Connections in Political Economy - Corporate Power: Food

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Name and Link Type of Resource Description

Lawrence, Felicity. Industry lobbying derailed junk food ban
Guardian, April 22 2006
Article available here Newspaper article on specific issue "Broadcasting regulator met food bosses 29 times
Advertising controls too weak, say campaigners"

Lawrence, Felicity. Eat Your Heart Out: Why the Food Business is Bad for the Planet and Your Health.
Link to bookseller Book. "“Why is it... That almost all the processed foods we eat contain the same handful of ingredients? That these handful of ingredients are produced by only a handful of multi-nationals? That some cereals contain more salt per serving than a packet of crisps? That served with milk, sugar and raisins, some cardboard packets have been said to be more nutritious than the cereal they contain? That there are half the number of dairy farms in the UK than there were 10 years ago?That over the same period the turnover of the top 20 global dairy corporations has increased by 60%? That over 60% of all processed foods in Britain contain soya?That the UK government's Committee on the Toxicity of Food judged that eating soya could have hormone-disrupting effects? That in 1970, a hundred grams of an average chicken contained less than 9 grams of fat, but today it contains nearly 23 grams of fat?That the amount of protein in that chicken has fallen by more than 30%? That children aged 4-14 in the UK get 16-17% of their daily calories from processed sugars?That the World Health Organisation's recommended limit is 10%? That industrialised farming uses 50 times more energy than traditional farming?That livestock farming creates greater carbon emissions than all of global transport put together?That some salmon farmers dye their fish?That sugar could be as bad for you as tobacco?That you might have been better off eating butter rather than margarine all along?That industrial processing removes much of the nutritional value of the food it produces?That by changing our diets we could reduce cancers by a third?That corporations are shaping our bodies, our minds and the future of the planet? Eat Your Heat Out explains how big business took control of what we eat – and why so few of us even noticed. Crossing the globe in search of agribusiness's darkest secrets, Felicity Lawrence uncovers some startling facts and stomach-churning figures. Essential reading for anyone who cares about their health and our planet.”"

ASPARTAME - The Shocking Story of the World's Bestselling Sweetener
The Ecologist, eptember 2005; pages 35-51
Article available here Article on specific issue of artifucial sweeteners. "Aspartame is the most controversial food additive in history. The most recent evidence, linking it to leukaemia and lymphoma, has added substantial fuel to the ongoing protests of doctors, scientists and consumer groups who allege that this artificial sweetener should never have been released onto the market and that allowing it to remain in the food chain is killing us by degrees......... "

Sweet Misery, December 2006
Link to website and purchase details
Extract available on YouTube
Film about Aspartame "The artificial sweetener, aspartame, is the bedrock of the diet industry. Found in everything from fizzy drinks to vitamin pills and marketed under a variety of different names, it is difficult to detect and even harder to avoid. But is it safe? Does it really cause brain tumours, blindness and other serious illnesses? This shocking documentary investigates how the FDA came to approve such a potentially dangerous product. "

The Corporation.
A Film by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott and Joel Bakan.
Link to website and purchase details
Extracts available on YouTube
Film covering a variety of issues, several of which relate to food and drugs "WINNER OF 26 INTERNATIONAL AWARD. 10 Audience Choice Awards including the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Provoking, witty, stylish and sweepingly informative, THE CORPORATION explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Part film and part movement, The Corporation is transforming audiences and dazzling critics with its insightful and compelling analysis. Taking its status as a legal "person" to the logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist's couch to ask "What kind of person is it?" The Corporation includes interviews with 40 corporate insiders and critics - including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore - plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change. "

Blythman, Joanna.
Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets.
Link to bookseller Book. "An elegant demolition of the supermarket miracle, this book charts the impact that supermarkets have had on every aspect of our lives and culture. Did you know! / Almost 50% of supermarket fruit and vegetables contain pesticide residues? / UK supermarkets make 40p on every GBP1 spent on bananas while plantations workers are paid just 1p? / Supermarkets instill a climate of fear amongst their suppliers? / Every time a supermarket opens the local community loses on average 276 jobs? In the 1970s, British supermarkets had only 10% of the UK's grocery spend. Now they swallow up 80%, influencing how we shop, what we eat, how we spend our leisure time, how much rubbish we generate, even the very look of our physical environment. Award-winning food writer Joanna Blythman investigates the enormous impact that these big box retailers are having on our lives. She meets the farmers who are selling food to supermarkets for less than they need to survive and the wholesalers who have been eliminated from the supply chain; she travels to suburban retail parks to meet the teenagers and part-timers who stack our shelves and reveals the hoops third world suppliers must jump through to earn supermarket contracts. This thought-provoking, witty and sometimes chilling voyage of discovery is sure to make you think twice before you enthusiastically reach for that supermarket trolley again. Contains new material on the 'Tesocisation' of Britain. Joanna Blythman is Britain's leading investigative food journalist and an influential commentator on the British food chain."

Corporate Breakdown - Pharmaceuticals
by Julain Oram & Jessica Bridges-Palmer
Publisher: New Economics Foundation
Available online here Report by NEF ""

The drugs industry and its watchdog: a relationship too close for comfort?
The Guardian Monday October 4, 2004
Article available here Newspaper article on specific issue "Critics say the drug regulator and the industry are too close. Their proceedings have long been shrouded in secrecy because of the drug companies' insistence on the commercial sensitivity of information relating to their products. Documents obtained by the Guardian under the open government code reveal the reality of relations between the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the trade association of the industry it regulates."

