NEWS RELEASE
For More Information Contact: Gary Ruskin (202) 387-8030
For Immediate Release: February 27th, 2004
Statement on Junk Food Marketing to Children
Across the planet, obesity in children is reaching epidemic levels. More kids are getting fatter; and not coincidentally, many of these children are the targets of saturation marketing by the junk food industry, which seeks to displace healthful local eating habits with its own high calorie, high-added-fat, high-added-sugar junk food.*
The time has come to reaffirm that raising children is the role and responsibility of parents. It is not the role of the junk food industry or any other industry, and these corporations must stop injecting themselves into the relationship between parents and their own children. They must stop creating strife in the home by prodding kids to whine and throw tantrums for junk food. They must stop draining family budgets, especially in developing countries, by enticing children to demand junk food that their parents cannot afford. These corporations must stop undermining the efforts of parents to transmit traditional—and healthful—eating habits to their children, and they must respect the sanctity of the family dinner table and the cultural heritage that surrounds it. We, the undersigned, support a global ban on junk food marketing to children twelve years of age and below. This one step is perhaps the single most inexpensive and cost-efficient way to reduce the global burden of obesity, diabetes and their complications among children. It would require virtually no governmental expenditure, and would likely save families billions of dollars each year that could be better spent on such things as education, healthful food and health care.Perhaps most important, it would reaffirm that raising children is the role of parents, and not of global junk food corporations. We strongly urge the World Health Organization to incorporate such a ban into its Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, and to encourage its member states to adopt it. Or, if necessary, the World Health Assembly should issue International Health Regulations to prohibit advertising of junk food to children twelve years of age and below.
* For the purposes of this statement, junk food is defined as foods or beverages that are relatively high in saturated or trans fat, added sugars or salt, and relatively low in vitamins, minerals, protein and fiber.
Endorsed by:
AUSTRALIA
Australian Consumers’ Association
Australian Council on Children and the Media
Louise A. Baur, MBBS, BSc(Med), PhD, FRACP, Co-Director, Australian Child & Adolescent Obesity Research Network; Professor, Sydney Univ., Discipline of of Paediatrics and Child Health, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, New South Wales
Colin Bell, Senior Research Fellow, Manager, Sentinel Site for Obesity Prevention, Centre for Phyiscal Activity and Nutrition Research, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin Waterfront Campus
Freda Briggs, Emerita Professor of Child Development, Univ. of South Australia
Simon Chapman PhD, Professor of Public Health, Univ. of Sydney Coalition on Food Advertising to Children Fight the Obesity Epidemic Kerin O’Dea, PhD, Professor and Director, Menzies School of Health Research
Michael Organ, Member of ParliamentPublic Health Association of Australia
Stephen R. Leeder, MB, PhD, FRACP, FAFPHM, Director, Australian Health Policy Institute, Univ. of Sydney, Australia; Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Center for Global Health and Economic Development, Columbia Univ.
Rosemary Stanton, OAM, PhD, nutritionist, Univ. of New South Wales
Boyd Swinburn MB, ChB, MD, FRACP, Professor, Physical Activity and Nutrition Research Unit, School of Health Sciences, Deakin Univ.
Giz Watson MLC, Member, Legislative Council, Parliament of Western AustraliaVictoria Whitington, PhD, Practicum Coordinator - Early Childhood Programs, Lecturer in Child Development, de Lissa Institute of Early Childhood and Family Studies, Univ. of South AustraliaWomen’s and Children’s Hospital, Adelaide
BELGIUM
Paul Lannoye, Member of the Eurpean Parliament, Belgium
BRAZIL
Brazilian Action for Nutrition and Human Rights
Cesar Epitacio Maia, Mayor, Rio de Janeiro
Carlos Monteiro, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Head, Center for Epidemiological Studies in Health and Nutrition, Univ. of Sao Paulo
Ines Rugani Ribeiro De Castro, Director, Institut of Nutrition Annes Dias, Municipality of Rio de Janeiro
CANADA
Hélène Delisle, PhD, Professeur Titulaire, Département de Nutrition, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montréal
Shari Graydon, author, Made You Look - How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know; past president, MediaWatch
DENMARK
Arne Astrup, professor, MD, Dr. Med. Sci., Head of Institute of Nutrition, RVA Univ., Copenhagen, Denmark; President-Elect, International Association for the Study of Obesity
Thomas Meinert Larsen, PhD, Institute of Human Nutrition (IHE), Denmark
Kim Fleischer Michaelsen, Dr. Med. Sci., Professor of Pediatric Nutrition, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural Univ.
