(13-01-07) Ads blamed for obesity epidemic

An alarming growth in the rate of overweight children and the political sea change in Congress make it likely that lawmakers will consider restricting the marketing of food to kids. With a briefcase full of warnings about the mushrooming childhood obesity rate, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, will become the chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee next month. He is expected to use the position to argue, as he did in a 2004 speech, that ?the marketing of junk food, especially to kids, is out of control.?
Harkin introduced a bill that year that would have restored the authority of the Federal Trade Commission to regulate the marketing of foods and beverages to children younger than 18. The bill stalled in committee. ?We are certain to introduce the legislation again this year,? Harkin aide Tom Reynolds said.
Marketers will surely mount a vigorous challenge. But some companies are acting on their own. In 2005, Kraft Foods said that it would not market foods of poor nutritional quality to kids. In October, the Walt Disney Co. said it is phasing out trans fats and establishing guidelines that include limits on calories, fat, saturated fat and sugar in its licensed foods and at theme park restaurants. Consumer advocates applauded the Kraft and Disney announcements. But they say they are disappointed with revisions to guidelines of the Children?s Advertising Review Unit, a voluntary watchdog funded by marketers.
In November, 10 companies that produce about two-thirds of the food and drink ads for kids under 12 said that at least half of their future ads for youngsters will promote good nutrition and healthy lifestyles. ?The new voluntary program is insufficient, with half of the ads still selling junk food,? said Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. ?It makes me think it is more likely it will take legislation to stop companies from marketing junk food to kids.?
Marketers say they already act responsibly. ?We?re the only sector in our society that takes obesity seriously and has done something about it ? the food industry, restaurants and the beverage industry,? said Daniel Jaffe, executive vice president of the Association of National Advertisers. ?We are spending hundreds of millions of dollars (for public service advertising) on this issue. The problem is with others in society not stepping up to the plate to join the battle.?
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control are eye-popping. Since 1980, the rate of overweight children ages 6 to 11 has more than doubled. The rate for adolescents has tripled. Today, 1 in 5 children ages 2 to 5 and almost 1 in 3 older children are either overweight or at risk for being overweight, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. About 50 percent of obese children and adolescents will be overweight as adults, the academy says.
?We?re doing very little in terms of prevention,? said Dr. Victor Strasburger, professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and author of a report on marketing to kids. ?But part of it is limiting kids? viewing of advertising which will promote a higher obesity rate.?
The FTC , however, in a 2004 staff report showed no interest in such a measure. ?Although the idea of banning certain kinds of advertisements may offer a superficial appeal, it is neither a workable nor an efficacious solution to the health problem of childhood obesity,? the report concluded.
NY Times / George Raine
Fonte. INDIA INC

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