BOSTON, Oct. 29 (AScribe Newswire) -- The Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) today announced it has initiated a project to track and publicize the progress made by food producers and distributors that have voluntarily agreed to improve their practices and products so as to counteract the obesity epidemic.
The project follows up on PHAI's conference, "Legal Approaches to the Obesity Epidemic," held at Northeastern University School of Law on June 22-23. Participants were primarily public health and legal scholars.
PHAI's executive director, Ben Kelley, noted that the conference explored ways in which the law could play a role in reversing the epidemic. Kelley said his organization is hopeful that voluntary obesity control measures by industry, such as the "global initiatives to help address obesity" recently announced by Kraft foods, are in fact signs of serious corporate plans to overhaul marketing, packaging and product practices that encourage obesity.
"The problem is especially severe for children, for whom obesity can mean a lifetime of severe health disabilities. Their eating habits, like those of adults, are shaped by the food environment, and that environment is shaped in turn by the advertising, packaging and promotional activities of the industry," Kelly said.
"Companies that manufacture and sell high-calorie, low-nutrition food to school children in vending machines, for instance, are part of the problem. So are those that aggressively advertise such products to small children via television commercials. These companies can become part of the solution by changing their ways. Without doubt their failure to do so will prompt demands for remedial legal actions such as regulation, legislation and litigation."
PHAI is sending inquiries to food companies that have reportedly planned steps to make health-promoting product and marketing improvements. It will release the responses as they are received and will regularly publish summaries and analyses of the results. It will also send the companies further detailed inquiries based on their responses. Attached is a sample inquiry letter. Initial letters have been sent to Kraft Foods, Pepsico, Subway, McDonald's, Wendy's, Pizza Hut, Burger King, and KFC.
"The collective effect of food company marketing practices on the epidemic of obesity must be measured in the American population," according to the Institute's chairman, Anthony Robbins, MD, MPH. "Each company can know and should report on whether it is selling more or fewer calories, providing some indication of what Americans are consuming, but the challenge is to study the weight of the population, as well as consumption. Thus the Institute expects to convene next year a working meeting to see if there can be a consensus among scientists--specialists in obesity and in populations measurements--as to what will be the best 'leading indicators' for changes in obesity patterns in the population: is the epidemic continuing to exacerbate, growing less rapidly, or even abating?"
PHAI is a non-profit research organization founded by faculty members of the Northeastern University School of Law and Tufts School of Medicine. Its mission is to support and enhance public health understanding and commitment among law teachers and students, legislators and regulators, the courts, and others who shape public policy through the law. Information about PHAI, its "Conference on Legal Approaches to the Obesity Epidemic," and its Law and Obesity project may be found on its website, www.PHAIonline.org.
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SAMPLE INQUIRY LETTER:
Betsy Holden
President and CEO
Kraft Foods
3 Lakes Drive
Northfield, IL 60093
October 28, 2003
Re: Obesity Epidemic
Dear Mrs. Holden,
The Public Health Advocacy Institute is committed to finding effective countermeasures to the obesity epidemic. Our June conference, "Legal Approaches to the Obesity Epidemic," in which more than 80 public health and legal scholars and practitioners participated, exemplified that commitment.
Our discussions at the Conference covered a number of ways in which the law might advance the public-health goal of substantially reducing obesity, particularly among children. They also covered ways in which the food industry itself can take initiatives toward that goal, thereby possibly precluding or minimizing the need for legal interventions. Thus we are encouraged by recent reports that some companies plan to undertake changes in marketing and product practices that may be contributing to obesity.
Following up on its June Conference, PHAI has instituted a program to keep track of commitments and actions by food companies to counteract the obesity epidemic. As part of that program I am writing to request the information described below. Evidence that the growth of obesity is slowing or declining and that caloric consumption is going down is necessary to demonstrate that marketing and product changes by food companies are working: 1. Of the steps your company has announced or is contemplating to make health- promoting improvements in food products or product marketing practices, which steps are specifically directed at obesity reduction? In what way will they achieve that goal?
2. What is the basis, scientific or otherwise, for concluding that the identified steps will contribute to reductions in obesity?
3. How will your company monitor the consumption and purchasing practices of its customers to determine whether and how the steps have affected buying and consumption of fat, total calories, and other contributors to obesity? Do you have a design for gathering the relevant data?
Please provide us with any data that your monitoring and evaluation procedures may generate.
I have attached a copy of the press statement we will release shortly in connection with this inquiry. We look forward to your response. If you have questions about our work or this letter, please call me at 617-867-7774 or e-mail me at director@PHAIonline.org. For general information about the Institute's work please visit www.PHAIonline.org.
Sincerely,
Ben Kelley Executive Director, PHAI
cc: Michael Mudd
Enclosure
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