Bjørn Richelsen, MD, Chairman, Danish Council on Nutrition; Professor, Aarhus Univ. Hospital
FINLAND
Uma Aaltonen, Member of the European Parliament Green Parliamentary Group, Finnish Parliament
Aila Rissanen, MD, PhD, Professor and Head of Obesity Research Unit, Helsinki Univ. Hospital Osmo Soininvaara, Member of Parliament; Chairperson, Green League on Finland
GERMANY
Friedrich Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf, Member of the European Parliament
Hiltrud Breyer, Member of the European Parliament
Heide Ruehle, Member of the European Parliament
INTERNATIONAL
Alliance for Peoples
Action on Nutrition
International Baby Food Action Network
International People´s Health Council
People´s Health Movement
World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action
IRELAND
Eamon Ryan TD, Member of Parliament
JAPAN
Japan Offspring Fund
LATVIA
Breastfeeding Promotion and Protection Association of Latvia (LKEVAB)
Jevgenija Livdane, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Riga Stradins University
Ieva Ranka, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Riga Stradins University
MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA
Regional Committee for the Promotion of Community Health
MALAYSIA
Anwar Fazal, Chairperson Emeritus/Director, World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action; former President, International Organisation of Consumer Unions
MALTA
Association of Breastfeeding Counsellors
THE NETHERLANDS
Adrienne de Reede, Director, stichting Zorg voor Borstvoeding
Jaap C. Seidell, PhD, Past President, European Association for the Study of Obesity; Chair, European Obesity Prevention Task Force; Professor, Department of Nutrition & Health, Free Univ. of Amsterdam
Wemos Foundation
NEW ZEALAND
Sue Kedgley, Member of Parliament
Robyn Toomath, MBChB, FRACP, former President, New Zealand Society for the Study of Diabetes; Endocrinologist, Department of Endocrinology, Wellington Hospital
NORWAY
Knut-Inge Klepp, PhD, Chair, National Council on Nutrition and Physical Activity, Norway; Professor of Medicine, Institute for Nutrition Research, Univ. of Oslo
SOUTH AFRICA
Tessa van der Merwe, MBChB, FCP, PhD, Secretary, International Association for the Study of Obesity; Senior Consultant Physician and Senior Lecturer, Univ. of the Witwatersrand and Johannesburg Hospital
SWEDEN
Stephan Rossner, MD, past president, International Association for the Study of Obesity; Professor of health behaviour research, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm
Inger Schörling, Member of the European Parliament
UNITED KINGDOM
Action Against AllergyAllergy Alliance
Alliance for Childhood
Arid Lands Initiative
Autism Unravelled
Baby Milk Action
Biodynamic Agricultural Association
Blood Pressure Association
British Allergy Foundation
British Association for Community Child Health
British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry
British Cardiac Society
British Dental Association
British Dental Hygienist Association
British Dietetic Association
British Heart Foundation
British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group
British Hypertension Society
British Institute for Allergy & Environmental Therapy
British Society for Cardiovascular Research
Centre for Food Policy
Paul Chadwick, PhD, Clinical Psychologist, Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Univ. College London
Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
Child Growth Foundation
Child Poverty Action Group
Children’s Society
Coeliac UK
Co-operative Group Ltd
Community Health UK
Community Nutrition Group
Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association
Compassion in World Farming Consumers’ Association
Consensus Action on Salt and Health
Coronary Artery Disease Research Association
Coronary Prevention Group
Day Care Trust
Diabetes UK
Digestive Disorders Foundation
Elm Farm Research Centre
Faculty of Public Health
