CENTER FOR CONSUMER FREEDOM

The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) exists to protect fast food restaurants, giant meat companies, Big Soda, and more from government policies that would cut into their profits. Supposedly in the name of consumer freedom and choice, CCF opposes smoking bans in restaurants, menu labeling, health warnings about mercury in fish, and public policies trying to address the food industrys role in obesity. CCF labels research challenging the bottom line of these companies junk science and works to tarnish the image of public interest groups with opposition research and name-calling. CCF was formed in the mid-90s as the Guest Choice Network (GCN). GCN was formed to fight bans on smoking in restaurants and bars1 and received considerable funding from the tobacco industry, including $600,000 in seed money pledged by Philip Morris.2 Philip Morris sought a consultant who [was] both a hospitality industry insider as well as a legislatively astute individual to help them gain chain restaurant participation in their anti-smoking ban program.3 In a letter pitching GCN to a Philip Morris executive, made public in documents released under a 1998 settlement of a multi-state lawsuit against tobacco companies, Berman recommended a restaurant-driven program that connects instantly with restaurant operators to fight smoking bans, arguing that if externally perceived as driven by restaurant interests, there will be more flexibility and creativity allowed than if it is owned by Philip Morris.4 GCN received more than $2.5 million over the years from Phillip Morris.5 Other early supporters of GCN included Alliance Gaming Corporation, Anheuser-Busch, The Bruss Company, Cargill, Harrahs Entertainment, International Gaming Corporation, Overhill Farms, and Standard Meat Company.6 Under the GCN moniker, Berman and his employees waged campaigns against a number of targets who threatened the bottom line of the tobacco, restaurant, food, and beverage industries.7

GCN became CCF in 2001, shifting its focus to food and beverage issues. GCN changed its name in 2001 and shifted its focus to food and beverage issues, raised by concerns about obesity, mad cow disease and genetically modified products.8 On its old website, GCN explained its name change: As the anti-consumer forces expand their reach beyond restaurants and taverns, going into your communities and even your homes, were expanding our mission as well.9 Berman serves as president and executive director of CCF.10 In 2012, CCF paid Berman

Melanie Warner, Striking Back at the Food Police, New York Times, June 12, 2005. Tobacco lawsuit documents, available at http://www.consumerdeception.com/append4.html; Ian T. Shearn, Investigative Report: CCFs Richard Berman, The Humane Society of the United States, May 11, 2010. 3 Philip Morris USA Inter-Office Correspondence, October 19, 1995, available at http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/documentStore/m/j/p/mjp27d00/Smjp27d00.pdf. 4 Letter from Richard Berman to Barbara Trach, Senior Program Manager/Public Affairs at Philip Morris U.S.A., available at: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/documentStore/e/w/k/ewk06c00/Sewk06c00.pdf. 5 Tobacco lawsuit documents, available at http://www.consumerdeception.com/append4.html. 6 Guest Choice Network, Supporters, available at http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/vtp27d00/pdf. 7 Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, Berman & Co.: Nonprofit Hustlers for the Food & Booze Biz, PRWatch, First Quarter 2001, Volume 8, No. 1. 8 Caroline Mayer and Amy Joyce, The Escalating Obesity Wars, Washington Post, April 27, 2005. 9 http://web.archive.org/web/20020124091734/http://guestchoice.com/index.html. 10 Center for Consumer Freedom, IRS Form 990, Initial Return 2012, filed November 8, 2013.
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and Company, Inc. (BCI) $246,874, an amount equal to 24 percent of CCFs expenses that year.11 In 2014, CCFs name was officially changed to the Center for Organizational Research & Education (CORE). The name change was part of a restructuring to broaden the work that were doing, a BCI spokesperson told the Huffington Post.12 CCF continues to operate, however, as a trade name of CORE, as does CCFs HumaneWatch project.13 Berman admits he was asked to create the CCF by some corporate clients. As part of his testimony in a 2007 lawsuit involving the makers of the film Your Mommy Kills Animals, Berman said CCF is an entity that I was asked to create by some corporate clients.14 The lawsuit also revealed that Berman convinced Standard Meat Company and Hormel Foods to support the film.15 In 2009, David Martosko, at the time the director of research at BCI, told Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Rick Nichols that CCF was a business-proposed group.16 Another former CCF employee, Mike Burita, told Investors Business Daily in 2002 that CCF was a response to alarm in our industry over messaging and activism from animal-rights groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.17 That was the reason for our organization coming together, to kind of represent the other side, said Burita. Berman admits the bulk of CCFs funding comes from food and restaurant companies. According to the New York Times, Berman readily acknowledges that he gets the bulk of his funds from food and restaurant companies, some of which are also clients of his lobbying firm.18 Berman always refuses to name specific companies supporting CCF, but he previously told a reporter around 100 companies, including some large brands, have contributed.19 Berman thinks identifying his clients wouldnt serve any purpose.20 CCF doesnt think this is a problem. Former CCF spokesman Burita told the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2003, Were very straightforward that we represent restaurant companies and food and beverage companies.21 Regarding the claim in the organizations name that it represents consumers, Burita said, As long as we disclose where were coming from, I dont think its disingenuous.22 In 2002, Berman, in his capacity as executive director of CCF, testified before the House Committee on Resources Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health about eco-terrorism and lawlessness on the national forests. Berman opened his written testimony by saying, on behalf of American

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Id. James Gerken, Environmental Policy Alliance, PR Firm Front Group, Targets LEED, Green Groups and EPA, Huffington Post, March 7, 2014. 13 Sara Johnson, LEED Exposed: Beltway Astroturf Organization Sets Sights on Green Building, Architect, March 6, 2014. 14 Cross Testimony of Richard B. Berman, September 19, 2007. This quote can publicly be found here: http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/opposition/berman-tax/berman_tax_private_benefit.html. 15 Mark Drajem and Brian Wingfield, Union Busting by Profiting From Non-Profit May Breach IRS, Bloomberg, November 2, 2012; Shearn, The Humane Society of the United States, May 11, 2010. 16 Rick Nichols, On The Side: Take This Gimmick With A Grain of Salt, Philadelphia Inquirer, March 26, 2009. 17 Sean Higgins, For Animal Rights Activists, Food Industry Is Juicy Target, Investors Business Daily, March 27, 2002. 18 Warner, New York Times, June 12, 2005. 19 Id. 20 Id. 21 James Herbert, Consider the Sources If You Can Identify It, San Diego Union-Tribune, July 1, 2003. 22 Id.

restaurant operators and food producers, I would like to thank you for holding this hearing today.23 Food industry officials prefer to keep CCF donations anonymous, but major companies, including Coca-Cola, Wendys, Tyson Foods, and Cargill, have acknowledged their support. According to the Washington Post, food industry officials admit that by keeping the sponsors anonymous, Bermans group can be more vociferous, provocative and irreverent in its criticisms than a trade association.24 The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has posted information about CCFs funding online and says it obtained the information from a former CCF staff member.25 CMDs list shows corporate contributors to the group as of 2002 included Monsanto, Cargill, Outback Steakhouse, Brinker International, RTM Restaurant Group, HMS Host, Coca-Cola, Wendys, and Tyson Foods.26 Though Berman has said the list of sponsors is only in part accurate, Coca-Cola confirmed to the Times it had donated to CCF, calling the organization valuable as another voice in the debate.27 A Wendys spokesperson confirmed the companys past support for CCF to the Washington Post in 2005, but refused to say how much or when the company contributed.28 Officials for Tysons confirmed to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 2003 the poultry company had supported CCF, but they refused to say how much they contributed or whether they would continue to do so. Pilgrims Pride told the Democrat-Gazette the company had given $100,000 a year to Berman while Cargill officials told the paper that they had given as much as $100,000 to Berman in the past.29 The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determined CCF violated tax rules when it attacked presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) alleged in a 2004 IRS complaint CCF had violated its tax-exempt status in three ways: 1) by engaging in prohibited electioneering against presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH); 2) by making substantial payments to the founder of the organization Richard Berman and to Bermans wholly owned for profit entity Berman & Co.; and 3) by engaging in activities with no charitable purpose.30 In 2010, the New York Times reported the IRS audited CCF after the complaint was filed and found that the center had violated regulations prohibiting charities from engaging in politicking when it attacked Rep. Kucinich, but did not impose penalties because the group had taken steps to prevent such violations in the future.31 The CREW complaint may have also forced changes to CCFs board. As Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ian Shearn noted in an investigative report for the Humane Society of the United States, In 2007, the charitys returns showed two of CCFs five board members one a Berman and Co. employee, and the other a board member on another one of Bermans public charities had

