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June 2005 |
Editor's Note: This month’s
issue has a definite theme: sell-outs and compromises. There
were so many to report, it was hard to choose. But see the
Fighting Back section for important ways to take action.
Informed Eating will be taking a brief hiatus over the
summer, but only to concentrate on a longer-term book
project to expose food industry lobbying. (See call for
volunteers.) Enjoy the summer and keep fighting back! |
Brief
News from Big Food |
American Diabetes Association Sells
Out
In April, the American Diabetes
Association (ADA) announced a partnership with Cadbury
Schweppes Americas Beverages, makers of such soft drinks as
7-Up, Dr. Pepper, and Snapple, and whose parent company is
famous for its chocolate cream egg-shaped candy. Described
as “a three-year, multi-million dollar alliance to support
the Association in its efforts to fight obesity and diabetes
in America,” the deal means the soda giant will conduct
extensive outreach activities “to increase consumer
awareness of health and wellness, and the importance of
making smarter nutritional choices.”
Amazed at
this unholy alliance, Informed Eating shared the news
with our colleagues at Commercial Alert. Executive director
Gary Ruskin promptly released this statement to the press:
“Maybe the American Diabetes Association should rename
itself the American Junk Food Association. If Cadbury
Schweppes really wanted to reduce the incidence of obesity
and diabetes, it would stop advertising its high-sugar
products, and remove them from our nation’s schools. This is
just another attempt by a major junk food corporation to
obfuscate its responsibility in the epidemic of obesity and
diabetes in the United States. The American Diabetes
Association should return this corrupt contribution to
Cadbury Schweppes immediately.”
Then, the
Corporate Crime Reporter (CCR) decided to try and get some
answers directly from the source. The resulting funny but
sad interview with Dr. Richard Kahn, ADA’s chief scientific
and medical officer reveals both ignorance and gall. For
example, Kahn claims never to have heard of the Center for
Science in the Public Interest’s well-known report, “Liquid
Candy,” which describes in detail the myriad public health
problems resulting from excess soda consumption. Even worse,
Kahn staunchly defends ADA’s policy of taking money from
companies that contribute to the very health problems he is
trying to reduce. Here is a typical exchange from that
interview:
KAHN:
Most of the companies that give us educational grants are
not in the food industry.
CCR:
But you
do take money even from candy companies.
KAHN:
No, I don’t think we do take money from candy companies.
CCR:
Well, Cadbury Schweppes is a candy company.
KAHN:
If we want to prevent diabetes, reduce the prevalence of
obesity, help find the cure to diabetes, we have to get
funds from someplace.
Corporate
watchdogs Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman put it
succinctly in a follow-up commentary to their interview: “If
you are wondering why Americans are losing the wars on
cancer, heart disease and diabetes, you might look at the
funding sources of the major public health groups. Big
corporations dump big money into these groups.” Cadbury
Schwepps can now take its place among these other companies
who also contribute money to the American Diabetes
Association: Kraft Foods, J.M. Smucker Company, General
Mills, Inc., and H.J. Heinz Company.
Sources:
American Diabetes Association Press Release, 04/21/05
http://www.diabetes.org/for-media/2005-press-releases/cadbury-schweppes.jsp
Commercial Alert Press Releases, 4/21/05 and 5/16/05
http://www.commercialalert.org/blog/archives/2005/04/index.html
http://www.commercialalert.org/blog/archives/2005/05/after_sweet_ind.html
Corporate Crime Reporter, 05/16/05
http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/diabetes051605.htm |
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Coke Teaching Kids about Nutrition
The Coca-Cola Company has
announced another educational program targeted to the
nation’s middle schools. The company says its new
initiative—called “Live It!”—will help students build
healthy lifestyles by encouraging physical activity and
providing nutrition information in schools. “Live It!” comes
on the heals of Coke’s “Step With It!” curriculum, which has
already reached more than one million kids. The new program
is currently being “tested in key markets” and will be
available to 6th graders in middle schools across the U.S.
in the fall of 2005.“
"Because of our long-time
partnership with America’s schools, Coca-Cola wants to play
a positive and effective role in helping to promote healthy,
active lifestyles among students nationwide,” explained Don
Knauss, president of Coca-Cola North America. The program
was developed in collaboration with The President’s Council
on Physical Fitness and Sports and the School Nutrition
Association, thus getting the stamp of approval from both
the federal government and a powerful trade association
that’s supposed to care about schoolchildren’s health. (SNA
is the former American School Food Service Association.)
