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Wine Industry Snoozes While NeoDrys Beat The Drum On Wine Research

January 12, 2012 | Filed under Worth A Look | Posted by

Always remember, just because something is false or distorted doesn’t keep people from believing it.

Early this morning, I Tweeted this:

Fraud does not negate 25yrs of solid wine&health rsch.But NeoDrys will say it does while wine industry stays silent. goo.gl/SVCSG

And then, as I was finishing up today’s News Fetch, another Tweet:

And so it begins: “Red wine, not so healthy after all? goo.gl/UhPfY

Then, after today’s News Fetch went out, the emails started to come chastising me for including that headline in the links.

The following captures the tone of most of the emails:

“I am surprised that you allowed such silly headline get into your blog. The author, Rebbecca has a very shallow and misleading heading. If you look at the original report, it simply states that the researcher falsified some of his work and is being dismissed from his post. You do great work to be balanced in your selection of articles, but this one obviously slipped through.”

And my response:

“This didn’t slip at all.

“I print those sorts of things to let the industry see what is going on … in hopes that something might be done. The industry is, and has been asleep at the wheel with this and will get beaten to a pulp by the NeoProhibitionists unless someone counteracts that. Sadly, that is unlikely.

“This data falsification is just the sort of thing that the Marin Institute, the NIAAA and every other NeoDry needs to launch a public relations campaign to confuse the issue and try to negate the 25+ years of solid research on moderate consumption and health.

“So, yes, something has slipped … but it’s a cog at the Wine Institute, Family Winemakers and every other wine association, winery and adult beverage company in the country.

“A sante’!

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Comments

  • http://www.captainvineyards.com Sal

    Greetings Lew,
    Please continue the great efforts in keeping all of us who appreciate the growing of the wonderful fruit that gives us, by far the best beverage ever invented in human history. My wife who is the president of the local wine growers association and a member of the Wine Institute, forwarded your email along with the article; considering it to be public information. Here is the response she got from the WI very promptly:

    “We are fully engaged on wine and health issues at the state, federal and international levels and watch for re-emergence of anti-alcohol groups that oppose even the moderate consumption of wine, beer and spirits by responsible adults. We also have already participated in an interview with NPR on this issue this morning, and our Washington D.C. staff communicates with NIAAA and other government agencies on wine and health policy. As you may know, our staff is actively involved in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans alcohol guideline public testimony when the guidelines are updated, World Health Organization policy, and, other groups in the public health arena engaged in alcohol and health policy. The public policy arena is where most of our work occurs for, as you probably know, the industry is prohibited by federal regulation from touting the medicinal/therapeutic benefits of wine and alcohol.

    You might be interested in the attached Washington Post story that puts the issue in perspective. Thanks for your inquiry. You are welcome to forward any of this information to your association.

    Gladys Horiuchi
    Communications Manager
    Wine Institute”
    Here is the link to the W Post article:
    https://docs.google.com/a/captainvineyards.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=134d8d21bfa92f93&mt=application/pdf&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui%3D2%26ik%3Dba070778b5%26view%3Datt%26th%3D134d8d21bfa92f93%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26realattid%3D7990a62f19d37656_0.1%26zw&sig=AHIEtbT21w6QTKTYe4UhYFAovrqi65smVQ