy. Some of the advice in the group's Nutrition Action Healthletter is perfectly sensible, but the remainder can be highly controversial."[36]
Undue Influence is a site "tracking the environmental movement's money, power, and harm using capitalist investments to destroy capitalist society". The CSPI is one organization it tracks on its Center for Science in the Public Interest: a Ralph Nader spinoff page.
References and sources
- ^ Center for Science in the Public Interest Mission statement
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ General Information ~ CSPI's Food Safety
- ^ Alcohol Policies Project
- ^ CSPI Antibiotic-Resistance Project
- ^ CSPI Biotechnology Project
- ^ bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)
- ^ Caffeine
- ^ Coconut oil
- ^ [3]
- ^ [4]
- ^ Cheating Babies: Nutritional Quality and Cost of Commercial Baby Food
- ^ Eggs
- ^ Poultry
- ^ Shellfish
- ^ Hypertension
- ^ Obesity
- ^ Olestra
- ^ [http://www.cspinet.org/palmoilreport/index.html
- ^ [5]
- ^ [6]
- ^ CSPI to Sue Cadbury Schweppes over 'All Natural' 7UP ~ Newsroom ~ News from CSPI
- ^ Soft drinks: liquid candy
- ^ Sugar
- ^ Acesulfame
- ^ Saccharin
- ^ Stevia
- ^ Transfreeamerica.org
- ^ [7]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Food Safety Guide - Meet the Bugs
- ^ a b c d Food Safety Guide - Seafood
- ^ a b Food Safety Guide - Fruits & Vegetables
- ^ Plants for Supper? 10 Reasons to Eat More Like a Vegetarian
- ^ [8]
- ^ "Food and Drink Police: Center for Science in the Public Interest wants government to control our eating habits"
- Center for Science in the Public Interest. Project to Empower Students to Transform the Campus Drinking Culture: Survival Skills for the Successful Advocate. Washington, DC: Center for Science in the Public Interest, n.d.
- Goetz, D. Liquor industry gets stricter on advertising. Louisville Courier-Journal, 10.09.03
External links
- CSPI official website
- Safe Food International (CSPI campaign)