{"id":472,"date":"2010-03-23T15:22:17","date_gmt":"2010-03-23T20:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/nanotechnology\/?p=472"},"modified":"2024-02-12T11:02:36","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T16:02:36","slug":"up-from-the-depths-of-deception-the-chemical-industrys-astroturf-group-loses-a-member-the-ocean-futures-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2010\/03\/23\/up-from-the-depths-of-deception-the-chemical-industrys-astroturf-group-loses-a-member-the-ocean-futures-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Up from the depths of deception: The chemical industry\u2019s \u201castroturf\u201d group loses a member, the Ocean Futures Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.<\/em><\/p>\n

Remember all of my earlier posts<\/a> about the industry front group, the Coalition for Chemical Safety<\/a>?\u00a0 My major complaint was, not that the chemical industry was organizing itself or even seeking support from others, but rather that it was doing so through deception:\u00a0 Pretending to be something it was not.\u00a0 Never revealing who is behind the coalition, who\u2019s paying the bills.\u00a0 Never revealing it was put together by one of the nation\u2019s premier \u201castroturf\u201d PR firms.\u00a0 And most importantly, not coming clean about its real identity to the businesses and organizations it approaches to sign up.<\/p>\n

Well, the Ocean Futures Society<\/a>, an ocean protection group founded and led by Jean-Michel Cousteau, has just identified itself as one of the duped groups taken in by the Coalition for Chemical Safety (CCS).\u00a0 <\/p>\n

In an article posted today on Huffington Post<\/em><\/a>, Holly Lohuis reveals how the Ocean Futures Society (OFS) was approached to join CCS, but was never told it was a front group of the chemical industry or that the coalition was backed by interests whose positions are wholly at odds with those of her group.\u00a0 OFS supports, for example, elimination of brominated flame retardants, the concentration of which, Holly points out, are doubling every three years in populations of harbor seals and killer whales in the Pacific Northwest.<\/p>\n

Says Holly:\u00a0 \u201cOnce I was convinced I was being duped, I withdrew OFS support from the front group and joined the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families<\/em><\/strong> coalition<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 She further notes:\u00a0 \u201cUnlike the front group, they have nothing to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holly calls for an \u201chonest dialogue\u201d between all interests that have a stake in chemicals policy reform, noting that Dow Chemical was the main sponsor of her group\u2019s PBS Ocean Adventures television series.<\/p>\n

She adds:\u00a0 \u201cFake grassroots groups like CCS are a distraction from the real work before us. \u00a0Any group that serves to confuse the public and to dupe committed people like me is harming our chances to secure urgently needed reform of our nation’s toxic chemical laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honest dialogue versus continued deception.\u00a0 Seems like the chemical industry has an important choice to make.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist. Remember all of my earlier posts about the industry front group, the Coalition for Chemical Safety?\u00a0 My major complaint was, not that the chemical industry was organizing itself or even seeking support from others, but rather that it was doing so through deception:\u00a0 Pretending to be something it …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,56093],"tags":[731,5021,5020],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policy","category-industry-influence","tag-front-group","tag-chemical-industry-tactics","tag-safer-chemicals-healthy-families"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t