White House Makes Super-Size Effort To Gut Obesity Report

by Michele Simon

(PNS) -- With two-thirds of Americans now either obese or overweight, including 15 percent of children -- a figure that has doubled in the past 25 years -- you might expect the U.S. government to support international efforts to promote healthier eating. But, just like it tried to derail the World Health Organization's (WHO) attempts to control tobacco worldwide, the United States, along with the powerful food industry, is trying to thwart the efforts of the UN agency to make even the most common sense recommendations on diet.

Obesity has already reached global epidemic levels. WHO estimates that 300 million people worldwide are obese, and 1 billion are overweight -- the latter figure now matching the number who are hungry. According to the International Obesity Task Force, 22 million of the world's children under 5 are overweight or obese. In some countries, more than 30 percent of children are overweight.

To address this growing global health crisis, on May 20 WHO will formally present the final draft of its "Global strategy on diet, physical activity, and health" for approval by 192 member states at the World Health Assembly in Geneva.

The primary purpose of the non-binding document, explains Derek Yach, executive director of the Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health cluster at WHO, is to promote dialogue. "Up to now, due to direct or indirect pressure, WHO has chosen not to take a stand on anything other than education because of the huge amount of money at stake within the food industry." Yach says previous WHO action-oriented documents have resulted in "near-hysterical" reactions from certain member states. "That's why WHO decided to take a relatively low-key approach."

WHO has endured a tremendous amount of criticism from the sugar industry and the U.S. for suggesting that people limit their sugar intake, a recommendation based on solid scientific evidence.

It's no wonder that the U.S. food industry has such a keen interest in any global policy that could potentially harm its bottom line. Having saturated markets at home, American-born companies are increasingly exporting their junk food. For example, Coca-Cola sells more than 300 brands in over 200 countries. More than 70 percent of the soft-drink giant's income originates outside of the United States.

McDonald's boasts more than 30,000 restaurants in 119 countries, and also earns (along with KFC) the majority of its profits outside the United States. Classes at McDonald's Hamburger University are taught in 20 different languages.

Developing countries are especially fertile ground for American-style fast food expansion. Indeed, fast food chains are often the first multinationals to arrive once a country has opened its markets. According to the Worldwatch Institute, China is now home to 800 KFCs and 100 Pizza Huts. India's fast-food industry is growing by 40 percent a year, and is expected to generate over a billion dollars in sales by 2005, while a quarter of India's population remains undernourished.

Despite these American-style contributions to the global obesity crisis, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, instead of supporting WHO's efforts, conducted a line-by-line critique of the draft document that read as if it came from the food industry itself. And no wonder, because as soon as the draft report was published, the Grocery Manufacturers of America, which represents corporations such as Coca-Cola, Del Monte and Heinz, lobbied the Bush administration to act on its behalf and attack WHO's findings.

Attack it did. Troubling examples of suggested changes from the U.S. government include: 1) at least 52 times, weakening existing language, adding qualifying statements, or substituting voluntary language such as "encourage" for the stronger word, "should"; 2) inserting the term "personal" or "individual" nine times (to reflect the food industry's mantra that personal responsibility is the key to solving obesity, not regulation); and 3) striking language calling for production and marketing support of "fruit, vegetables and legumes and other healthy produce."

While most of the U.S. attempts to alter language in the final document were unsuccessful, at times Washington got its way. Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, a nonprofit organization that has been critical of U.S. obesity policy and works to restrict advertising of junk food to children, says that WHO's global strategy is far weaker than it should be. "WHO caved in to the U.S. and the junk food industry," Ruskin says.

Dr. Yach explains that ultimately, "WHO answers to its member states, so when the U.S. objects to language, we have to be responsive. If the U.S. is influenced by the food industry, there is nothing we can do about that." He says he remains hopeful that the final draft will be approved, and recommends that "public health advocates create a process to hold countries accountable for signing on to the resolution and taking the required action, to make sure it's more than talk, which is often cheap in Geneva."