Transparency group US Right to Know finds members linked to Nestlé, Coca-Cola and others, raising conflict-of-interest questions

Almost half of a federal government panel that helps develop US nutritional guidelines has significant ties to big agriculture, ultra-processed food companies, pharmaceutical companies and other corporate organizations with a significant stake in the process’s outcome.

The revelation is part of a new report from US Right to Know, a government transparency group that looked for ties to corporate interests among the 20-member panel of food and nutrition experts that makes recommendations for updating the US government’s official dietary guidelines.

It found nine members had ties to Nestlé, Pfizer, Coca-Cola, the National Egg Board and other prominent food lobby groups, among others. The findings raise questions about whether the panel is looking out for Americans’ health or corporate profits, and “erodes confidence in dietary guidelines”, said Gary Ruskin of US Right to Know.

“Millions of Americans’ lives are affected by this report and it’s crucial that the report tell the truth to American people and it’s not degraded into another sales pitch for big food and big pharma,” he said.

  • speff@disc.0x-ia.moe
    0·
    1 year ago

    No way… people who are experts in the food/health industry are involved with giving dietary advice? The horror.

    Of course there isn’t a link to the reports, so I have to go looking for it. Anyway here’s the report. PDF - page 8 for the results. I spot-checked a few of them - the conflicts of interest I saw was in the form of companies sponsoring research done. …which is pretty much how the majority of research gets done I believe…

    Also I see coca-cola referenced ONCE as a “possible” COI

    Position in industry-sponsored conferences: Dr. Booth was selected to speak at a conference sponsored by Bayer, Coca-Cola, and Abbott, among other industry actors

    yet this article seems to deem it alright to put it as the posterboy image and list it prominently among other unpopular company names. Also they have to link to their boogeyman reporting about aspartame. You can see where HN tore it apart here.

    This is why I hate news nowadays. I could’ve made some good food in the past 20 minutes on a nice Saturday, but instead I wasted time finding out a guardian article was bullshit.

  • Silverseren@kbin.social
    0·
    1 year ago

    I would like more details on what “ties” means, since US Right To Know is a well known pseudoscience and fearmongering group, pushing anti-vaccine nonsense among other things. It doesn’t help that “big agriculture, ultra-processed food companies, pharmaceutical companies and other corporate organizations” is ridiculously broad.

    Yes, people on a food and nutrition panel are going to have some tie to…food and nutrition as a field. That’s not a surprising statement.

    And how they are connected to the specific companies listed needs explaining, since the US Right To Know group has in the past claimed that any form of email conversation or a company donating to a university someone works at counts as ties.

      • Silverseren@kbin.social
        0·
        1 year ago

        They’re one of the groups with a long history going back decades of fearmongering about biotechnology. Since I’m a molecular biologist (and active in the skeptic and scientific communication areas), I’ve known about them for a while.

        They’re closely tied with the Organic Consumer’s Association, which is even more insane on the pseudoscience, pushing things like chemtrails.