3 December 2020 — US Right to Know

The Coca-Cola Company used its sponsorship of international public health conferences to deflect blame for the obesity epidemic away from its products, according to a new study based on documents obtained by U.S. Right to Know.

The study, co-authored by Gary Ruskin, found that “Coke deliberated with its sponsored researchers on topics to present at ICPAPH, despite publicly claiming otherwise, in an effort to shift blame for the rising incidence of obesity and diet-related diseases away from its products onto physical activity and individual choice.”

Read more about Coke’s secret documents 

• Study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• News release
• Coverage in the BMJ, “Coca-Cola sought to shift blame for obesity by funding public health conferences, study reports”

Help us expose more corporate secrets impacting our health – with a year-end tax-deductible donation to U.S. Right to Know.

Breaking down the Roundup Settlement: Here’s the latest news on Bayer AG’s progress toward a sweeping settlement of thousands of U.S. lawsuits brought by people alleging they or their loved ones developed cancer after exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup herbicides.

Goldman Prize Winners stand up to Monsanto: Among this year’s recipients of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize is Leydy Pech, an indigenous Mayan beekeeper who led a coalition that halted Monsanto’s planting of GMO soybeans in southern Mexico. Read about Pech’s work here and congratulations to all the 2020 Goldman Prize winners!

• Leydy Pech fought planting of GM soybeans by Monsanto and won — Mexico Daily News 
• Meet the Mayan woman who stopped Monsanto and won the ‘Nobel for the Environment’ — Women’s Entrepreneur 

Past Goldman Prize winners include Sofia Gatica who exposed herbicide poisonings in Argentina, and journalists Jane Akre and Steve Wilson, who were fired under pressure from Monsanto for their reporting on rBGH, a GMO growth hormone injected into cows.

More public health and food news of the week:

• The long fight for a just food system — Earth Island Journal
• Supreme Court weighs child-slavery case against Nestlé USA, Cargill— Washington Post
• Toxic PFAS chemicals discovered in hundreds of products – The Intercept
• How we do know if a farming system is based on agroecological principles? A principle-based assessment tool for farmers — AgroSur

Help us turn up the heat on the Right to Know investigations by donating here.

For our right to know,
Carey, Gary, Stacy