happened time and again with
tobacco. Using pressure to stall or
prevent needed policy change? Few
industries have been more effective
than tobacco,” they write.
BECOMING MORE
ORGANIZED & POLITICAL
ACCORDING TO PUBLIC-HEALTH
ATTORNEY SIMON, BIG FOOD
consists of massive agribusiness companies such as Cargill, Archer Daniels
Midland, Bunge and Monsanto; food
sellers such as Kraft, which owns
Nabisco, and PepsiCo, which owns
Frito Lay; and restaurant companies as
large as McDonald’s and Yum! Brands.
These are represented by lobbyists,
lawyers and trade organizations, such
as the Grocery Manufacturers of
America, whose 200 members enjoy
annual sales of more than $680 billion
in the United States alone, and consist
of major packaged-food corporations
such as Mars.
“It is standard operating procedure
for companies to join trade associa-
tions to lobby on the members’ behalf
to maximize efficiency and power,”
says Simon. “Trade groups can do the
dirty work without tarnishing the
individual corporate image.”
The Center for Responsive Politics says food and
beverage companies spent $57 million on lobbying in
2009 alone.
Simon says that from 2003 to 2005, almost every state
proposed legislation to address the sale of soda and junk
food in public schools. But many of these efforts have
fallen flat.
“Only 21 states were successful in passing any bills
during that period, and in at least 10 instances, the bills
were watered down, a result of political lobbying and
compromise,” Simon says. “In many other states, the
bill as introduced was already weak and likely inef-
fective, another byproduct of corporate pressure … In
almost all states where bills fail or are weakened, trade
associations and individual companies have a heavy
hand in the lobbying. Despite its public claims to being
part of the solution, at every opportunity, the Grocery
Manufacturers Association puts its members’ economic
interests above children’s health.”
Brownell and Wagner also note that there is a
long history of government and agency officials being
recruited from food and agriculture industries and then
returning to businesses and lobbying firms when their
By 2030…healthcare costs attributable to
obesity and overweight could range from
$860 billion to
$956 billion,
which would account for 15. 8 to 17. 6
percent of total healthcare costs, or one in
every six dollars spent on healthcare.
ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION
government service ends.
“Tommy Thompson, a former secretary of the
Department of Health and Human Services, is now
a partner with Akin Gump, a law firm that defended
tobacco companies and food companies like Archer
Daniels Midland,” according to Brownell and Wagner.
“Daniel Glickman went to the same firm after serving as
secretary of the United States Drug Administration.”
PAYING SCIENTISTS TO CONDUCT STUDIES
“BEGINNING WITH DENIALS THAT SMOKING CAUSES
LUNG CANCER AND PROGRESSING TO ATTACKS
ON STUDIES OF SECONDHAND SMOKE,” the tobacco
industry knew how to instill doubt in the public psyche,
Brownell and Wagner say.
“Likewise, groups and scientists funded by the food
industry have disputed whether the prevalence figures
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