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Rick Berman testimony, Oversight Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health of the House Committee on Resources, February 12, 2002. 24 Mayer and Joyce, Washington Post, Apr. 27, 2005. 25 Source Watch, CCF Funding, available at http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/CCF_funding; Warner, New York Times, June 12, 2005. 26 Source Watch, CCF Funding, available at http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/CCF_funding. 27 Paul Barton, Poultry Firms Side with Lobbyist in PR Battle with Animal-Welfare Group, Arkansas DemocratGazette, September 23, 2003; Warner, New York Times, June 12, 2005. 28 Mayer and Joyce, Washington Post, Apr. 27, 2005. 29 Barton, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Sept. 23, 2003. 30 Press Release, CREW, CREW Files Complaint Against Center for Consumer Freedom Alleging Violations of Tax Exempt Status, November 16, 2004. 31 Stephanie Strom, Nonprofit Advocate Carves Out a For-Profit Niche, New York Times, June 17, 2010.

been replaced. In the IRS complaint, [CREW] had specifically challenged the two directors ability to exercise independent judgment because of their conflicting roles with Berman.32 CCFs ActivistCash website profiles advocacy organizations, especially those critical of the food and beverage industry. Launched in 2001 by GCN, the website was touted in a press release as the first and only online resource exposing the funding sources of the most notorious and extreme groups that conspire to restrict the publics food and beverage choices through intimidation, taxation and misinformation.33 As of March 2014, the websites main page claims that despite their innocent-sounding names, some of the organizations are financial Goliaths that use junk science, intimidation tactics, and even threats of violence to push their radical agendas.34 The website claims to be committed to 100 percent accuracy, but it is actually filled with aggressive and negative opinions about advocacy groups. ActivistCash does carry positive profiles of some groups, including other BCI organizations such as CCF, the Center for Union Facts (CUF), and Defeat the Debt, a project of the Employment Policies Institute (EmPI). ActivistCash also positively profiles The Lynne and Harry Bradley Foundation, but neglects to mention that the Bradley Foundation has given $375,000 to CCF, more than $2 million to EmPI, and almost $2 million to CUF.35 CCF opposes government action to reduce obesity and mocks the idea of it as a public health crisis.36 An ongoing effort of CCF is to push back, often preemptively, against anyone seeking to improve American health by regulating the food, restaurant, and beverage industries. In 2004, CCF ran television ads featuring the actor who played the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld and ordering overweight people to eat salad or not at all.37 CCF claimed the ad was in response to the latest gathering of the nations leading food cops, dietary puritans, and greedy trial lawyers, who joined together to plot their next attacks on restaurants and food companies in the battle of the bulge.38 In 2005, CCF ran $600,000 worth of full-page ads in a multiple newspapers

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Shearn, The Humane Society of the United States, May 11, 2010. Press Release, Guest Choice Network, ActivistCash.com Follows Money Trail of Leading Animal Rights, Environmentalist and Anti-Corporate Activists, December 18, 2001. 34 http://www.activistcash.com/. 35 ActivistCash profile, Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, available at http://www.activistcash.com/organizations/509-lynde-and-harry-bradley-foundation/; The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, 2009 Grant Awards, available at http://www.bradleyfdn.org/pdfs/Grants2009/09-Bradley-Grantees.pdf; The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, 2010 Grant Awards, available at http://www.bradleyfdn.org/pdfs/Grants2010/10PublicDiscourse.pdf; The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, 2011 Grantees, available at http://www.bradleyfdn.org/pdfs/Grants2011/11PublicDiscourse.pdf; The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Strengthen Private Initiative 2006 Grant Awards, available at http://www.bradleyfdn.org/pdfs/Grants2006/06PrivateInitiative.pdf; The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Strengthen Private Initiative 2007 Grant Awards, available at http://www.bradleyfdn.org/pdfs/Grants2007/07PrivateInitiative.pdf; The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Strengthen Private Initiative 2008 Grant Awards, available at http://www.bradleyfdn.org/pdfs/Grants2008/08PrivateInitiative.pdf; The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, 2012 Annual Report, available at http://www.bradleyfdn.org/pdfs/Reports2012/2012AnnualReport.pdf. 36 Center for Consumer Freedom, Americas Real Obesity Crisis, April 9, 2012, available at http://www.consumerfreedom.com/2012/04/americas-real-obesity-crisis-2/. 37 Warner, New York Times, June 12, 2005; Center for Consumer Freedom, New CCF Ad Features Seinfelds Soup Nazi, September 28, 2004, available at http://www.consumerfreedom.com/2004/09/2652-new-ccf-ad-featuresseinfelds-soup-nazi/. 38 Id.

