Thank you Marion Nestle. I saw this yesterday but was too disgusted to write it up. Dr. Nestle is on point here:
I’m always saying that food company donations and partnerships to health and environmental Good Causes end up doing more for the companies than the recipients. Money always talks. Accepting corporate donations comes with strings that create conflicts of interest.
The latest evidence for these assertions comes from the Grand Canyon’s efforts to get plastic water and soda bottles out of the park. These account for a whopping 30% of its waste.
According to the account in today’s New York Times, Coca-Cola, one of the park’s big donors, convinced the National Park Service to block the bottle ban.
Stephen P. Martin, the architect of the plan and the top parks official at the Grand Canyon, said his superiors told him two weeks before its Jan. 1 start date that Coca-Cola, which distributes water under the Dasani brand and has donated more than $13 million to the parks, had registered its concerns about the bottle ban through the foundation, and that the project was being tabled.
via Food Politics » Coca-Cola v. Grand Canyon: donations come with short strings.
Life of refinement 