Corporate politics shaped U.S. Government Dietary recommendations

From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Tue May 13 2003 - 02:10:45 MDT

  • Next message: Michael M. Butler: "Re: Paper>YOUR NUKES WILL BE DESTROYED!"

    There has been discussion recently about Nutritional Scientists' failure in
    developing the Four Food Groups and The Food Pyramid. I have been too busy
    to dig this up, but here is a summary of a successful lawsuit from last year
    that proved that the meat and dairy industry manipulated these
    recommendations and that they were not scientifically based.

    Dietary Guidelines for Americans
    from <http://www.apma.net/legal-lawsuits.htm>

    AAHF joined a successful lawsuit by the Physicians Committee for Responsible
    Medicine which was designed to persuade the US Department of Health and
    Human Services and the US Department of Agriculture to revise the Dietary
    Guidelines for Americans. PCRM worked to push these federal departments to
    acknowledge the prevalence of lactase nonpersistence in African Americans,
    Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans and therefore make
    dairy products optional, rather that required, in the Guidelines and in
    federal food programs. The Committee also believed that the Guidelines need
    to recognize the disproportionate toll prostate cancer, diabetes, and
    hypertension exact among people of color and to encourage the healthiest
    possible diets to help reduce this toll. The Committee successfully
    recommended that soy-based beverages with added calcium be included in what
    had been called the "dairy group;" and recommended that the Guidelines be
    revised to include a fully-developed section promoting vegetarian and vegan
    diets. The Committee also asked that meat and dairy products be listed as
    optional food sources, rather than recommended or required. The Dietary
    Guidelines 2000 Committee did declare that plant foods - vegetables, fruits,
    grains and legumes-are the foundation of a healthy diet, but did not make
    particular reference to vegetarian or vegan eating patterns, and failed to
    acknowledge the benefits thereof in preventing chronic diseases. The
    Guideline Committee's report and recommendations can be found at
    www.ars.usda.gov/dgac. Click here to link to the Physicians Committee for
    Responsible Medicine' web site and press release on this subject.
    http://www.pcrm.org/news/health001002.html

    This last link gives some legal information about how the dairy and meat
    industries secretly financed these studies and how the USDA unlawfully hid
    their involvement.

    from <http://www.pcrm.org/news/health001002.html>
    Court Rules Against USDA's Secrecy and Failure to Disclose Conflict of
    Interest in Setting Nutrition Policies

    Washington, D.C.—The U.S. Department of Agriculture violated federal law by
    keeping secret certain documents used in setting federal nutrition policies
    and by hiding financial conflicts of interest among members of a diet
    advisory committee, U.S. District Judge James Robertson said in a ruling
    made public today.

    The ruling is a major victory for the Physicians Committee for Responsible
    Medicine (PCRM), a Washington, D.C.-based research and advocacy group that
    had lodged the lawsuit in Federal District Court for the District of
    Columbia on December 15, 1999.

    PCRM had argued that at least six of the 11 members of the Dietary
    Guidelines Advisory Committee, which formulates the Dietary Guidelines for
    Americans, had financial ties to the meat, dairy, or egg industries that may
    have made it more likely that unhealthy foods would remain in the
    government's diet plan. PCRM's suit also charged that the government had
    undercut the public's ability to participate in and understand the
    Committee's activities. The Dietary Guidelines provide nutrition advice for
    all Americans and form the basis for all federal food programs, including
    the School Lunch Program.

    While USDA had provided information showing financial conflicts of interest
    for six committee members, Judge Robertson faulted the Department for
    refusing to provide details on an additional conflict of interest involving
    a payment of more than $10,000 for one member. This additional conflict has
    not yet been revealed, but PCRM anticipates its disclosure within a matter
    of days.

    "Having advisors tied to the meat or dairy industries is as inappropriate as
    letting tobacco companies decide our standards for air quality," said PCRM
    president Neal D. Barnard, M.D.

    Mindy Kursban, PCRM's attorney, said, "We hope that this Court's strong
    ruling against the government will make the USDA think twice before
    appointing Committee members with inappropriate industry ties."

    Prior to initiating the lawsuit, PCRM's efforts to change federal diet
    guidelines had won the support of the NAACP, former Surgeon General Joycelyn
    Elders, Martin Luther King, III, Muhammad Ali, and many others who objected
    to the overpromotion of meat and dairy products given the prevalence of
    lactose intolerance and diet-related diseases, such as heart disease,
    diabetes, and hypertension, among racial minorities.

    The doctors' group scored a partial victory in February, when the advisory
    committee accepted non-dairy foods, such as soymilk, as acceptable
    alternatives to dairy products.

    --
    Harvey Newstrom, CISSP, IAM, GSEC, IBMCP
    <www.HarveyNewstrom.com> <www.Newstaff.com>
    


    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Tue May 13 2003 - 02:24:13 MDT