bellowing, Americans have been force-fed a steady diet of obesity myths by the food police, trial lawyers, and even our own government.39 CCF even released a book called An Epidemic of Obesity Myths.40 The argument CCF makes over and over again is that obesity is an issue of individual responsibility and lack of physical activity that shouldnt be blamed on food and restaurant options.41 Berman is very dismissive of claims that obesity is a disease, telling 60 Minutes, if this a disease, this is going to be only disease in the country that you could solve by taking long walks and keeping your mouth shut.42 CCF baselessly attacks research suggesting food or drink are harmful or contribute to obesity. CCF dismissed a seminal 2001 Harvard study on obesity as dubious science.43 The study, co-authored by Dr. David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Childrens Hospital Boston, found daily soda drinking significantly increases the risk of children becoming obese. Dr. Ludwig asserted his own research techniques were commonly used and his methodology has been validated, and can provide important and useful information if used accurately. He told the San Francisco Chronicle that Berman and his staff didnt contact him to discuss his research before attacking it publicly. Dr. Ludwig also said CCF engaged in highly selective quoting and missed the main point of his research.44 They make a lot of noise, but nobody in academia takes their arguments seriously, Dr. Ludwig told the New York Times. They stand for food industry freedom, not consumer freedom.45 Another researcher, Harvard professor Grace Wyshak, was dismissive of CCF criticism when they attacked her findings that physically active girls who drink sodas regularly are more likely to suffer from bone fractures. I showed there was a relationship between soda consumption, especially cola drinks, and bone fractures in physically active teenage girls, Wyshak told the San Francisco Chronicle. It is consistent with what is known, consistent with what we call biologically plausibility.46 CCF attacked concerns over mercury poisoning with its Fish Scam website. CCFs Fishscam.com sought to minimize concerns about mercury in fish and its health effects.47 In particular, CCF attacked federal agencies and activists that cautioned children, pregnant women, and those who might become pregnant to avoid eating more than about one serving of white albacore tuna a week.48 CCF complained about the recommended levels put out by the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), claiming they were overly cautious, but as an EPA spokesperson told the Village Voice, the recommendations were set using standard practices. Researchers have to factor in a safety cushion to make up for the variations among different body types and chemistries, the Voice reported after speaking to the EPA. What Berman is essentially saying is that theres no need to have a margin of error,

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Warner, New York Times, June 12, 2005. http://www.obesitymyths.com/index.cfm; Center for Consumer Freedom, An Epidemic of Obesity Myths, June 2, 2004, available at http://www.consumerfreedom.com/2004/06/153-an-epidemic-of-obesity-myths/. 41 Center for Consumer Freedom, Big Fat Lies, available at http://www.consumerfreedom.com/issues/big-fat-lies/. 42 Transcript, 60 Minutes, Dr. Evil, April 8, 2007. 43 Editorial, Truth Is Elusive in Soda Battle, San Francisco Chronicle, August 10, 2003. 44 Id. 45 Warner, New York Times, June 12, 2005. 46 Editorial, San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 10, 2003. 47 Amy Joyce, Full-Page Ads Launch Anti-Union Drive, Washington Post, February 14, 2006. 48 Aina Hunter, Mercury in Fish? Baloney!, Village Voice, January 10, 2006.

