The Center for Consumer Freedom is handing out its annual Nanny Awards, and we want you to vote for the worst food cop of 2007.
The competition is fierce. Vying for the title are overzealous state legislators pushing bans on common food ingredients; health officials prohibiting full-grown adults from eating dessert; prominent food activists caught in acts of rank hypocrisy; and animal-rights fanatics using the force of law to make food companies conform to their radical anti-meat dogmas.
Here are a few of the top contenders:
Wayne Pacelle: The “If You Can’t Beat Them, Kill Them” Award — It was a pretty rough year for the president of the $152 million Humane Society of the United States. In May, Pacelle got battered during a Congressional hearing for his claims about mad cow disease. In the wake of the Michael Vick dog fighting scandal, HSUS promised to care for the disgraced NFL star’s pit bulls. When it was later revealed that HSUS was doing nothing of the sort, Pacelle publicly recommended that government officials kill the dogs.
Thomas Frieden: The “Der Kommissar” Award — As commissioner of New York City’s absurdly named “Department of Health and Mental Hygiene,” Frieden spearheaded a ban of trans fat, a common ingredient in crackers and pastries. In November he reintroduced complex mandatory menu labeling legislation. No word yet on proof that his reheated menu labeling proposal works any better. (Good thing New York has already solved public health issues like tuberculosis, AIDS, and low birth weights.)
Adria Hinkle and Andrew Cook: The “Dumped Dogs Tell No Tales” Award — Let’s get this straight: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) employees Hinkle and Cook admitted in court to picking up perfectly healthy dogs and cats from North Carolina shelters, killing the animals in the back of their PETA-owned van, and tossing the bodies into nearby dumpsters. Yet PETA President Ingrid Newkirk criticized them only for using the dumpster!
Click here to view the rest of the nominees and vote for The Worst Food Nanny of 2007.
