The Health On the Net Foundation was, I'm sure, founded with great intentions, and probably still has them, but the seal has become meaningless as a consumer education tool. Briefly, its eight-point code is the foundation for giving out seals that health Web sites paste to themselves to demonstrate that they are reliable sources of health information. The points include reliability, transparency, disclosure of funding, and other principles, similar to WebWatch's credibility guidelines. (HON's origins in 1995 precede WebWatch by six years).
So take a look at the Calorie Control Council's Web site, which displays a HON seal.

The Calorie Control Council, "established in 1966," says the site, "is an international non-profit association representing the low-calorie and reduced-fat food and beverage industry. Today it represents 60 manufacturers and suppliers of low-calorie, low-fat and light foods and beverages, including the manufacturers and suppliers of more than a dozen different dietary sweeteners, fat replacers and other low-calorie ingredients." OK, I'm very glad the site discloses this, though the link is a little hard to find (on the home page, towards the bottom, by the copyright notice, Calorie Control Council is linked).
But who are those 60 manufacturers and suppliers? Are they not the same manufacturers that create the high-calorie versions of the same kinds of food? Can their Web site be trusted to be a good source of unbiased information for dieters?
If you go to this page on the site, there's a list under the heading, "A Select List of Companies and Products Serving Health-Conscious Consumers," and on it are some of the world's biggest food multinationals, i.e., Coca-Cola, Archer Daniels Midland and Cadbury. Are these actually the companies that fund the "Calorie Control Council"? The site is produced by a PR firm, Kellen Interactive, which also created a pro-aspartame site that references the Calorie Control Council at the bottom. (Note also that "Calorie Control Newsnet," the "news" section at the top of the Calorie Control Council site, leads with a story about the New Zealand government's conclusion that aspartame is safe. Note also there is a slightly panicky anti-aspartame site with a similar URL, but with a .com suffix. We won't arbitrate on aspartame here, but this is probably closer to the reality at the moment).
There may be good information here, but in light of HON's principles, how did it get a seal?

Posted by Beau Brendler at 03:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The latest issue of Consumer Reports magazine hits newsstands today, and there's a news item on page 9 about WebWatch's investigation of "free" credit report sites -- read the report in full at this link.

You'll hear more about the report in the coming days. Some of the highlights:
* There's one Web site where you can get a free credit report: AnnualCreditReport.com. That's the only site most consumers need to know. It was created by law, and is administered by the three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
* Many of the sites with "free" in their names -- created by two of the three major credit bureaus -- don't really give you anything for free, while charging you for services you don't need.
* Most consumers don't really need credit monitoring.

Posted by Beau Brendler at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)