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The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) – The tweet of a group that funds development in Latin America was straightforward: sodas offer neither beauty nor joy, but a lot of sugar.
There was a problem for the organization. Coca-Cola was a funder.
The management of the Inter-American Development Bank told Coke that she was unaware of the tweet and then invited the company to write a blog post explaining how the beverage giant was helping to fight the problem. Obesity, according to an email from a Coca-Cola manager obtained by AP via a request for public registrations.
The exchange provides another insight into the appeal of the food industry for developing messages about its products. As obesity becomes a growing global problem, two scientific journal reports call for policies that limit the influence of the industry and reignite the debate over the role that food businesses should play. play in public health efforts.
In the Lancet medical journal, a report indicates that skepticism about the motives of ultra-processed food manufacturers is warranted, highlighting how sweet drink manufacturers have fought government efforts to reduce soda consumption. According to the report, reducing the industry's influence in policy-making will help governments solve the interlocking problems of obesity, malnutrition and climate change.
A separate report in Milbank Quarterly describes Coke's links with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, relying in part on previously published e-mails obtained through registration requests. In an exchange, a CDC official told a Coca-Cola executive that her colleague was interested in working in the beverage business and was sending out her resume. A representative of the CDC stated that the agency did not comment on personnel issues, but emphasized its ethical resources for employees.
The Milbank Report indicates that such exchanges underscore the need for greater transparency and conflict-of-interest guidelines within organizations involved in public health. It is said that the influence of the food industry is still relatively unknown, but that there is a growing understanding of this dynamic.
Gary Ruskin, one of the authors of the report, said this heightened awareness was partly the result of "the enormity of the obesity epidemic".
"We are just beginning to deal with it in a serious way," said Ruskin, co-founder of the American organization Right to Know, a rights group founded by the Organic Consumers Association and others.
Ruskin said that Coke in particular has been the subject of many recent revelations because of the exceptionally deep links it has with regulatory and scientific issues. Earlier this month, a Harvard researcher conducted a study on how a group founded by a former Coca-Cola executive had helped steer China's efforts to control obesity.
Yet Coke is far from alone. Many other food companies finance studies that are favorable to their products and part of the scientific literature. And last year, the University of California at San Francisco launched an archive of food industry documents for researchers, including records detailing the role of the sugar industry nutrition research.
Yoni Freedhoff, who teaches family medicine at the University of Ottawa, said the health industry's public promises on health issues should be viewed with caution, given its financial factors.
"This gives the smoke and blanket to the industry to try to pretend," Hey, we're in your team, "Freedhoff said.
Everyone does not think that all links with the industry should be discarded. Bill Dietz, author of the Lancet Report and a researcher at George Washington University, said the Partnership for a Healthier America, working with food companies on public health commitments, was a worthy effort.
"My concern is that the issue has become so complex that any relationship with the industry is being sidelined," said Dietz, a board member of Partnership for a Healthier America.
Regarding the tweet of the Inter-American Development Bank, a representative of the bank said that the message had been removed because it included an image with brand names in violation of its policies. The representative stated that Coke's message had been posted on the bank's awareness and partner blog, and that the institution had continued to promote the debate on the consequences of sugar consumption for the community. health.
In a statement, Coca-Cola, based in Atlanta, said it was working to be more transparent and better understand how it can help fight obesity.Speech
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