Sound familiar? ..... Fast food companies helping write health policy in Britain

[marmar]

from the Guardian UK:




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. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/nov/12/mcdonalds-pepsico-help-health-policy

[xchrom]

1. Neo-liberal foxes in the hen house. Nt

[Ghost Dog]

2. Yeah. Well of course they have to out-NuLab

Blairite Nu Labour.

[Sirveri]

3. Except there the people might actually get upset...

Here it's nothing but smaller government and how awesome the corporation is.

[madmax]

4. You forgot one important factor,

the ignorance and inattention of the American public.

You're right, the Brits may balk. They're not too keen on the college tuition increases as they've shown us last week.

The French did their thing over increasing the retirement age.

'We the people', here in la la land vote for more batshit crazy politicians, as evident in the latest mid-term. :crazy: