Lies, Lies and More Damned Lies

I'm in a rare state of despair today because I've learned once again that ads are often jut cold, polished lies.

My state began a while back when learning that the bottled water on which I'd been spending so much of my money was actually just tap water. The story's here, if you care to look. But you've probably already had doubts of your own.

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/01/25/pepsico-finally-comes-clean-and-admits-the-truth-about-their-bottled-water/

True, none of us could have expected that our designer tap water might actually threaten our health--with something like...oh, say...a tapeworm:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7mNTpRB9F0

Still, life went on. My despair ebbed as I started watching closely, and more closely still, the food I put into my body. I eyed the labels like a hawk, on the watch for sugar in any form, preservatives, etc.

But I read a story this week that rocked my boat and should rock yours. Whether you're a Vegan, vegetarian or meat lover, the same question concerns us all: can we trust the labels or even the stores? Is 'organic' food really organic? Are 'cage-free' chickens actually cage-free? Are 'grass-fed' cows actually grass-fed? Is 'free range' actually so?

Here's one ad that sure sounds good, for yummy free range chickens:

http://www.maryschickens.com/


But:

'Direct Action Everywhere, whose mission is to create animal welfare-friendly cities and outlaw factory farming practices, visited a dozen Pitman farms and never once saw a chicken roaming outside. The group reported that it found no indications of outdoor living, such as feathers or fecal matter. Twenty-four hour surveillance cameras attached to six separate locations revealed no outdoor birds either, the activists said. Instead, chickens were packed shoulder-to-shoulder inside dusty sheds with degraded air quality, forced to challenge one another for access to food and water.'
--the intercept.com, 9/15/17


So free range may mean, Dasani-style, not cage-free.

And does cage-free actually mean anything better than factory farm?

For your consideration:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/theyre-being-eaten-alive-what-i-saw-in-a-cage_us_580a5aefe4b0b1bd89fdb1d0

I don't argue that you should be Vegan or that you shouldn't eat meat. But all of us should be empowered to make enlightened dietary decisions. And this is something we can't do if the labels lie.


“The industry is in bed with the government,” said (Wayne) Hsiung. “I’m a former securities lawyer. It’s similar to the financial industry. The USDA’s mission statement is to promote agriculture. You can’t promote the industry and guard against the industry’s abuses. It’s like trying to be a lawyer for both sides of a litigation.”