Source:
Coca-Cola Press Release, 5/26/05
http://www2.coca-cola.com/presscenter/nr_20050526_americas_liveit.html |
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Top
Health Experts on Food Giants’ Payroll
The
New York Times ran an excellent article last month about how
at least two dozen leading
nutrition scientists and experts have started working for
large food companies, either as consultants or as members of
health advisory boards. McDonald's, Kraft, PepsiCo, and the
Coca-Cola Company have each created advisory boards, paying
members who might otherwise be their critics. For example,
Dr. Dean Ornish, known for touting a low-fat, mostly
vegetarian diet to prevent heart disease is now a paid
consultant for none other than McDonald’s. Ornish, who also
stumps for PepsiCo and ConAgra Foods, defends the deal as
“an amazing platform to make a difference."
But other experts aren’t so
sure. Dr. George Blackburn, director of the Center for the
Study of Nutrition Medicine at Harvard Medical School
stepped down from McDonald's advisory council two months ago
because he was disappointed that the fast food giant didn’t
incorporate his recommendations into its "Balanced
Lifestyles" campaign. He complained that messages to cut
calories and eat quality food “weren't making it through”
and that instead, the company only wanted to promote
exercise.
Members of McDonald’s advisory
council, who receive an annual fee of $7,500, also include
Dr. Dennis Bier, director of the Children's Research Center
at Baylor College of Medicine. Bier’s colleague at Baylor,
Dr. John Foreyt, appears in a Coca-Cola ad in magazines like
Good Housekeeping. Another preventive medicine expert, Dr.
Kenneth Cooper, advises PepsiCo on its “Smart Spot” labeling
program. Food Politics author Marion Nestle isn’t
impressed. "These companies can say we have all these really
important people who care about health working with us, and
that takes some of the heat off," she said. "But all they're
doing is making junk food marginally healthier."
Source:
The New York Times, 05/02/05 |
Fighting
Back - Take Action |
School Food Legislation Round-up
In recent months, state
legislatures around the U.S. have been a hotbed of activity
for attempting to remove soda and junk food from school
grounds. However, thanks to heavy industry lobbying, many
compromises are being made. For example, in April Arizona
passed a law that bans the sales of soft drinks and candy
during the school day, but only K-8. The bill also requires
the Arizona Department of Education to develop nutrition
standards for snacks and drinks, but it’s still unclear
where items such as doughnuts and potato chips will fall.
The provision that would have extended the ban to high
schools was added and removed from the bill several times,
but ultimately, the junk food lobby won.
An even worse story unfolded in
Oregon, where what was a relatively strong piece of
legislation was completely gutted thanks to corporate
lobbying. The bill would have banned carbonated soft drinks,
candy, and fried pastry products while setting strict
nutritional and calorie requirements for other snack items
sold in schools. But the bill that passed calls only for
schools to have “wellness policies.” An Oregon newspaper
editorial squarely places the blame with politicians bowing
to corporate pressure: “Sen. Vicki Walker's reconstituted
bill resembles the position favored by the Oregon Soft Drink
Association, which, coincidentally, has made hefty campaign
contributions to Walker and to two other members of the
Senate Education Committee: Sen. Ryan Deckert, D-Beaverton,
and Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg. The three lawmakers each
received $2,000 of the $91,000 the soft drink lobby poured
into legislators' coffers last fall.”
A
trend is developing in numerous state legislatures to
propose bills that call on schools and districts to create
“wellness policies”, as an alternative to an outright ban on
sales of junk food and soda. (Colorado is another recent
example of where such a bill passed.) However, the concept
is puzzling because it is redundant to a law that already
exists at the federal level. Last year’s child nutrition
reauthorization law requires that all schools have a
wellness policy in place by of the beginning of the 2006
school year. So, are these state bills even needed or do
they just provide an easy way to avoid taking stronger
action? Joy Johanson, of the Center for Science in the
Public Interest, who has been providing schools technical
assistance with drafting such policies in compliance with
the federal law, agrees that too often states are simply
trying to pass “feel-good” measures that appear to address
school nutrition but actually lack any real substance.
Finally, in Connecticut, quite a
drama has been unfolding in the past several weeks over the
strongest bill of its kind in the nation. A David v. Goliath
fight is pitting relentless grassroots advocacy against
intense corporate lobbying. The original bill would have allowed
only water, juice, and milk to be sold during the school
day, K-12; however, a compromise allows diet soda and sports
drinks to be sold in high schools after the lunch period. At
one stage of the extremely contentious battle, lawmakers
debated for eight hours while junk food lobbyists swarmed
the state capital in hopes of killing the bill altogether.
Under-handed tactics included
how Coca-Cola lobbyists shared data regarding school income
from soda sales with lawmakers behind closed doors, so
advocates couldn’t refute the information. Also, after the
diet soda compromise in the House, the bill had to go back
to the Senate, where it had already passed. But this time,
lawmakers there attempted to stall the process by adding no
fewer than 10 unrelated amendments, such as requiring smoke
detectors in school bathrooms. But reason eventually
prevailed and now the bill awaits Republican Governor Jodi
Rell’s signature. She has indicated some resistance to
signing the bill. Kudos to End Hunger Connecticut! for all
its hard work. You can help them by calling the governor’s
office. Visit:
http://www.endhungerct.org for details.
Sources:
The Arizona Republic, 04/27/05
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0427junkfood27.html
The Register-Guard, 05/16/05
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/05/16/ed.edit.junkfood.0516.html
School Nutrition Association, 04/27/05
http://www.schoolnutrition.org/Index.aspx?id=1207
The New York Times, 05/29/05 |
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Food Marketing to
Kids Heats Up: File Comments to FTC by June 9
The topic of food marketing to
children continues to garner much-needed attention. A report
from the governmental advisory body, the Institutes of
Medicine, is due out this fall. Senator Tom Harkin has
recently renewed his call for the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) to be given back its full authority to regulate junk
food ads to kids. And the Center for Informed Food Choices
is coordinating a legal symposium with Loyola Law School in
Los Angeles on October 21.
On July 14 and 15, the FTC and
the Department of Health and Human Services are co-hosting a
workshop in Washington DC entitled, “Perspectives on
Marketing, Self-Regulation, & Childhood Obesity." The
government says the event “will bring together
representatives from food and beverage companies, medical
and nutrition experts, representatives from media and
entertainment companies, consumer groups, advertising
specialists, and other key experts for an open discussion on
industry self-regulation concerning the marketing of food
and beverages to children, as well as initiatives to educate
children and parents about nutrition.”
FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt
Majoras is not hiding where she stands, which is decidedly
with industry. Last month, at a conference sponsored by
defense lawyers, she made the following remarks as she
outlined the purpose of the July workshop: “I want to be
clear, this is not the first step toward new government
regulations to ban or restrict children’s food advertising
and marketing.” She went on at great length to extol the
benefits of self-regulation, which is exactly what the food
industry prefers. This is an odd stance to say the least for
an agency whose motto is “For the Consumer.”
The July workshop gives us all
the opportunity to tell the government that we are fed up
with McDonald’s luring our kids with toys and clowns, with
Star Wars tie-in promotions for endless streams of junk
food, with candy disguising itself as cereal, and the like.
If you want to tell the government that it needs to reign in
the marketing practices of major food companies that make
your job as a parent so hard, now is your chance. The FTC is
requesting comments from the public on a set of questions
related to food marketing to children. You can also request
to participate in the workshop, which is likely to be
heavily-weighted toward corporate representatives. This is
an important opportunity for advocates and parents alike to
take part in democracy. It’s important to create a record of
dissent even if the government fails to act as it should.
The deadline for both requesting to take part in the
workshop and for filing comments is Thursday, June 9. For
details on how to file, visit:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2005/05/childobese.htm. If you do
send comments, please email us a copy at:
talkback@informedeating.org. Thank you.
Source:
Remarks of Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras. Obesity
Liability Conference, 05/11/05
http://www.ftc.gov/speeches/majoras/050511obesityliability.pdf |
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Volunteer to Expose Food Industry
Tactics
CIFC’s
Michele Simon is currently writing a book to expose food
industry lobbying tactics. If you have some extra time on
your hands and want to hone your already excellent research
and organizational skills, while helping to tell the world
about how major food companies can’t be trusted, please send
your resume and why you’re interested to:
Michele@informedeating.org.
Hours are flexible; you can work from anywhere and must
commit to at least the summer. |
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Thirst
for Profit Now Online
“Thirst for
Profit,” Michele Simon’s cover story in the March/April
issue of Mothering magazine about soda industry
lobbying to undermine state legislation is now available for
download on CIFC’s website here:
www.informedeating.org/thirstforprofit2.pdf
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Seeking
Local Stories of Battling Big Food
CIFC is currently gathering
stories at the state and local levels where the food
industry is attempting to block nutrition advocacy efforts.
Many states, cities, and counties around the country are
trying to pass nutrition-related legislation (e.g., limiting
junk food in schools or imposing soda taxes), but the food
industry is lobbying hard to either stop or curtail these
efforts. If you know about any specific fights, we want to
hear about them. We are especially interested in stories
related to soda contracts in schools. Please contact Michele
Simon at: Michele@informedeating.org or (510) 465-0322.
Thank you! |
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The Center for
Informed Food Choices in a nonprofit organization that
advocates for a whole foods, plant-based diet and educates
about the politics of food.
CIFC is proud to make Informed Eating available as a
free public service. Unlike industry publications, it is not
underwritten by corporate sponsors. We would greatly
appreciate your support for this newsletter and our other
important policy work.
For more
information or to make a tax-deductible donation, please visit
www.informedeating.org or call (510) 465-0322.
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We encourage you to pass
this newsletter along to friends.
2005
Informed Eating - All Rights Reserved |
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