Jean Halloran, the director of food policy for Consumers Union, told the Voice. Its really extraordinary and extremely irresponsible.49 CCF opposes menu labeling despite Bermans fundamental philosophy to give people information and let them make their own mind up. Longtime Berman associate Dick Rivera, former CEO of TGI Fridays, told USA Today in 2006 that Bermans fundamental philosophy is, Give people information and let them make their own mind up.50 Berman and CCF, however, oppose providing restaurant patrons with dietary information.51 In a 2003 Hartford Courant op-ed, Berman called menu labeling in restaurants unmanageable and unenforceable, warning it would open a new door to frivolous litigation.52 In 2008, CCF issued a press release criticizing a New York City Board of Health requirement that chain restaurants post calorie information on their menus. One of BCIs former employees, J. Justin Wilson, has gone further, declaring to the Kansas City Star, Consumers do not have a right to know what country their meat comes from.53 If corporations want to provide that information, fine, Wilson argued.54 CCF ran a million-dollar ad campaign in 2009 defending high fructose corn syrup, claiming it is nutritionally the same as other sweeteners.55 The message of the CCF campaign, that sugar and high fructose corn syrup are basically the same, was essentially the same as a pro-high fructose corn syrup campaign run by the Corn Refiners Association (CRA), which represents syrup manufacturers such as Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, and Corn Products International.56 The president of the CRA told the Los Angeles Times the organization didnt contribute any funds to CCFs pro-corn syrup campaign, but applauded CCFs efforts. You would expect the food industry to defend such a widely used ingredient, said CRA President Audrae Erickson.57 Documents released as part of a lawsuit involving the sugar industry and corn refining industry, however, revealed that the CRA paid Bermans for-profit firm directly in order to be able to publicly deny a role in the CCF ad campaign. In a September 2009 e-mail to Cargill executives, CRAs Erickson wrote, As you know, our sponsorship of this campaign remains confidential. We are funding Berman & Co. directly, not the Center for Consumer Freedom which is running the ads. If asked, please feel free to state the following: The Corn Refiners Association is not funding the Center for Consumer Freedom.58 BCI was paid $3.5 million for its work on behalf of the CRA.59

Hunter, Village Voice, Jan. 10, 2006. Jayne ODonnell, Got A Nasty Fight? Heres Your Man, USA Today, July 31, 2006. 51 Press Release, Center for Consumer Freedom, Consumer Group Criticizes NYC Board of Health Over Menu Labeling Bill, January 22, 2008. 52 Richard Berman, Very Little Truth in Labeling, Hartford Courant, December 9, 2003. 53 Mike McGraw, Beefs Raw Edges, Kansas City Star, December 7, 2012. 54 Id. 55 Press Release, Center for Consumer Freedom, Million Dollar Ad Launch Challenges Misinformation about High Fructose Corn Syrup, September 29, 2009. 56 Melanie Warner, For Corn Syrup, The Sweet Talk Gets Harder, New York Times, May 1, 2010. 57 David Lazarus, Lets Limit Our Intake of Corn-Syrup Ads, Los Angeles Times, September 30, 2009. 58 Western Sugar Cooperative, et al. v. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, et al. 2:11-cv-03473-CBM-MAN, Exhibit 6, available at http://sweetsurprise.com/sites/default/files/pdf/Plaintiffs_Declaration_Exhibits.pdf. 59 Eric Lipton, Rival Industries Sweet-Talk the Public, New York Times, February 11, 2014.
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CCF launched HumaneWatch in 2010 to hurt public perception of the HSUS. That year, CCF spent nearly $1 million on the HumaneWatch.org project, placing attack ads in major newspapers like the New York Times and on billboards in New York City and Washington, D.C.60 The goal of HumaneWatch is to constantly hound the Humane Society and drag down its poll numbers via advertising and social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook, according to the Des Moines Register.61 Unsurprisingly, HumaneWatch has kept up a steady stream of attacks on HSUS since it launched, according to the Associated Press.62 HumaneWatch also seeks to hurt the Humane Societys fundraising, though CCF staffers publicly deny that this is a purpose of the project. Berman employee Martosko, who was the founding editor of HumaneWatch,63 claimed that he didnt want to dry up the donations to HSUS,64 but in a memo to big donors for a related project, Berman wrote that HumaneWatch had been far more successful than I anticipated in re-branding and re-positioning HSUS among a wide variety of Americans. ... HumaneWatch is having the intended effect of chilling some of the donation stream that HSUS would have expected prior to our campaign. 65 CCF expanded into environmental issues in 2014, attacking sportsmen groups, environmentalists, eco-friendly building, and the Environmental Protection Agency. In the final months of 2013 and the first few of 2014, CCF began weighing in on issues related to environmental policy that had not previously interested the organization. A December 2013 Forbes op-ed by BCI employee Anastasia Swearingen attacked the U.S. Green Building Councils Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification program.66 A month later, Swearingen published an op-ed on The Hills website claiming that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has deep-seeded transparency problems.67 At the end of January 2014, CCF sent press releases to hunting and fishing-related media, promoting a new project aimed at exposing self-anointed sportsmens advocacy groups for what they really are: Radical environmentalists with a hidden far-left agenda.68 Though these efforts were initially launched under the CCF name, by the end of February 2014 they were housed under the banner of a new Berman project, the Environmental Policy Alliance.69 Four projects are run using the Environmental Policy Alliance name: Green Decoys, which attacks several sportsmens groups; LEED Exposed, which attacks LEED certification; EPA Facts, which

