6.15.00
The American Diet II

6.13.00
We've Got Inflation Now

6.08.00
Rip It Apart

5.24.00
Give That Train a Green Signal!

5.24.00
Feeding Bill's Legacy

5.16.00
This Ain't the Free Market

4.28.00
Stop Knocking Dads

6/15/00 12: 15 p.m.
The American Diet II
Critic's accuracy should move to front and center.

By Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest

First of all, let's set the record straight about a quote Mr. Pollak attributed to us. Pollak wrote: “I telephoned CSPI . . .” He purportedly spoke (as he has since told us) to “some man,” whose name he did not reveal in his commentary. Of course, he does not now recall the name of that “man” and, as he told us and the National Review Online editor-in-chief, “I must have thrown away the piece of paper I wrote the man's name on” after the commentary was published. When we inquired why he did not include the name of the CSPI source in his original piece, he replied: “I felt no need to include the name. I thought it was irrelevant.” Thus, Pollak had his CSPI “man” responding to one of his questions with this “reply”: “That's a good question . . . uhhh . . . I'm not sure . . . hmm . . . yeah.” The quote fits so nicely into Pollak's ranting commentary — it almost sounds made to order.

In two post-publication telephone conversations, Pollak informed CSPI staff members that prior to our complaint, no one at National Review Online ever asked him about his CSPI source. It appears that no editor at National Review Online ever attempted to check the quote's validity. Such shabby journalism and editing should not be tolerated by National Review, even at the Online publication. (Ironically, Mr. Pollak, a recent college graduate, is currently a “Manager of Editorial Services” at the Cato Institute.)

With regard to the substance of his commentary, obesity is a subject that has scores of health officials worried, but apparently not young Pollak. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in our country. That's a fact. About half a million premature deaths each year are caused by diet and a sedentary lifestyle, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That's as many deaths as smoking causes. Also fact.

When CSPI took out an advertisement in a recent issue of the Washington Post with the headline “We Kill As Many Americans As Tobacco,” we meant it. The “We” in the headline referred to a number of high-fat, high-calorie foods that many Americans consume regularly. Those junk foods, along with physical inactivity, are the leading cause of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. And our ill fellow-Americans (who are often, unfortunately, obese) add about $71 billion annually to our already staggering health-care costs. Maybe Mr. Pollak thinks that's the price of doing business. We believe money and resources would be better spent preventing diet-related diseases.

Media images of bags of burgers or buckets of fried chicken, often with toys attached, are everywhere, all the time. Food producers boast an annual advertising budget as big as the portion sizes they advertise. McDonald's alone spends about $1 billion a year promoting its products, and soft-drink companies spend about $600 million. All told, the food industry spends about $25 billion on advertising and other forms of promotion. Only 2% of the ads are for fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans — the foods that should make up the bulk of a healthy diet.

Anti-smoking campaigns, along with CSPI-sponsored campaigns to switch communities from high-fat to low-fat milk, have proven that frequent, hard-hitting messages can change Americans' behavior. It's time for the federal government to mount educational campaigns and implement policies that make it easier for people to eat well and be active. The campaigns to promote health can be funded by charging a penny or two tax on soft drinks or other junk foods. In fact, more than a dozen states already have such taxes. Unfortunately, they don't earmark the revenues for health. Pollak calls the idea of public-health campaigns, possibly financed by a penny tax, “a philosophical and political disaster area.” Has he (or any of his right-wing overseers) ever been concerned about, say, the sugar-import quotas that cost consumers about $2.4 billion annually? Our penny-a-can plan would help all Americans understand the benefits of eating healthier and getting more exercise — saving us all money in the long run.

In our so-called “have it your way” society, our diets and our health are consistently undermined by a barrage of “supersize it” messages. Americans get far more messages about what to eat from the makers of fatty, salty, and sugary foods than from health professionals. Fast-food restaurants tout “billions and billions” of burgers sold. Add to that artery-clogging deep-fried chicken, giant servings of French fries, pizzas dripping with fatty cheese, and humongous soft drinks, and you've got one supersize load of a population meandering through that drive-thru.

We don't pretend that health campaigns alone can eliminate obesity and chronic disease. But health campaigns that help level the playing field of marketplace information could go a long way toward reducing the risks of chronic disease and the hefty public price tag that goes with it.

Go to Noah Pollak's response.

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