SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
It's the Surreal Thing
Why should the country's most obese state help Coca-Cola peddle obesity?
Sep 07, 2015
We're number one.
In obesity.
West Virginia is in a dead heat (emphasis on dead) with Mississippi. That's according to the most recent ranking (2013) from the Trust for America's Health -- up from number four in 2012.
That's an obscenity.
What can be done?
The West Virginia School of Public Health Should be taking the lead.
Instead, according to a report in the New York Times last month, "Coca-Cola Funds Scientists Who Shift Blame for Obesity Away From Bad Diets," Coca-Cola has given money to Dr. Gregory Hand, now the dean of the West Virginia School of Public Health, to fund a non-profit group -- the Global Energy Balance Network -- to promote the view that "weight-conscious Americans are overly fixated on how much they eat and drink while not paying enough attention to exercise."
Health experts contend that Coke is "using the new group to convince the public that physical activity can offset a bad diet despite evidence that exercise has only minimal impact on weight compared with what people consume," the Times reported.
"Coca-Cola had provided significant funding to Dr. Hand, who left the University of South Carolina last year for West Virginia," the Times reported. "The company gave him $806,500 for an 'energy flux' study in 2011 and $507,000 last year to establish the Global Energy Balance Network."
"It is unclear how much of the money, if any, ended up as personal income" for Dr. Hand, the Times reported.
Dr. Hand told the Times that "as long as everybody is disclosing their potential conflicts and they're being managed appropriately, that's the best that you can do."
"It makes perfect sense that companies would want the best science that they can get," Dr. Hand said.
The best science money can buy?
Instead of fronting for Coca-Cola, the West Virginia School of Public Health should be pushing hard for public health measures to combat obesity in the state.
Thirty-five of Dr. Hand's colleagues, including Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard's School of Public Health, wrote to the Times that "the scientific nonsense being peddled by the Coca-Cola-funded Global Energy Balance Network is outrageous."
"The Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee provides compelling evidence for the causal link between sugary drinks and disease, as well as the need for exercise," they wrote. "Unfortunately, Coca-Cola and its academic helpers won't accept the well-documented evidence that sugary drinks are a major contributor to obesity, heart disease and diabetes."
Gary Ruskin, co-director of the Oakland, California-based public interest group U.S. Right to Know says that "it is wrong for a professor of a public health school to help establish a corporate front group to protect Coca-Cola and its profits."
"It is especially wrong for a dean to do so," Ruskin said. "Dean Hand should be fired or should resign immediately."
Dr. Marion Nestle is a professor of nutrition at NYU and author of the upcoming book "Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning)."
Dr. Nestle says that "if the move to force Professor Hand's resignation has one lesson to teach, it is that universities need to establish and enforce much stricter guidelines for use of such funds than has been standard practice."
"I can't think of any way that professors can accept corporate funding for their research and maintain academic integrity, but universities can help them with this problem by setting firm limits on how such funds are used," Nestle says.
West Virginia needs someone like Dr. Nestle and Dr. Willett who will take on Big Soda and win.
We want to be number one in public health, not obesity and disease.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Russell Mokhiber
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. He is also founder of singlepayeraction.org, and editor of the website Morgan County USA.
We're number one.
In obesity.
West Virginia is in a dead heat (emphasis on dead) with Mississippi. That's according to the most recent ranking (2013) from the Trust for America's Health -- up from number four in 2012.
That's an obscenity.
What can be done?
The West Virginia School of Public Health Should be taking the lead.
Instead, according to a report in the New York Times last month, "Coca-Cola Funds Scientists Who Shift Blame for Obesity Away From Bad Diets," Coca-Cola has given money to Dr. Gregory Hand, now the dean of the West Virginia School of Public Health, to fund a non-profit group -- the Global Energy Balance Network -- to promote the view that "weight-conscious Americans are overly fixated on how much they eat and drink while not paying enough attention to exercise."
Health experts contend that Coke is "using the new group to convince the public that physical activity can offset a bad diet despite evidence that exercise has only minimal impact on weight compared with what people consume," the Times reported.
"Coca-Cola had provided significant funding to Dr. Hand, who left the University of South Carolina last year for West Virginia," the Times reported. "The company gave him $806,500 for an 'energy flux' study in 2011 and $507,000 last year to establish the Global Energy Balance Network."
"It is unclear how much of the money, if any, ended up as personal income" for Dr. Hand, the Times reported.
Dr. Hand told the Times that "as long as everybody is disclosing their potential conflicts and they're being managed appropriately, that's the best that you can do."
"It makes perfect sense that companies would want the best science that they can get," Dr. Hand said.
