Sally Swartz: Coloring book is sugar-coated corporate propaganda

A children’s coloring book produced by the sugar industry starred in a two-county controversy last week — one that raises questions about how corporate propaganda gets distributed.

The book, “A Journey with Sugar Cane and Sugar Beet,” was given to a Palm City Elementary School kindergarten class by a Stuart dentist. The dentistry firm is part of the Education Foundation of Martin County’s “adopt a class” program, Principal Nancy Marin said. The Education Foundation lists all the county’s chambers of commerce and the Economic Council of Martin County as members.

To “adopt” a class, a business or individual pays $100 or more, providing teachers extra money for classroom materials.

Representatives from the dentistry firm talked to children about how to take care of their teeth, and passed out bags that included toothbrushes and other small items — and the coloring books.

Marin said she didn’t know the books were being distributed to children. “They seem to be harmless,” she said.

The book shows pictures of healthy foods to color. It also shows a cartoon stalk of sugar cane saying, “We make foods with lots of vitamins and minerals taste good!” The back cover shows a drawing of a spoonful of sugar with the legend, “Only 15 calories a teaspoon!”

The coloring books are published by the Sugar Association, which lists two Florida Crystals subsidiaries and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida among its sustaining members. Other Florida-based sugar companies are listed as associate and international members.

The book, however, does not get into any issues surrounding the St. Lucie River or the Indian River Lagoon.

A parent of one of the kindergartners showed the book to a friend who belongs to the Conservation Alliance of St. Lucie County, fresh from a dust-up in which members of One Florida Foundation, a group supported by the sugar industry, threatened to take over the Alliance.

One Florida has supported solutions the sugar industry favors to reduce discharges of Lake Okeechobee’s excess water to the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon. Most focus on projects already started or others planned north of the lake, none of which will significantly reduce discharges to the rivers.

Conservation groups on the Treasure Coast, except for One Florida, favor urging Gov. Rick Scott and lawmakers to buy land the sugar industry owns south of the lake. The land would be used to store and clean water before it travels south to the Everglades.

“With issues concerning our lagoon on the rise, allowing the sugar industry to lie to our children that sugar is grown strictly from sunlight,” Katy Lewey of the River Kidz of St. Lucie and Indian River counties writes in an email, “…is a bold lie…that I find incredibly troubling.”

She offers to share other publications, including some Martin teachers and students have developed to teach children about lagoon issues.

Lewey and Indian Riverkeeper Marty Baum were concerned that 10,000 copies of a new River Kidz workbook, “Marty the Manatee,” would be competing with the sugar industry book.

But apparently, the sugar coloring book only went to one class. Mary White, Martin schools’ director of elementary programs and school improvement, was still waiting for other schools to answer her questions about whether other teachers have used it.

Principal Marin points out Palm City Elementary children “have played a huge role” in working on river issues. “We even have a signed thank-you note from President Obama,” Marin said. “We wouldn’t do anything to promote the sugar industry.”

Probably not. There are a couple of things to question, however. Such as why a dentist, who did not return a phone call, is handing out coloring books promoting sugar.

And, doesn’t anything — especially from a group associated with the controversial sugar industry agenda — at least deserve a look-see from school officials before it’s given to children?

Sally Swartz is a former member of The Post Editorial Board. Find her blog posts and others at The Palm Beach Post Opinion Zone. Column courtesy of Context Florida.