Politics

Plastic Front Group With Flexibility

By Bob Burton

A member of the Helena, Montana, chapter of the Coalition for Chemical Safety, a chemical industry front group, has been disavowed for calling for an all-out ban of the use of BPA, an additive in many plastic products. Richard Denison, a senior scientist with Environmental Defense Fund, noted that the woman was interviewed on Montana Public Radio?s Evening Edition. In response, Joe Householder, the Executive Director of the "coalition," argued that the woman was "not an official spokesperson," that the group "does not take a position on any specific products" and does not support any "specific product fights." Denison is unpersuaded. "Isn?t it time, Mr. Householder, for the Coalition to end this charade and come out from behind the curtain? If it?s not your members, just who are its ?official? spokespeople, and for whom do they work? I assume you?re one of those spokespeople ? who is paying you to represent the Coalition?," he writes.

Full post as published by PR Watch on December 29, 2009 (boomark / email).