The best science money can buy?
Instead of fronting for Coca-Cola, the West Virginia School of Public Health should be pushing hard for public health measures to combat obesity in the state.
Thirty-five of Dr. Hand's colleagues, including Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard's School of Public Health, wrote to the Times that "the scientific nonsense being peddled by the Coca-Cola-funded Global Energy Balance Network is outrageous."
"The Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee provides compelling evidence for the causal link between sugary drinks and disease, as well as the need for exercise," they wrote. "Unfortunately, Coca-Cola and its academic helpers won't accept the well-documented evidence that sugary drinks are a major contributor to obesity, heart disease and diabetes."
Gary Ruskin, co-director of the Oakland, California-based public interest group U.S. Right to Know says that "it is wrong for a professor of a public health school to help establish a corporate front group to protect Coca-Cola and its profits."
"It is especially wrong for a dean to do so," Ruskin said. "Dean Hand should be fired or should resign immediately."
Dr. Marion Nestle is a professor of nutrition at NYU and author of the upcoming book "Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning)."
Dr. Nestle says that "if the move to force Professor Hand's resignation has one lesson to teach, it is that universities need to establish and enforce much stricter guidelines for use of such funds than has been standard practice."
"I can't think of any way that professors can accept corporate funding for their research and maintain academic integrity, but universities can help them with this problem by setting firm limits on how such funds are used," Nestle says.
West Virginia needs someone like Dr. Nestle and Dr. Willett who will take on Big Soda and win.
We want to be number one in public health, not obesity and disease.
Russell Mokhiber
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. He is also founder of singlepayeraction.org, and editor of the website Morgan County USA.
We're number one.
In obesity.
West Virginia is in a dead heat (emphasis on dead) with Mississippi. That's according to the most recent ranking (2013) from the Trust for America's Health -- up from number four in 2012.
That's an obscenity.
What can be done?
The West Virginia School of Public Health Should be taking the lead.
Instead, according to a report in the New York Times last month, "Coca-Cola Funds Scientists Who Shift Blame for Obesity Away From Bad Diets," Coca-Cola has given money to Dr. Gregory Hand, now the dean of the West Virginia School of Public Health, to fund a non-profit group -- the Global Energy Balance Network -- to promote the view that "weight-conscious Americans are overly fixated on how much they eat and drink while not paying enough attention to exercise."
Health experts contend that Coke is "using the new group to convince the public that physical activity can offset a bad diet despite evidence that exercise has only minimal impact on weight compared with what people consume," the Times reported.
"Coca-Cola had provided significant funding to Dr. Hand, who left the University of South Carolina last year for West Virginia," the Times reported. "The company gave him $806,500 for an 'energy flux' study in 2011 and $507,000 last year to establish the Global Energy Balance Network."
"It is unclear how much of the money, if any, ended up as personal income" for Dr. Hand, the Times reported.
Dr. Hand told the Times that "as long as everybody is disclosing their potential conflicts and they're being managed appropriately, that's the best that you can do."
"It makes perfect sense that companies would want the best science that they can get," Dr. Hand said.
The best science money can buy?
Instead of fronting for Coca-Cola, the West Virginia School of Public Health should be pushing hard for public health measures to combat obesity in the state.
Thirty-five of Dr. Hand's colleagues, including Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard's School of Public Health, wrote to the Times that "the scientific nonsense being peddled by the Coca-Cola-funded Global Energy Balance Network is outrageous."
"The Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee provides compelling evidence for the causal link between sugary drinks and disease, as well as the need for exercise," they wrote. "Unfortunately, Coca-Cola and its academic helpers won't accept the well-documented evidence that sugary drinks are a major contributor to obesity, heart disease and diabetes."
Gary Ruskin, co-director of the Oakland, California-based public interest group U.S. Right to Know says that "it is wrong for a professor of a public health school to help establish a corporate front group to protect Coca-Cola and its profits."
"It is especially wrong for a dean to do so," Ruskin said. "Dean Hand should be fired or should resign immediately."
Dr. Marion Nestle is a professor of nutrition at NYU and author of the upcoming book "Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning)."
Dr. Nestle says that "if the move to force Professor Hand's resignation has one lesson to teach, it is that universities need to establish and enforce much stricter guidelines for use of such funds than has been standard practice."
"I can't think of any way that professors can accept corporate funding for their research and maintain academic integrity, but universities can help them with this problem by setting firm limits on how such funds are used," Nestle says.
West Virginia needs someone like Dr. Nestle and Dr. Willett who will take on Big Soda and win.
We want to be number one in public health, not obesity and disease.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.