In addition to this committee’s financial ties to major food corporations, at least six members of its Subgroup on Maternal and Child Nutrition are connected to baby food and formula milk manufacturers. Such conflicts of interest – which are widespread in industrialized countries – raise serious concerns about the influence of food industry money on government policy in the areas of nutrition, food, and health.
As the British Medical Journal article describes, the existence of these industry ties clearly compromises the ability of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition to provide the UK government with genuinely unbiased advice. While committee members are supposed to declare any conflicts of interest, it would clearly be naïve to assume that having financial ties to major corporations has no effect whatsoever upon their decision-making. Pressure is therefore growing on the committee to sever its ties with the food industry in order to better serve UK public health interests.
To read how a previous investigation found that more than 130 senior officials employed in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) were simultaneously being paid as ‘consultants’ by pharmaceutical companies, see this article on our website.
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News
At least 11 of the 17 members of the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition have conflicts of interest with the likes of Nestle, sugar manufacturer Tate and Lyle, and the world’s largest ice cream producer, Unilever, reports Sophie Borland in the British Medical Journal.
[Source: medicalxpress.com]
[Image source: Adobe Stock]
Comment
In addition to this committee’s financial ties to major food corporations, at least six members of its Subgroup on Maternal and Child Nutrition are connected to baby food and formula milk manufacturers. Such conflicts of interest – which are widespread in industrialized countries – raise serious concerns about the influence of food industry money on government policy in the areas of nutrition, food, and health.
As the British Medical Journal article describes, the existence of these industry ties clearly compromises the ability of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition to provide the UK government with genuinely unbiased advice. While committee members are supposed to declare any conflicts of interest, it would clearly be naïve to assume that having financial ties to major corporations has no effect whatsoever upon their decision-making. Pressure is therefore growing on the committee to sever its ties with the food industry in order to better serve UK public health interests.
To read how a previous investigation found that more than 130 senior officials employed in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) were simultaneously being paid as ‘consultants’ by pharmaceutical companies, see this article on our website.
Dr. Rath Health Foundation
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