Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Junk Food Companies Say Eating More Fruits and Vegetables Is a 'Job Killer'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/donald-cohen/food-marketing-guidelines-job-killers_b_1103511.html

An effort to get American children to eat more fruits and vegetables should, 
even in hyper-polarized Washington, be a no-brainer. Last week, Congress 
declared pizza sauce to be a vegetable in school lunches. Now, major food 
manufacturers are escalating their attacks against healthy food, calling 
proposed food marketing guidelines "job killers" that will devastate the 
American economy.

Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission, along with three other 
federal agencies (FDA, CDC and USDA), released a set of proposed voluntary 
guidelines for marketing food to children to reduce sugars, fats and salts 
and increase fruits, whole grains and vegetables in the diets of American 
youth. In 2008, led by Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Tom Harkin (D-IA), 
Congress asked for the recommendations to address the nations' growing 
obesity crisis among our nation's youth.

Studies show that one-third of all children aged 10 to 17 are overweight or 
obese. In the past three decades rates have more than doubled among kids aged 
2 to 5 and more than tripled among those ages 6 through 11. The incidence of 
"adult onset" diabetes in children and youth has more than doubled in the 
past decade.

A coalition of major manufacturers of processed foods, fast-food chains and 
the media industry that depends on their advertising dollars are spending 
millions to derail the proposed guidelines. The FTC has already started to 
trim the proposal in response to the lobbying blitzkrieg but industry wants 
to go ever further. They want to use an industry-designed scheme that would 
declare Chocolate Lucky Charms, Marshmallow Pebbles and Cookie Crisp cereals 
as healthy.

But despite industry claims these guidelines are not mandatory regulations; 
they are voluntary guidelines developed by an independent committee of 
nutrition experts about how we can improve children's health.

That hasn't stopped industry predictions of economic disaster. According to 
comments filed by General Mills' to Interagency Working Group "the economic 
consequences [of the guidelines] for American consumers and American 
agriculture would be devastating." They also predict "severe" economic 
consequences for the media industry and their employees.

They argue that the voluntary guidelines would cause consumers to eat more 
fruits and vegetables produced in other countries and therefore fewer grains 
grown in America. According to research funded by the Grocery Manufacturers 
of America, "demand for fruits and vegetables would increase by 1009 percent 
and 226 percent respectively" resulting in almost $500 billion more spent on 
imported food and $30 billion less on domestically grown grain.

Even if the voluntary guidelines were that effective and their study was 
accurate, it's an audacious marketing spin to turn an overwhelmingly positive 
victory for public health into a big government, job-killing attack on 
freedom.

Another industry-funded study claimed that the voluntary guidelines would 
result in the loss of 74,000 jobs. An analysis by the Economic Policy 
Institute found the study riddled with "implausible" assumptions, historical 
inconsistencies and incomplete analyses of potential impacts to both the 
industry and economy as a whole. For example, the industry study assumes, 
without justification, a 20 percent decline in advertising and completely 
ignores the likely scenario in which companies shift advertising to other 
products or audiences. It also ignores the fact that there has been no 
negative economic impact since the industry adopted its own guidelines in 
2006. In fact, EPI concludes that the guidelines could have no impact on jobs 
or could even lead to job growth in other parts of the economy.

Finally, General Mills adds that the food companies' $1.6 billion in 
advertising expenditures "would go up in smoke." "$1.6 billion in economic 
activity cannot disappear without an impact on people's jobs and livelihoods" 
they wrote.

While it's impossible to believe that food conglomerates wouldn't redirect 
their advertising dollars, it's even harder to think that media companies 
wouldn't find other buyers. In fact, they've done it before. When Congress 
banned tobacco ads on TV and radio in 1970 media companies stood to lose $220 
million in annual cigarette advertising. Like their counterparts today, the 
networks, and broadcasters associations lobbied hard alongside big tobacco 
against the ban.

The media industry did fine. Total TV and radio advertising sales has 
increased every year before the ban and after. According to media analysts, 
in 1969 ad expenditures on TV and radio were $4.85 billion. In 1972, they 
were $5.7 billion.

For decades, industries have opposed laws, rules and even basic consumer 
information that have made us all healthier. At every step they predict 
disaster but, in fact, they respond with new ideas and innovations, and we 
all benefit. These voluntary guidelines merely suggest a path that industry 
should embrace and applaud.