HOMETeen Obesity
Fast Food Propaganda
You hear them screaming "food police" and you think they are protecting your right to eat what you want. Who are these people who want to encourage high-fat, high-sugar, low-nutrition foods?
With all the research there is about the link between fast food and childhood obesity, not to mention the long-established data about obesity and diabetes, heart disease, and other killers, you'd think that the adults would band together to improve the health and diet of our children. Even people who don't like children would want to lessen the economic impact of chronic health conditions rooted in the obesity epidemic, right?
Not necessarily. Billions of dollars go every year to the people who sell those empty calories, and they spend a lot of those dollars refuting solid research. They hire lobbyists like Rick Berman. One of his projects is the Center for Consumer Freedom, whose slogan is "Promoting Personal Responsibility and Protecting Consumer Choice."
Aren't most parents in favor of promoting personal responsibility? Certainly, which is why Berman bills it that way. The CCF, however, is actually a media group for the restaurant, alcohol, and tobacco industries. It runs media campaigns to undermine the work of scientists, doctors, health advocates, environmentalists and activist groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
In a 1999 interview with Chain Leader, Berman shared his strategy for dealing with activist groups, which he said "drive consumer behavior on meat, alcohol, fat, sugar, tobacco, and caffeine." He said his strategy is "to shoot the messenger...We've got to attack their credibility as spokespersons."
One of the best methods of attacking someone's credibility is to make fun of them. When you read articles that refer to scientists, doctors, and activists as "the food police" or "part of the culture of victimology," you are seeing the fruits of CCF's labor. In a recent opinion column that used both of these phrases, J.D. Mullane wrote, "As far as I can tell, there might be a childhood obesity epidemic. For every argument saying it's a fact, there's one saying it's not."
But to know which research is valid, a parent needs to notice who is funding the research. When for-profit companies fund research or report on research, you need to question its validity. Of course, you want your overweight child to be okay, but the way to make that the truth is to hear the truth and act on it.
