In the political arena, one side is winning the war on child obesity.
The side with the fattest wallets.
After
aggressive lobbying, Congress declared pizza a vegetable to protect it
from a nutritional overhaul of the school lunch program this year. The
White House kept silent last year as Congress killed a plan by four
federal agencies to reduce sugar, salt and fat in food marketed to
children.
And during the past two
years, each of the 24 states and five cities that considered "soda
taxes" to discourage consumption of sugary drinks has seen the efforts
dropped or defeated.
At every level
of government, the food and beverage industries won fight after fight
during the last decade. They have never lost a significant political
battle in the United States despite mounting scientific evidence of the
role of unhealthy food and children's marketing in obesity.
Lobbying
records analyzed by Reuters reveal that the industries more than
doubled their spending in Washington during the past three years. In the
process, they largely dominated policymaking -- pledging voluntary
action while defeating government proposals aimed at changing the
nation's diet, dozens of interviews show.
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