Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Politics

politifact.com/ Sorting out the truth in politics

By Times Wires
Published November 14, 2007

He's juicing the number, not the risk

The statement

"Our children's safety is potentially at risk because nearly half of the apple juice consumed by our children comes from apples grown in China."

John Edwards, Oct. 29, in a speech in Manchester, N.H.

The ruling

To put the number at "nearly half" is a stretch. Actually, about 38 percent of the apple juice consumed in the United States comes from China, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. On average over the past three years, about 26 percent of the U.S. apple juice supply was produced domestically. The rest comes primarily from China, Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Germany, in that order. Is Edwards right when he says children are "potentially at risk" from Chinese apple juice? He puts himself on reasonably safe ground, given recent problems with Chinese seafood, toothpaste, pet food and toys. A November 2006 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides even more support. Chinese farmers, the report says, are known for using high levels of chemical fertilizers. Many use "highly toxic pesticides, including some that are banned in the United States." China is starting to overhaul its food safety system, the report says, but has a long way to go.

This distorted line is misused

The attack

"The leading Democratic candidate once said that the unfettered free market is the most destructive force in modern America."

Rudy Giuliani, on Hillary Clinton, Oct. 9, in Dearborn, Mich.,debate

The ruling

One of Rudy Giuliani's frequent targets on the campaign trail is Hillary Clinton. And this is one of his frequent lines. Except Clinton never called the free market "destructive." Giuliani is blatantly - and repeatedly - misquoting a line from her 1996 book, It Takes a Village. Clinton quotes author Alan Ehrenhalt, who wrote in his book The Lost City: "The unfettered free market has been the most radically disruptive force in American life in the last generation." During a March 1996 interview on the C-SPAN program Book Notes, Clinton agreed with the statement. The word "disruptive" is not the same as "destructive" in the context of the free market, said Ehrenhalt, executive editor of Governing magazine. "There's no particular reason for a controversy," he said. "But Giuliani is looking for anything to say against Hillary Clinton ... and he keeps distorting it." A Giuliani campaign spokesman didn't see a difference between the words. Clinton's campaign didn't want to comment on the issue.

For more rulings on the candidates' statements, go to Politifact.com

[Last modified November 14, 2007, 01:33:20]