Letter to the editor: it's not just the BNF

Here is a letter sent to the British Medical Journal for publication following on from my story about the British Nutrition Foundation. (see previous post).

Dear Editor

 

British Nutrition Foundation

 

Phil Chamberlain's BMJ article  expressing concern about the British Nutrition Foundation is, to the best of my knowledge, accurate and balanced.

It would though be a mistake to suppose that the BNF is the only body of its type whose work influences UK food and nutrition policy and therefore the national food supply - and what's in the shops. The global International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), which has a branch in Europe, and the European Food Information Council (EUFIC) are set up in much the same way as the BNF. Their websites give some information about the sources of their funding and their governing councils.

Organisations like this are characterised by the UN System Standing Committee on Nutrition as BINGOs, an amusing acronym which stands for 'Business Interest NGOs'. As such, BINGOs are classified with the food, drink and associated industries, their explicit representative organisations, and their corporate affairs and public relations consultants.

It's important to stress that the public interest issue is not industry as such, but that section of the food manufacturing and associated industries whose profits depend on products which, consumed in typical quantities, are harmful to public health.

Geoffrey Cannon

Rio de Janeiro