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Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

5100 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 404, Washington, DC 20016
Phone 202-686-2210 | Fax 202-686-2216 | Email pcrm@pcrm.org

Connections

Center for Science in the Public Interest The Center for Science in the Public Interest’s (CSPI) Coalition for the Prevention of Alcohol Problems counts the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) as a member, and PCRM has co-signed some of CSPI’s anti-alcohol letters to Congress. PCRM president Neal Barnard and CSPI executive director Michael Jacobson were listed as two of the three “experts” available for comment on the press release for the 2003 “Great American Meatout.” Nevertheless, CSPI is not blind to PCRM’s agenda. In 1992, CSPI’s Bonnie Liebman told the Chicago Tribune: “I think this organization is deceiving people in order to further animal rights and in order to convince people to become vegetarians.”

EarthSave International PCRM president Neal Barnard serves on EarthSave’s advisory board. Howard Lyman and other EarthSave staffers have appeared at several events in conjunction with PCRM staff, including a March 2001 pro-vegetarian event on Capitol Hill. The two organizations’ advisory boards share six members, including: weight-loss-clinic doctor John McDougall, diet book author Dean Ornish, new age alternative-health guru Andrew Weil, Cornell nutritionist and entrepreneur T. Colin Campbell, Cleveland Clinic consultant Caldwell Esselstyn, and Columbia University education professor Lawrence Kushi. In addition, Barnard, Ornish, and McDougall all sit on the advisory board of Veggie Life magazine. And Barnard, Ornish, and Campbell are on Vegetarian Times’ editorial advisory board, along with EarthSave founder John Robbins. In 1999, Mothers for Natural Law delivered petitions with 500,000 signatures to Congress, asking for a moratorium on the production of genetically improved foods. PCRM and EarthSave were both institutional sponsors of this effort.

Farm Animal Reform Movement In conjunction with its “Great American Meatout” promotion, FARM sponsored a March 2001 event on Capitol Hill to promote an anti-meat agenda. Barnard was listed as an “expert” on the press release, and PCRM staffers were there in full force, handing out literature and serving veggie burgers. The same held true in 2002 and 2003.

Foundation on Economic Trends Foundation on Economic Trends president Jeremy Rifkin has partnered with animal rights organizations in an attempt to prevent the commercial use of genetically engineered bovine growth hormones. Among these groups is the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a front group for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PCRM president Neal Barnard was listed as an "expert" available for comment on the press release for the 2003 "Great American Meatout" -- where Rifkin is on the National Council. PCRM was a supporting organization for Rifkin's Beyond Beef Campaign.

Humane Society of the United States Both the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the PETA-affiliated Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) belong to Ralph Nader’s Global Safe Food Alliance, and to the International Council on Animal Protection, which seeks to limit research on animals. HSUS and PCRM co-signed a letter demanding that the U.S. Department of Agriculture restore to its website documents concerning the use of animals in research. They were also both part of the Foodspeak coalition, run by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Member organizations wanted to abolish food disparagement laws and so avoid lawsuits for false claims against food companies. PCRM research consultant Jonathan Balcombe was HSUS’s Associate Director for Education during the 1990s.

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Both IATP and PCRM are active members of the Global Safe Food Alliance, a coalition of tax-exempt animal-welfare, anti-corporate-farming, and sustainable-agriculture groups organized by Public Citizen.

Mothers for Natural Law In 1999, Mothers for Natural Law delivered petitions with 500,000 signatures to Congress, asking for a moratorium on the production of genetically improved foods. PCRM and EarthSave were both institutional sponsors of this effort.

Organic Consumers Association Both the Organic Consumers Association and Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine are active members of the Global Safe Food Alliance, a coalition of tax-exempt animal-welfare, anti-corporate-farming, and sustainable-agriculture groups organized by Public Citizen.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals PCRM president Neal Barnard is also the president of the Foundation to Support Animal Protection (FSAP), which shares a mailing address with PETA. Ingrid Newkirk, PETA’s president, is listed as a “Director” of the same foundation. As of 1998, its assets were in excess of $2 million, and its tax filings list both PETA and PCRM as “supported organizations.” PETA has given PCRM over $850,000, most of it funneled through FSAP. Barnard is PETA’s Medical and Scientific Adviser. And PCRM’s Jerry Vlasak serves on the board of the Los Angeles Animal Defense League with PETA’s Gary Yourofsky.

Public Health Advocacy Institute Former Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine policy analyst Michele Simon is a scheduled speaker at the 2004 Public Health Advocacy Institute conference on "Legal Approaches to the Obesity Epidemic." Simon advocates obesity lawsuits as a means of attacking foods that don't fit into her vegan diet. PCRM lawyer Mindy Kursban attended PHAI's 2003 conference, which "intended to encourage and support litigation against the food industry." She subsequently told the press that the 2003 confab provided useful information for PCRM's lawsuits against food companies.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society PCRM’s Jerry Vlasak is on the Board of Directors of the Sea Shephard Conservation Society. He is also Sea Shepherd’s Treasurer. Vlasak is the Secretary-Treasurer of the Animal Defense League Los Angeles, where Allison Lance, the wife of Sea Shepherd “captain” Paul Watson, serves as director.

SHAC The immodestly self-proclaimed and deceptively named Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has shown a remarkable willingness to support SHAC’s violent brand of activism. In September 2001, PCRM president Neal Barnard personally co-signed a series of letters (on PCRM letterhead) with SHAC Director Kevin Jonas. The letters went to companies in 32 states and 8 foreign countries that (according to SHAC) had business relationships with Huntingdon Life Sciences. While the content of these letters was merely persuasive, any letter from SHAC -- when sent to a medical research professional -- is properly viewed as a threat of bodily harm. Following the 2002 arrest of SHAC convict Benjamin Persky on criminal mischief charges (a class D felony), SHAC reported that PCRM repeatedly faxed New York’s Riker’s Island, trying to convince Persky’s jailers to serve him a special vegetarian menu.

Sierra Club Sierra Club chapters in New York and Michigan actively promote the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine's "Vegetarian Starter Kit" as a way to fight back against "factory farms" and "corporate greed."

United Poultry Concerns In addition to being a practicing attorney with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, PCRM board secretary Roger Galvin sits on United Poultry Concerns’ advisory board. Both PCRM and UPC are active members of the Global Safe Food Alliance, a coalition of tax-exempt animal-welfare, anti-corporate-farming, and sustainable-agriculture groups organized by Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen.

Western Organization of Resource Councils The Western Organization of Resource Councils and PCRM are both charter members of the Global Safe Food Alliance, a front group set up by animal-rights organizations. The coalition’s goal is to convince media outlets that there is “grass roots” support for a wholesale overhaul in the way farm animals are raised for food. It also tries to connect food safety with “humane” farm animal treatment in the public consciousness. Predictably, the Global Safe Food Alliance’s proposals would increase the cost of food to consumers, all in the name of animal “rights.” Other members include the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the Humane Farming Association, Farm Sanctuary, United Poultry Concerns, the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, the Organic Consumers Association, Public Citizen, and the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment.

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