Feb 17 2011

The Lancet on the UK’s anti-food policy

It’s a slow food news week (relatively) so I’m getting caught up on things I meant to post but didn’t.  I think this editorial from last November’s Lancet is worth a look, even now.
McPolicy: bringing you the Big Mac society

If you were a UK Health Secretary faced with soaring rates of obesity, alcohol misuse, and diet-related diseases, what would you do? Were you to take an evidence-based approach, you might consider minimum pricing per unit of alcohol and restrictions on its availability. You might look at toughening the regulation of how the least healthy foods are marketed to children.

You could even demand that manufacturers reformulate their least healthy products to meet minimum nutritional standards. Or you could, if your name was Andrew Lansley, dismiss all of the above and instead invite representatives of McDonald’s, PepsiCo, and the drinks giant Diageo among others, to submit their policy suggestions on how best to deal with the UK’s public-health crises for a forthcoming governmental white paper.

After the initial surprise, it can still take a while for the bizarre reality to sink in—that the companies who have profited the most from the epidemics of obesity and alcohol misuse should now be responsible for setting the agenda on public health simply beggars belief.

…The creeping influence of corporate power on public policy is not news to anyone in the UK, but the breathtaking speed and scale by which the UK coalition Government is embracing the agenda of business at the expense of the health of the electorate is an unwelcome novelty. By putting the interests of big business at the heart of public-health policy, Lansley is ensuring that the UK’s big society will not be shedding the pounds any time soon.

The Lancet is a British medical journal with unusual and highly commendable editorial interests in international public health.  I’m happy to see it take on questions about the role of corporations in obesity.  The British Food Standards Agency was doing a good job of trying to institute policy approaches to obesity prevention, but these are not popular with corporations.  Recall: eating less is very bad for business.

And this kind of resistance to policy approaches is not just a British or European problem.  Our corporations also prefer what they do to be voluntary. So this is a cautionary tale.

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  • Katie
  • February 17, 2011
  • 3:36 pm

The Food Standards Agency was working with the food industry on various public health issues, including reformulation, for several years. However, following the election in 2010, the new coalition government removed this from the FSA remit in England and Wales – not Scotland (where I work). The FSA in Scotland can continue this work but only with local SMEs and not national producers or retailers. The new government also stopped all funding for Change 4 Life campaign (social marketing campaign focused on childhood obesity) and invited the food industry to fund it instead. Years of progress wiped out in a matter of months.

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Marion Nestle and Nancy Huehnergarth, Jonathan Chiu. Jonathan Chiu said: Marion Nestle: The Lancet on the UK’s anti-food policy http://bit.ly/fGYt2q [...]

The editorial does point out something contra to intelligent policy coordination.

“…Whatever sage wisdom the various captains of the food and drink industry have to impart…”

The UK and the USA place a high regard on scientific knowledge and education to ensure their future economic standing. Countless billions have been poured into science over the last few decades and countless more billions are poured into healthcare treatment each year.

Just what is it that makes policy makers believe that people who have studied economics and finance know more about health than people who spend their lives and taxpayer funding on looking at the science of health and dealing with the consequences? Why is there such a dislocation in policy between the input of effort and output of knowledge?

Saying economists know more about health than healthcare practitioners, is like saying chimps are more qualified to run the country than the current crop of monkey’s.

[...] Marion Nestle (rien avoir avec le groupe alimentaire), « Le Lancet est une revue médicale britannique avec des [...]

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