Letter urging nine public universities to stop participating in an irradiated food "consumer education" campaign. |
Oct. 5, 2001 Dear Dean, As you may be aware, members of your faculty are participating in a nine-state, USDA-funded "consumer education" project focusing on food irradiation. The principal investigator of the project is Christine Bruhn, a marketing professor at UC-Davis. Enclosed are excerpts from Dr. Bruhn s grant application to the USDA. From reading this document, it becomes clear that this "consumer education" project is, in truth, a marketing campaign intended to enhance consumer acceptance of irradiated food and increase the sales of these products. Dr. Bruhn states in the application: · "Objective 1" includes "increasing consumer knowledge and acceptance of foods processed by irradiation." · The "team" in each of the nine states will "recommend a meat or poultry product to be irradiated, a supermarket to stock the product, and a community to offer the product.... Each "team" will include representatives from food retailers and the meat/poultry industry. · "Volunteers" who taste irradiated food products "will receive a small financial incentive for participating." · "More participants are expected to be interested in purchasing irradiated meat and poultry after viewing the video tape and participating in the discussion. · The impact of the educational program will ... be measured by consumer response to irradiated foods available to the community." · Economists in California and Kansas "will work with supermarkets in their states to assess market response to irradiated meat or poultry ... in comparison to non-irradiated products." In an e-mail to her collaborators, Dr. Bruhn states the project will include these components: · "Deliver consumer programs on food safety/irradiation to community groups within each state where irradiated meat or poultry will be offered." · "Note affect of educational program on attitude of consumer participants." · "Conduct an economic analysis of market response to irradiated food offered in the test markets. This may involve several products in each state." · "Measure consumer satisfaction with irradiated products.... Information could provide guidance for future education or market activities." · "Identify at least one retailer who will offer irradiated meat and poultry as a pilot program." · "Deliver programs directly to consumers in at (sic) community which will offer irradiated meat and poultry." · "Expand educational program to additional communities or regions of the state." · "Track and analyze sales data. Gather data on consumer satisfaction and information needs." This plan contains all of the elements one would expect to find in an advertising and marketing campaign: selecting the product, testing the product on potential markets and gauging the responses, gauging the responses to informational material, monitoring sales, and adjusting advertising and sales strategies based on consumer responses. On behalf of our 150,000 members, we find it objectionable that a public university would be spending taxpayer dollars on what amounts to a marketing campaign to sell irradiated food products. Making this endeavor more objectionable, these are products that numerous public opinion polls indicate Americans do not want to eat. From 1998 to 2000, the percentage of shoppers who told the Food Marketing Institute that they would buy irradiated food dropped from 79 percent to 38 percent. According to a 1997 CBS News poll, 73 percent of people surveyed said that food should not be irradiated, and 77 percent said they would not eat irradiated food -- including
Having examined Dr. Bruhn project s in great detail, we question the objectivity and scientific value of the work involved. Therefore, we strongly urge your university to back out of this project, lest the credibility of your department suffers. We trust that the university will do what is right for its faculty and students, and what is right for the American consumer. Sincerely, Wenonah Hauter
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