Diet Panel Nominees Questioned (close ties to food/drug industries)

[kskiska]

Here we go, again.

A new federal committee nominated recently to begin reviewing the U.S. dietary guidelines -- the cornerstone of key federal nutrition programs and policies from the food guide pyramid to the school lunch program -- has come under fire from consumer groups for having close industry ties.

In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) urged that seven of the nominees to the 13-member committee be replaced because of their "tight affiliations" with the food, drug and dietary supplement industries. Such ties "cast doubt on their ability to provide the government (and the public) with the best unbiased advice," wrote CSPI Director Michael F. Jacobson.

Compounding the potential bias, Jacobson said, is that HHS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which jointly oversee review of the guidelines every five years, did not disclose any of the nominees' corporate affiliations.

CSPI objects most to Fergus M. Clydesdale, who heads the Food Science Department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and who CSPI says has held stock in and has consulted for several food-related companies. Clydesdale has also worked closely with the industry-supported American Council on Science and Health and chairs the board of trustees of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), which is also largely industry-funded.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39944-2003Aug24.html

[MaineDem]

1. I'm better qualified than some of these people

Time for another letter to my senators. They'll be tired of hearing from me soon. Maybe they already are.

[cspiguy]

2. taking funding from Campbell Soup and the egg board ...

Is pretty durn serious. And don't look for many vegetarians there, either. In the last administration, there were committed vegetarians and the food pyramid was supposed to be the beginning of marginalizing your grandparents diet - eggs, pork and all meat, really, and any kind of sweet or foods from the "grease group" - butter/margarine. Like everything else, this misadministration is sending us back years from the progress we had. The CSPI chairman once said after being harassed for being the top "food police officer" - "as far as I am concerned, they should all eat ONLY whole grains and vegetables". I think he is a devout neo-hindu but am not sure. Watch for this to be changed completely again when the dems take back the white house in 04. Science flip flops are mostly the result of political sea changes anyway, at least when it comes to diet.

[veganwitch]

3. actually

food lobbies (esspecially meat and dairy) have waaaaaaaayyy too much influence on the "food pyramid."

why else are adult humans told to consume 3 servings daily of something created for baby cows?? there is absolutely no reason for someone above weaning age to consume dairy, let alone from another species. so why is it up there?? dairy lobbies.

edit: go pcrm!!!!!