McD’s & Pepsi to Help Write Health Policy in the UK
This is pretty unbelievable! According to the Guardian…
The Department of Health is putting the fast food companies McDonald’s and KFC and processed food and drink manufacturers such as PepsiCo, Kellogg’s, Unilever, Mars and Diageo at the heart of writing government policy on obesity, alcohol and diet-related disease, the Guardian has learned.
In an overhaul of public health, said by campaign groups to be the equivalent of handing smoking policy over to the tobacco industry, health secretary Andrew Lansley has set up five “responsibility deal” networks with business, co-chaired by ministers, to come up with policies. Some of these are expected to be used in the public health white paper due in the next month.
The groups are dominated by food and alcohol industry members, who have been invited to suggest measures to tackle public health crises. Working alongside them are public interest health and consumer groups including Which?, Cancer Research UK and the Faculty of Public Health. The alcohol responsibility deal network is chaired by the head of the lobby group the Wine and Spirit Trade Association. The food network to tackle diet and health problems includes processed food manufacturers, fast food companies, and Compass, the catering company famously pilloried by Jamie Oliver for its school menus of turkey twizzlers. The food deal’s sub-group on calories is chaired by PepsiCo, owner of Walkers crisps.
The leading supermarkets are an equally strong presence, while the responsibility deal’s physical activity group is chaired by the Fitness Industry Association, which is the lobby group for private gyms and personal trainers.
If the US model is anything to go by, this is likely to be a disaster.
November 18, 2010
McD’s & Pepsi to Help Write Health Policy in the UK – http://blog.ultimatefatburner.com/2010/1…
November 18, 2010
McD’s & Pepsi to Help Write Health Policy in the UK – http://blog.ultimatefatburner.com/2010/1…
November 19, 2010
Okaaaay. Who thinks this is a good idea? It looks to me like they’re putting the fox in charge of the hen house.
November 19, 2010
Yup. In the end, solving the obesity crisis means convincing people to eat less of the crap that the food industry heavily relies on for its profits. So it’s a real stretch to imagine that corporate interests are going to place the public interest ahead of their own bottom lines. It’s “regulatory theatre” – and will almost certainly result in “policies” that are pretty toothless. The industry is too invested in the status quo.