Press Action Hero of the Week: NEAL BARNARD
Press Action
Sunday, February 15, 2004
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/hero02152004/
Many people are rolling their eyes in dismay at the controversy over whether Dr. Robert Atkins, the advocate of a diet heavy in animal products, was obese and suffering from heart problems at the time of his death in April 2003. Why not let the man rest in peace?
The problem is Atkins made a lot of enemies, along with significant wealth, through the promotion of his high-protein fad diet. Groups dedicated to the cause of human health and animal welfare view Atkins’ diet program as a ringing endorsement of the meat and dairy industries. Debunking Atkins’ claims has become a top priority of these organizations.
One of the Atkins Diet’s most intrepid adversaries is the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, the group that orchestrated the release of the medical information about Atkins’ medical condition at the time of his death. And the man behind the Washington, D.C.-based group is Dr. Neal Barnard, a psychiatrist originally from North Dakota who earned a place on the animal exploitation industry’s most wanted list soon after he founded PCRM in 1985.
Based on press accounts, Dr. Richard Fleming, a cardiologist and founder of the Fleming Heart and Health Institute in Omaha, Neb., obtained Atkins’ autopsy report from the New York City medical examiner’s office and gave the report to PCRM. Fleming’s lawyer contends that Fleming agreed to release the report to PCRM as long as the group used it only for research purposes.
Barnard counters that Fleming was well aware the report would be released to the press with the intention to stop the promotion of the Atkins Diet. PCRM gave Atkins’ medical report to the Wall Street Journal, which published a story on Feb. 10 reporting that Atkins was clinically obese at the time of his death.
Fleming was familiar with PCRM and had had a past association with the group. At a Nov. 20 press conference in Washington sponsored by PCRM, Fleming sat on a panel that questioned the safety of the Atkins Diet and other high-protein diets.
While the meat, dairy, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and medical industries have tried to portray it as a group with a secret agenda, PCRM has never hidden its mission: to promote a vegan diet and an end to the use of animals in medical and scientific experiments. Since September 2002, PCRM has operated a website, Atkins Diet Alert, that encourages people to be wary of high-protein diets and warns doctors of the “possible legal liability” in prescribing these diets. The Atkins Diet Alert site explains that as U.S. obesity rates reach an all-time high, the Atkins Diet and similar programs fail to address critical health implications of diets that emphasize animal products.
In response to news of Atkins’ medical condition at the time of his death, the food industry
targeted PCRM as a “pseudo-medical organization” that serves as “PETA’s medical front group.”
The Center for Consumer Freedom, a corporate-sponsored non-profit group created to challenge claims by animal rights and environmental organizations, issued an alert on Feb. 10 saying “PCRM has engaged in a long-term war against Atkins, using every trick in the book to tarnish his diet recommendations.” The industry group also said that PCRM is “a phony doctors organization that has been exposed as a front group for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and has been censured by the American Medical Association (AMA).”
PCRM’s opponents routinely highlight its ties to PETA, a group with a reputation for radical action in the defense of animals. By attempting to link a group of seemingly trustworthy physicians with wild-eyed activists at PETA, the animal exploitation industries hope to get the news media to think twice before referring to PCRM simply as a group of doctors concerned about human health. Negative portraits in the press, according to the industry strategy, could put a strain on PCRM’s fundraising abilities by dissuading the public from making contributions.
But once again, PCRM has never sought to hide its ties to PETA. The two groups have always had a close relationship. PETA co-founder Ingrid Newkirk is a close friend of Barnard, who serves as PETA’s medical advisor.
It’s natural that two organizations with similar agendas would have close connections. And yet the animal exploitation industry continues its efforts to discredit PCRM by “exposing” its affiliation with PETA.
But reactive efforts by industry often prove counterproductive, given the level of publicity that such campaigns give the targeted group or individual. People who are inclined toward compassion for animals, yet who are unaware of the activities of such groups as PCRM, eventually may be moved to lend their support to the animal rights organization, even though their introduction to the group may have been in a negatively slanted news article.
Any group that effectively challenges the earnings potential of a segment of Corporate America inevitably will face this type of response. Barnard, a 2003 nominee for the U.S. Animal Rights Hall of Fame, appears impervious to industry smear campaigns after almost 20 years of work for animal liberation. And I would bet Barnard is keen on the opportunity to use the forum of a courtroom to defend the mission of PCRM if Atkins’ lawyers decide to bring legal action against PCRM for the role it played in circulating information about the doctor’s medical condition at the time of his death.
-- Mark Hand