It is not news that major companies have major lobbying efforts to influence lawmakers. In fact, many politicians often leave office far richer than the day they enter it. However, Coca-Cola seems to have taken the effort up a notch. We have the influence and we will use it, apparently Coca-Cola’s motto.
The massive government agency charged with protecting the health of America, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is located in Atlanta, not far from the corporate headquarters of Coca-Cola. There has always been concern that the beverage manufacturer and distributor has been trying to influence the agency, and it now seems as though the suspicions have a basis in fact.
Stream of Email
It has recently been discovered that between 2011 and 2015, Coca-Cola executives sent a stream of emails to CDC officials to influence the World Health Organization (WHO) to change their narrative. The beverage maker wanted to use its influence in an effort to sway the WHO from saying that obesity is a result of over-consumption of sugary sweet beverages and other sugar and fat-laden foods as the main contributor, and instead emphasize that it is the lack of exercise. While several factors contribute to the epidemic of obesity, the link between sugary beverages and obesity cannot be denied.
While exercising obviously has numerous benefits, nutritional experts warn that the high caloric value in beverages such as Coca-Cola overcome virtually any amount of exercise.
Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest stated “One of the things that the sugar industry has so far been quite successful in is denying the strong and emerging science related to the adverse effects of sugary drinks,”
The stream of emails intending to influence is not the first time Coca-Cola has tried to peddle its influence to sway major health organizations but the emails provide fresh evidence of the ways in which the beverage and food industry attempt to reach policymakers.
The emails were uncovered as the result of consumer advocacy groups gaining information about Coca-Cola under the Freedom of Information Act.
The correspondence was far from subtle. In one email, a senior VP, Alex Malaspina, said the World Health Organization “should not only consider sugary foods as the only cause of obesity but to consider also the lifestyle changes that have been occurring throughout the universe.”
Too Close for Comfort?
Unfortunately, the association between the CDC and Coca-Cola has been far from passive. For example, former CDC director Brenda Fitzgerald worked on a project childhood obesity program (quite ironic) that partially funded by the Coca-Cola Foundation. She did this while serving as commissioner of Georgia’s public health department. The beverage maker influenced Fitzgerald to push the exercise narrative without acknowledging the role of sugary drinks. When the CDC emails were discovered, some of which were a correspondence between Coca-Cola and Fitzgerald, it forced Fitzgerald to resign. In another case, Barbara Bowman, who the CDC’s director of the Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, had to resign after it was discovered she was more than willing to work with the beverage maker influence the WHO.
Spokespeople for Coca-Cola have repeatedly stated that they are concerned about the obesity epidemic and are doing their best to reduce the calories in their drinks. Nevertheless, behind the scenes, they are doing what they can to affect public policy. For example, the CDC Foundation is a nonprofit that promotes public health. Between 2010 and 2015, Coca-Cola contributed more than $1 million to the foundation.
They seized the opportunity to donate to the Foundation over a five-year period. The CDC presumably has ethical guidelines in place to prohibit them from being influenced. Nevertheless, the CDC Foundation’s need for funds helped them rationalize away the fact that the same organization who contributed to them, also markets products that exacerbate the obesity problem.
Many ethical problems were uncovered between the Coca-Cola company and the CDC but to me, the most troubling of all was that both parties refused to release the stream of emails. Only after the consumer advocacy groups pressed for the release of the documents under the Freedom of Information Act were the documents revealed. We have the influence and we will use it, let’s hope Coca-Cola has learned from this.
