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National
Grange Questions Splenda's Advertising Practices  WASHINGTON,
February 14, 2005 - Today, the National Grange joined other agricultural and consumer
organizations in a Washington, D.C. press conference to challenge the advertising
and marketing practices of Splenda, an artificial sweetener.
Splenda
is an artificial, chemical sweetener, yet the makers of Splenda continue to market
it as a "natural product," and polls suggest that half of all American consumers
believe their claims. "Splenda's
marketing techniques are unfair to farmers and the entire agricultural industry,"
said Richard Weiss, chief operating officer of the National Grange. "When farmers
have to compete against chemistry pretending to be natural, it puts them at a
disadvantage that affects their ability to provide quality products for consumers."
Speaking
for the "rest of agriculture," Weiss said that if left unchecked, Splenda's marketing
claims would set a precedent affecting all of agriculture. "Next it will be made
from corn to taste like corn or made from beef to taste like beef." Weiss
called on the appropriate government agencies to take a hard look at Splenda's
advertising claims and challenged the Splenda marketing people to "tell it like
it is - artificial." To
further reiterate its concern, the National Grange submitted a letter to the Honorable
Deborah Platt Majoras, chairman of the United States Federal Trade Commission.
In the letter, the 138 year-old agriculture and rural living advocacy group said
that this issue is about honesty as much as anything. For
more information on these efforts, please call 202-628-3507, ext. 116.
Founded in 1867, the National Grange is the nation's oldest general agricultural
and rural advocacy organization. It has grassroots units in 3,600 local communities
in 37 states, with over 200,000 members. It advocates for rural America on a
wide variety of economic, educational, legislative and family issues. Pictures
are available upon request. Simply E-mail Shaletta Espie at sespie@nationalgrange.org.
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