Coca-Cola intentionally funded
the Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN) as a "weapon" in a
"growing war between the public health community and private
industry" on the causes of obesity, according to a press release sent to
EcoWatch by consumer group U.S.
Right to Know.
The quotes come from documents
obtained in a Freedom of Information Request filed by U.S. Right to Know that
formed the basis for a study published Wednesday in the Journal of
Epidemiology and Community Health. The study's authors focused on the documents
because they definitively proved that Coca-Cola funded the GEBN with the
intention of influencing public health debate in their favor.
"[C]onclusions about the
intentions of food and
beverage companies in funding scientific organisations have been prevented by
limited access to industry's internal documents," the abstract said. The
revealed documents therefore allowed the study's authors to draw those
conclusions.
The documents further revealed
that Coca-Cola intended the GEBN to appear as an "honest broker" in
the national conversation on obesity, but that it's actual purpose was to
"promote practices that are effective in terms of both policy and
profit," the abstract said.
The GEBN was a non-profit
dedicated to promoting the idea that exercise, not calorie counting, was the
key to weight-loss and
health. It was presided over by scientists from the University of Colorado, the
University of South Carolina and West Virginia University. The group imploded
after a series of events initiated when The New York Times reported in August 2015 that it was
funded by Coca-Cola. Then, in November of that year, The Associated Press
obtained emails showing that the soft-drink company had played a major role in
shaping the group's mission and branding, even instructing it not to use blue
in its logo, to avoid associations with Pepsi, CBS reported. The group disbanded a week later.
When the scandal broke,
Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent told the Associated Press, "[I]t has become
clear to us that there was not a sufficient level of transparency with regard
to the company's involvement with the Global Energy Balance Network. Clearly,
we have more work to do to reflect the values of this great company in all that
we do."
The newly-released documents,
however, suggest that transparency was never the goal, and that the shadiness
of the GEBN's funding reflected the company's values rather accurately.
Even though Coca-Cola has
tried to buy scientific weight for its claims that exercise is more important
for combating obesity than diet, the scientific consensus actually runs the
other way, The Times reported in the article revealing the source of the GEBN's
funding. According to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, drinking sugary
drinks regularly increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, gout, heart disease,
and obesity.
The authors of the Journal of
Epidemiology and Community Health study expressed concern that Coca-Cola is
borrowing tactics from another industry attempting to sell unhealthy products.
"Coca-Cola's proposal for
establishing the GEBN corroborates concerns about food and beverage
corporations' involvement in scientific organisations and their similarities
with Big Tobacco," the abstract said.
Just because the GEBN
disbanded doesn't mean Coca-Cola has stopped trying to influence public policy.
In February, U.S. Right to Know sued the Center for Disease Control (CDC) for
documents about its relationship to the soft-drink giant. Former CDC chief Dr.
Brenda Fitzgerald, who resigned in January after it was revealed she'd bought
shares in a tobacco company, also had ties to Coca-Cola. As Georgia Public
Health Commissioner she had co-run with the company an anti-obesity program
called Georgia SHAPE that promotes exercise but doesn't mention diet, U.S.
Right to Know reported.
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