Greenwashing gives canned-food cabal black eye

A canned-food industry cabal met secretly last week in an attempt to greenwash questions about a chemical used to line food and drink packages. But reporters at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel got a hold of a memo on the meeting and instead gave the industry a black eye.

I’m not sure which is more embarrassing: the stupidity of getting caught, or being exposed for holding such a cynical, devious meeting. Richard Wiles of Environmental Working Group told reporters Susanne Rust and Meg Kissinger :

“I mean, it seems over the top, even by industry. I’m amazed in this day and age they’d write this stuff down.”

As Rust and Kissinger reported Friday:

Frustrated at media portrayals of bisphenol A as a dangerous chemical, food-packaging executives and lobbyists for the chemical makers met this week at an exclusive Washington, D.C., club where they hammered out a strategy, including showcasing a pregnant woman to talk about the chemical’s benefits. …

A pregnant woman would be “the holy grail” to serve as a spokeswoman, the memo says. Attendees said they doubted they could find a scientist to serve as a spokesman for BPA.

When asked why it would be hard to find a scientist to tout the chemical’s benefits, Rost told the Journal Sentinel that any studies paid for by chemical makers are discounted by the media.

“The minute industry pays for a meal or an airline ticket, that scientist is tainted as working for industry,” Rost said. “They put their reputations at risk.”

Alcoa, Coke, Crown Holdings, Del Monte, the American Chemistry Council, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, and the North American Metal Packaging Alliance Inc. were among the companies and trade groups that sent participants to the meeting.

Rust and Kissinger’s series have been reporting on the EPA’s failure to regulate certain chemicals in consumer products that studies say are harmful to people. Among uncovering other dangers, they wrote in December 2007 years ago about links between BPA and breast cancer, testicular cancer and diabetes, but the industry has so far avoided regulation.

My question: How often does industry hold meetings like this one that we don’t find out about?

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