Suzanne Goldenberg

WARNING! Sewage sludge is toxic. Food should not be grown in "biosolids." Join the Food Rights Network.

Suzanne Goldenberg is a UK Guardian reporter being accused of "libel" by Francesca Vietor of the SFPUC and the [[Chez Panisse Foundation for having written this article: US chef Alice Waters criticised over sewage fertiliser: Top US healthy-eating chef Alice Waters attacked for supporting fertiliser made of sewage that activists say contains toxins, UK Guardian, April 1, 2010. She and her newspaper stand by the veracity of the article.

Author and food writer Jill Richardson wrote a piece examining the charges in the article and concluded that the Guardian article is accurate: Francesca Takes Legal Action over Sludge Article, La Vida Locavore blog, April 6, 2010.

Chez Sludge

Additional information on the attack by Vietor upon this reporter and her paper can be found in the July 9, 2010 report of the major investigative report released on July 9, 2010 by the Food Rights Network titled: Chez Sludge: How the Sewage Sludge Industry Bedded Alice Waters. It examines the conflicts of interest and collusion between the Chez Panisse Foundation and the SFPUC based on an extensive open records investigation of the SFPUC internal files. (To view the internal documents see: SFPUC Sludge Controversy Timeline.)

Timeline of Vietor Charges Against the Guardian

** April 1, 2010: Suzanne Goldenberg of the UK's Guardian newspaper reports on the controversy.

• • April 1, 2010: Francesca Vietor emails Suzanne Goldenberg, the author of the UK Guardian article above. The subject line of Vietor's email reads "You have libeled me." The email is copied to her friend and who she calls "my attorney" Christina Desser. The email reads in part, "I was unaware of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's program until I was contacted by John Stauber on March 4 , 2010, after which I took immediate steps to have the program suspended and additional testing undertaken. This statement is false, as this Timeline clearly documents. Vietor writes, "I hereby demand that the Guardian publish an immediate retraction and correction of the false and libelous statement contained in your article." Vietor Letter to the Guardian Saying in Subject "You Have Libeled Me" and Sent to PUC PDF The Guardian stands by its reporting and the following week [http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/01/alice-waters-sewage-fertiliser places this statement in bold on the Guardian website: "This article is the subject of a legal complaint made by Francesca Vietor."

• • April 1, 2010: A search of the CA Bar Association website reveals that the California law license of Vietor's attorney, Chris Desser is "inactive" and so cannot legally be held out or act as her attorney.

Articles and resources

External articles

• Catherine Bigelow, And across the bay, Francesca Vietor is the new executive director of the Chez Panisse Foundation, Social City, SFGate February 7, 2010.
• Anna Werner, Concern Over SF Compost Made from Sewage Sludge, CBS Channel 5, March 3, 2010.
• Josh Harkinson, A Backlash After San Francisco Labels Sewage Sludge Organic, Mother Jones magazine, March 4, 2010.
• Photo Gallery: Activists Praise Poop, Deliver Dirt to Mayor's Office, SF Appeal, March 4, 2010.
• Chris Roberts, News Farmers Call PUC's Shit, Will Dump it on City Hall Today, San Francisco Appeal, March 4, 2010.
• What SF calls compost, activists call 'toxic sludge, San Francisco ABC affiliate KGO TV, March 4, 2010.
• Evelyn Nieves, Claim: San Francisco giving gardeners toxic sludge, Associated Press in the Boston Globe, March 5, 2010.
• John Upton, The City’s free compost causes stink SF Examiner, March 5, 2010.
• Jill Richardson, Food Sunday: Toxic Sludge as 'Organic Fertilizer', FireDogLake, March 7, 2010.
• John Stauber, Waiter, There Is Toxic Sludge in my Organic Soup!, PRWatch.org, March 16, 2010.
• Brady Welch, Shit show: What has the SFPUC has been dumping in city gardens?, San Francisco Bay Guardian, March 23, 2010.
• Organic Consumers Association, The Organic Consumers Association To Picket Chez Panisse Restaurant on Thursday, April 1st, Noon, in Berkeley, CA Alice Waters, World Famous Organic Food Chef and Promoter of Safe School Gardens, Does Not Oppose Growing Food on Toxic Sewage Sludge, News Release, March 31, 2010.
• John Stauber, Chef Alice Waters and Chez Panisse in a Toxic Sludge Protest, PRWatch.org, March 31, 2010.
• Brady Welch, Alice Waters protested for supporting using human waste as compost San Francisco Bay Guardian, March 31, 2010.
• Suzanne Goldenberg, US chef Alice Waters criticised over sewage fertiliser: Top US healthy-eating chef Alice Waters attacked for supporting fertiliser made of sewage that activists say contains toxins, UK Guardian, April 1, 2010.
• Tracey Taylor, Toxic sludge demonstrators picket Chez Panisse, April 1, 2010.
• Raymond Barglow, Organic Consumers Association Pickets Chez Panisse, The Berkeley Daily Planet, April 1, 2010.
• John Birdsall, Alice Waters Demands Apology from Sewage Sludge Protestors, SF Weekly, April 1, 2010.
• Peter Fimrite, Groups make stink over S.F. 'biosolid' compost, SF Chronicle, April 7, 2010.
• Brady Welch, The Shit Show's Extended Run SF Bay Guardian, April 7, 2010.
• Jill Richardson, Francesca Takes Legal Action over Sludge Article, La Vida Locavore blog, April 6, 2010.
• Jill Richardson, What San Francisco Found in Their Own Sludge, La Vida Locavore blog, April 8, 2010.
• Leora Broydo Vestel, Food Groups Clash Over Compost Sludge, New York Times Green Inc. blog, April 9 2010.
• John Stauber, ACSH Makes Alice Waters a Poster Child for Toxic Sludge, PRWatch.org, April 12, 2010.
• Susan Galleymore, The Green Mayor Has Toxic Sludge on His Hands, Op-Ed News, April 25, 2010.
• Barry Estabrook, Composted Sewage Stirs Up Bay Area Food Fight, The Atlantic, May 3, 2010.

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