US sugar barons 'block global war on obesity'

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US sugar barons 'block global war on obesity'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1125769,00.html

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1125785,00.html

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Jo Revill and Paul Harris in New York

Sunday January 18, 2004

The Observer

 

Leading scientists accused the Bush administration last night of putting the

interests of powerful American sugar barons ahead of the global fight

against obesity.

Professor Kaare Norum, leader of the World Health Organisation's fight to

prevent millions developing diet-related diseases, has sparked an

international war of words with a highly critical letter to US Health

Secretary Tommy Thompson. In it he tells of his grave concern over American

opposition to the WHO's blueprint to combat obesity. He accuses the US of

making the health of millions of young Americans 'a hostage to fortune'

because it has failed to take action over the fat epidemic as a result of

its business interests, particularly the sugar lobby.

 

Since 1990, successive US governments have blocked WHO calls for action,

claims Norum, professor of medicine at Oslo University.

 

'Obesity rates have risen so that now one in three Americans bears the

burden of the very high health risks associated with this condition, with

the poorest and most vulnerable worst affected,' he says. 'Obesity rates

among American children have risen by 50 per cent.'

 

Norum is the most senior scientist involved in an attempt to formulate a

worldwide policy to fight heart disease and diabetes resulting from a junk

food diet. An estimated 60 per cent of disease worldwide is now due to

cardiovascular illness, which causes 47 per cent of deaths.

 

The letter from Norum will put Bush under intense pressure at home to show

that he is serious about tackling the epidemic. More than half of all

Americans are overweight, and in some states, including Bush's Texas, nearly

one-third of the population is classified obese.

 

The President insists fighting fat is a matter for the individual, not the

state. But today The Observer reveals how he and fellow senators have

received hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from 'Big Sugar'. One

of his main fundraisers is sugar baron Jose 'Pepe' Fanjul, head of Florida

Crystals, who has raised at least $100,000 for November's presidential

re-election campaign.

 

Norum's letter is an angry response to the Americans' decision to submit a

30-page report, criticising the WHO strategy for its lack of sound

scientific evidence. It will be discussed at a key meeting of its executive

board in Geneva on Tuesday.

 

The Bush administration, which receives millions in funding from the sugar

industry, argues there is little robust evidence to show that drinking

sugary drinks or eating too much sugar is a direct cause of obesity. It

particularly opposes a recommendation that just 10 per cent of people's

energy intake should come from added sugar. The US has a 25 per cent

guideline.

 

Thompson's representative at Tuesday's meeting will be Bill Steiger, godson

of George Bush Sr. He will argue there is no evidence that selling junk food

to children increases overweight.

 

Another leading obesity expert supported Norum, describing America's

position as a scandal. Professor Philip James, head of the International

Obesity Task Force, a thinktank for experts worldwide said: 'People are far

more tuned into what is now a much bigger obesity crisis and are more aware

of some of the dangers such as diabetes. When they begin to see children

developing these severe health problems, it brings home to people that this

is not some vague risk in the future - it is happening here and now.'

 

Thompson is also due to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos next

week, where he is expected to have a private meeting with Douglas Daft,

president of The Coca-Cola Company, one of the major users of American cane

sugar and sweeteners.

 

In an Observer interview today, Britain's Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell

urges people who take little or no exercise to start hobbies like DIY and

gardening to get active, saying that she wants people to take responsibility

for their fitness.

 

In the UK, nearly 16 per cent of teenagers were found to be obese in 2000 -

three times the number reported in 1990.