Not just the facts, ma’am: Why science alone can’t defeat Big Food’s policy stranglehold

[marmar]

Grist:





Not just the facts, ma’am: Why science alone can’t defeat Big Food’s policy stranglehold

by Nancy Huehnergarth
20 May 2011 6:59 AM


Food-reform advocates like to stick to the facts, believing that if they can just construct a rational, air-tight argument, they'll convince the public and transform policy around food. But that's a bit like bringing a butter knife to a sword fight. As Robert K. Ross, president and CEO of the California Endowment, declared at the May 4 Future of Food conference in Washington D.C., "We need to bring as much rigor to the fight as we have to the science." (Hat tip to Marion Nestle for highlighting Dr. Ross' speech in her blog, Food Politics.)

The world of public health and its funders can be very genteel. When a policy like the soda tax fails to get enacted due to strong, well-financed opposition from industry, public health advocates want more science. They often believe that the new data collected, the indisputable conclusions drawn, or the attendant policy recommendations will finally convince policymakers and the public to take action. But, as Ross pointed out, if you think you are in a policy debate and the other side thinks it is in a fight, you are not going to come out too well. And so far in this food fight, public health is pretty bruised and battered.

The reality is, that when up against deep-pocketed, no-holds-barred opponents, like Big Food, Big Beverage, and Big Agriculture, public health's focus on science and evidence is easily trumped by money and messaging. If public health advocates don't start rolling up their sleeves and using some of the same tactics used by industry, progress in this fight to create a safe, healthy, sustainable food system is going to move more slowly than a teenager asked to clean his room. Science and "being right" are no substitute for a strong, strategic, and powerful movement. Public health groups and their funders must find ways to pool resources and utilize costly professional advocacy marketing, PR, and grassroots movement development. Sweeping policy change can only be driven by a powerful professional messaging campaign and a grassroots movement. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.grist.org/industrial-agriculture/2011-05-20-why-science-alone-cant-defeat-big-foods-policy-stranglehold

[Countdown_3_2_1]

1. Food Reform Advocates?

What?

Is there a movement to reform food in this country? I never heard of this before!
Whats the agenda? Is there a central website? Who are these people?

I thought I knew all the activist groups, but this is totally new to me.

[GliderGuider]

2. It's part of the "Blessed Unrest" movement

http://www.blessedunrest.com/

It's a spontaneous, decentralized, global grass-roots movement composed of organizations dedicated to restoring the environment and fostering social justice.

From billion-dollar nonprofits to single-person dot.causes, these groups collectively comprise the largest movement on earth, a movement that has no name, leader, or location, and that has gone largely ignored by politicians and the media. Like nature itself, it is organizing from the bottom up, in every city, town, and culture, and is emerging to be an extraordinary and creative expression of people's needs worldwide.

It's a remarkable development. The last time I looked, a year or two ago, the number of organizations falling under its conceptual umbrella world-wide was growing by 40% a year.