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Center for Consumer Freedom, IRS Form 990, Initial Return 2010, filed November 10, 2011; HumaneWatch, New York Times/Wall Street Journal Ad: Surprised?, May 17, 2010, available at http://humanewatch.org/index.php/ads/detail/new_york_times_wall_street_journal_ad_surprised/. 61 Philip Brasher, Humane Society Pushes Ag Industry, Des Moines Register, May 1, 2010. 62 Steve Karnowski, Humane Society for Shelter Pets Allegedly Targeting Humane Society of the U.S., Associated Press, December 19, 2011. 63 HumaneWatch, Dealing with the Humaniacs, in 10 Easy Lessons, March 18, 2010, available at http://www.humanewatch.org/dealing_with_the_humaniacs_in_ten_easy_lessons/. 64 American Agriculturalist, A Bulldog at the HSUS Door, June 22, 2010, available at http://farmprogress.com/blogs-a-bulldog-at-the-hsus-door-1436. 65 Karnowski, Associated Press, Dec. 19, 2011. 66 Anastasia Swearingen, Those Green Schools You Hear About Arent So Green After All, Forbes, December 13, 2013. 67 Anastasia Swearingen, EPAs Transparency Problem, The Hill, January 15, 2014. 68 Chad Love, A Little Thursday Morning Bats**t Crazy, The Mallard of Discontent, January 30, 2014. 69 Press Release, Environmental Policy Alliance, LEED Certification Fails to increase Energy Efficiency, Says Environmental Policy Alliance, February 28, 2014;http://environmentalpolicyalliance.org/.

attacks the actual EPA; and Big Green Radicals, which attacks prominent environmental advocacy groups. Berman and CCF staffers have repeatedly compared their opponents to terrorists. According to a Beef magazine op-ed, at a 2012 meeting of the Iowa Cattlemen Associations Young Cattlemen Leadership Program, Will Coggin of CCF said, We dont believe in negotiating with groups like HSUS for the same reason the U.S. government doesnt negotiate with terrorists. They want to end our existence; we choose to continue to exist.70 Berman himself has made similar comparisons. Its like with terrorists, Berman told Human Events. You can be right 99 times, but they have to win only once.71 In a 2013 Grocery Headquarters op-ed criticizing animal welfare advocates, Berman argued that grocery retailers should not concede to the hostage-takers.72 The government does not negotiate with terrorists because it only encourages more terrorism, Berman wrote. Similarly, siding with the PETA/HSUS types who are against meat, dairy and eggs will only encourage them to make you a target again in the future. CCF maintains the following websites: ConsumerFreedom.com, ActivistCash.com, HumaneWatch.org, ObesityMyths.com, PhysicianScam.com, AnimalScam.com SweetScam.com, PetaKillsAnimals.com, MaternityPens.com, CSPIscam.com, CREWexposed.org, HandsOffMyBacon.com, EnvironmentalPolicyAlliance.org, GreenDecoys.com, LEEDExposed.com, EPAFacts.com, and BigGreenRadicals.com. In the past, CCF ran or owned the domains FishScam.com, HowMuchFish.com, LawsuitAddiction.com, MercuryFacts.org, TransfatFacts.com, SpicySprouts.com, MadCowScare.com, and HolyVeal.com.

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Dan Hanrahan, Opinion: Is Our Use of the Term Sustainability Sustainable?, Beef, July 19, 2012. Joseph DAgostino, Conservative Spotlight: Center for Consumer Freedom, Human Events, July 29, 2004. 72 Rick Berman, Food Forum: Stuck In The Middle, Grocery Headquarters, June 1, 2013.