Name and Link	Type of Resource	Description

Lawrence, Felicity. Industry lobbying derailed junk food ban Guardian, April 22 2006 Article available here	Newspaper article on specific issue	"Broadcasting regulator met food bosses 29 times Advertising controls too weak, say campaigners"
Lawrence, Felicity. Eat Your Heart Out: Why the Food Business is Bad for the Planet and Your Health. Link to bookseller	Book.	"“Why is it... That almost all the processed foods we eat contain the same handful of ingredients? That these handful of ingredients are produced by only a handful of multi-nationals? That some cereals contain more salt per serving than a packet of crisps? That served with milk, sugar and raisins, some cardboard packets have been said to be more nutritious than the cereal they contain? That there are half the number of dairy farms in the UK than there were 10 years ago?That over the same period the turnover of the top 20 global dairy corporations has increased by 60%? That over 60% of all processed foods in Britain contain soya?That the UK government's Committee on the Toxicity of Food judged that eating soya could have hormone-disrupting effects? That in 1970, a hundred grams of an average chicken contained less than 9 grams of fat, but today it contains nearly 23 grams of fat?That the amount of protein in that chicken has fallen by more than 30%? That children aged 4-14 in the UK get 16-17% of their daily calories from processed sugars?That the World Health Organisation's recommended limit is 10%? That industrialised farming uses 50 times more energy than traditional farming?That livestock farming creates greater carbon emissions than all of global transport put together?That some salmon farmers dye their fish?That sugar could be as bad for you as tobacco?That you might have been better off eating butter rather than margarine all along?That industrial processing removes much of the nutritional value of the food it produces?That by changing our diets we could reduce cancers by a third?That corporations are shaping our bodies, our minds and the future of the planet? Eat Your Heat Out explains how big business took control of what we eat – and why so few of us even noticed. Crossing the globe in search of agribusiness's darkest secrets, Felicity Lawrence uncovers some startling facts and stomach-churning figures. Essential reading for anyone who cares about their health and our planet.”"
ASPARTAME - The Shocking Story of the World's Bestselling Sweetener The Ecologist, eptember 2005; pages 35-51 Article available here	Article on specific issue of artifucial sweeteners.	"Aspartame is the most controversial food additive in history. The most recent evidence, linking it to leukaemia and lymphoma, has added substantial fuel to the ongoing protests of doctors, scientists and consumer groups who allege that this artificial sweetener should never have been released onto the market and that allowing it to remain in the food chain is killing us by degrees......... "
Sweet Misery, December 2006 Link to website and purchase details Extract available on YouTube	Film about Aspartame	"The artificial sweetener, aspartame, is the bedrock of the diet industry. Found in everything from fizzy drinks to vitamin pills and marketed under a variety of different names, it is difficult to detect and even harder to avoid. But is it safe? Does it really cause brain tumours, blindness and other serious illnesses? This shocking documentary investigates how the FDA came to approve such a potentially dangerous product. "
The Corporation. A Film by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott and Joel Bakan. Link to website and purchase details Extracts available on YouTube	Film covering a variety of issues, several of which relate to food and drugs	"WINNER OF 26 INTERNATIONAL AWARD. 10 Audience Choice Awards including the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Provoking, witty, stylish and sweepingly informative, THE CORPORATION explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Part film and part movement, The Corporation is transforming audiences and dazzling critics with its insightful and compelling analysis. Taking its status as a legal "person" to the logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist's couch to ask "What kind of person is it?" The Corporation includes interviews with 40 corporate insiders and critics - including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore - plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change. "
Blythman, Joanna. Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets. Link to bookseller	Book.	"An elegant demolition of the supermarket miracle, this book charts the impact that supermarkets have had on every aspect of our lives and culture. Did you know! / Almost 50% of supermarket fruit and vegetables contain pesticide residues? / UK supermarkets make 40p on every GBP1 spent on bananas while plantations workers are paid just 1p? / Supermarkets instill a climate of fear amongst their suppliers? / Every time a supermarket opens the local community loses on average 276 jobs? In the 1970s, British supermarkets had only 10% of the UK's grocery spend. Now they swallow up 80%, influencing how we shop, what we eat, how we spend our leisure time, how much rubbish we generate, even the very look of our physical environment. Award-winning food writer Joanna Blythman investigates the enormous impact that these big box retailers are having on our lives. She meets the farmers who are selling food to supermarkets for less than they need to survive and the wholesalers who have been eliminated from the supply chain; she travels to suburban retail parks to meet the teenagers and part-timers who stack our shelves and reveals the hoops third world suppliers must jump through to earn supermarket contracts. This thought-provoking, witty and sometimes chilling voyage of discovery is sure to make you think twice before you enthusiastically reach for that supermarket trolley again. Contains new material on the 'Tesocisation' of Britain. Joanna Blythman is Britain's leading investigative food journalist and an influential commentator on the British food chain."
Corporate Breakdown - Pharmaceuticals by Julain Oram & Jessica Bridges-Palmer Publisher: New Economics Foundation Available online here	Report by NEF	""
The drugs industry and its watchdog: a relationship too close for comfort? The Guardian Monday October 4, 2004 Article available here	Newspaper article on specific issue	"Critics say the drug regulator and the industry are too close. Their proceedings have long been shrouded in secrecy because of the drug companies' insistence on the commercial sensitivity of information relating to their products. Documents obtained by the Guardian under the open government code reveal the reality of relations between the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the trade association of the industry it regulates."