Free Republic

It probably won’t shock you to hear that Big Pharma is cozying up with our food industry. But the depth of this unholy alliance might just knock your socks off. Fox News host Jesse Watters is shining a spotlight on this issue by featuring a former Coca-Cola employee who’s spilling the beans on exactly how Big Pharma and Big Food manipulate the system to benefit themselves—and, as usual, leave the rest of us in the lurch.Calley Means blows the lid off how Big Food and Big Pharma have manipulated our health for profit. Mr. Means details how these industries have...

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Sunday proposed a sweeping agriculture and rural investment plan to break up big agriculture monopolies and shift farm subsidies toward small family farmers. “I think a farmer that produces the food we eat may be almost as important as some crook on Wall Street who destroys the economy,” Sanders said during a campaign event in Osage, a town of fewer than 4,000 people. “Those of us who come from rural America have nothing to be ashamed about, and the time is long overdue for us to stand up and fight for our way of...

Don Barrett, a Mississippi lawyer, took in hundreds of millions of dollars a decade ago after suing Big Tobacco and winning record settlements from R. J. Reynolds, Philip Morris and other cigarette makers. So did Walter Umphrey, Dewitt M. Lovelace and Stuart and Carol Nelkin. Ever since, the lawyers have been searching for big paydays in business, scoring more modest wins against car companies, drug makers, brokerage firms and insurers. Now, they have found the next target: food manufacturers. More than a dozen lawyers who took on the tobacco companies have filed 25 cases against industry players like ConAgra Foods,...

‘Million Big Gulp March’ Takes Aim At Bloomberg’s Proposed Big Drink Ban July 9, 2012 11:14 AM NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A rally will be held Monday against Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed ban on super-sized sugary drinks. About 1,000 protesters chanting “Drink Free Or Die” are expected to take part in the “Million Big Gulp March” in City Hall Park at 4:30 p.m. Monday. Business owners, local politicians and others against the proposed ban are all expected to take part, according to NYC Liberty HQ spokesman Zach Huff. “The ‘Million Big Gulp March’ is about more than just the size...

Food costs likely to boost obesity in poor Healthier choices will be even more out of reach, experts say. By Alfred Lubrano Inquirer Staff Writer Some of the fattest people in America are among the poorest. And with food prices rising, the problem is likely to get worse. Tianna Gaines, who describes herself as impoverished and obese, knows this. At 5-foot-3 and 242 pounds, she lives on public assistance in Frankford and eats junk food because it's cheap and more readily available in her neighborhood than carrots and apples. Besides, said Gaines, 28, and a mother of three, "I don't...

ROBYN O’BRIEN likes to joke that at least she hasn’t started checking the rearview mirror to see if she’s being followed. But some days, her imagination gets away from her and she wonders if it’s only a matter of time before Big Food tries to stop her from exposing what she sees as a profit-driven global conspiracy whose collateral damage is an alarming increase in childhood food allergies. Ms. O’Brien has presented her views, albeit in a less radical wrapper, on CNN, CBS and in frequent print interviews. Frontier Airlines and Wild Oats stores distribute the allergy-awareness gear she designed....

Canadian scientists are performing DNA tests on a tuft of hair said to come from a sasquatch, a legendary ape-like creature also known as Bigfoot. Geneticists at the University of Alberta have been given the hair by witnesses who say it came from the mysterious animal. The residents of a Yukon town say they saw the creature earlier this month. The scientists say they think it unlikely that the hair belongs to a giant ape. Witnesses in Teslin say they saw a tall, ape-like creature lope past a house in the middle of the night, leaving behind large footprints and...

In one case, a chunk of alleged Bigfoot hair has been sent to Vancouver for DNA testing. Also, an extra large set of footprints was found in the woods. "My Uncle Doug, he's been in the bush, he says it's not a bear track or anything he's ever seen," said resident Trent Smarch. Some claim to have even seen one of the animals. "When I looked up, it was just standing there, like watching me," said resident Roger Smarch. Residents say that tree branches in the area have been broken off at the 10-foot level. In all, about nine people...

Earlier this year the Food and Drug Administration's Obesity Working Group issued its "Calories Count" report urging the FDA to work with restaurants to disclose the number of calories in the products they sell," according to an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal. "But that's not good enough for some grinches in Congress. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin (D) and Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D) plan to re-introduce bills requiring chain restaurants with more than 20 outlets to list calorie counts either on menu boards or printed menus." In "Government Gets Fat Fighting Obesity," Cato policy analyst Radley Balko writes: "The...