Family Heart Association
Family Welfare Association
Farmers’ Link
FARM
Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens
Food Additives Campaign Team
Food and Chemical Allergy Association
Food Commission Food and Health Research
Food Matters
Foundation for Local Food Initiatives
General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland
Gingerbread
Guild of Food Writers
Hands Up For
Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome
Help Health Education Trust
Human Scale Education
Hyperactive Children’s Support Group
International Society for Food Ecology and Culture
Philip James, CBE, DSc, MD, FRCP, MFPHM, Chair, International Obesity Task Force; Vice President, International Union of Nutritional Sciences
Lactation Consultants of Great Britain
Land Heritage
Tim Lang, PhD, FFPH, Professor of Food Policy, City University, Institute of Health Sciences
Latex Allergy Support Group
Maternity Alliance
McCarrison Society for Nutrition and Health
Migraine Action Association
National Children’s Bureau
National Council of Women
National Consumer Council
National Consumer Federation
National Family and Parenting Institute
National Federation of Women’s Institutes
National Heart ForumNational Obesity Forum
National Oral Health Promotion Group
National Union of Teachers
Netmums
New Economics Foundation
Northern Ireland Chest, Heart and Stroke Association
Organix Brands
Parent Organisation Ltd
Permaculture Association
Positive Parenting
Andrew M. Prentice, PhD, MRC International Nutrition Group, Nutrition & Public Health Intervention Research Unit, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Mike Rayner, MA, DPhil, Director, British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group, Department of Public Health, Univ. of Oxford Realfood
Neville Rigby, Director of Policy and Public Affairs, IASO/International Obesity Task Force
Royal College of General PractitionersRoyal College of Physicians
Royal College of Surgeons
Royal Institute of Public Health
Royal Society for the Promotion of Health
Scottish Consumer Council
Scottish Heart and Arterial Disease Risk Prevention
Soil Association
Soroptimist International of Great Britain
Stroke Association
TOAST (The Obesity Awareness & Solutions Trust)
UK Public Health Association
UNISON
Vega Research
Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation
Viva! (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals)
Weight Concern
Welsh Consumer Council
Welsh Food Alliance
World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms
World Cancer Research Fund
Young Minds
UNITED STATES
Action Coalition for Media Education
Alliance for Childhood
Stephen Anton, PhD, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Atlanta Chapter, Physicians for Social Responsibility
Zenobia Barlow, Executive Director and Co-founder, Center for Ecoliteracy
Peter Barnes, co-founder, Working Assets
Larry Bragman, Member, Town Council, Fairfax, California
Peter K. Buckley, Chairman, David Brower Center
Brita Butler-Wall, PhD, School Board Director, Seattle Public Schools
Fritjof Capra, PhD, author, The Web of Life and The Hidden Connections
Nancy Carlsson-Paige, EdD, Professor of Child Development, Lesley Univ.
Jason Catlett, President, Junkbusters Corp.
Center for a New American Dream
Center for Communications, Health and the Environment
Center for Ecoliteracy
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Joyce Chen, Alderman, Ward 2, New Haven, CT
Commercial Alert
Donald R. Davis, PhD, Research Associate in Nutrition, Biochemical Institute, Univ. of Texas
Kevin Danaher, PhD, Co-founder, Global Exchange
Richard A. Daynard, JD, PhD, Professor of Law, Northeastern School of Law; President, Tobacco Control Resource Center
Larry Denk, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Univ. of Rochester Medical School
John Eder, Member, Maine House of Representatives
Leon Eisenberg, MD Professor of Social Medicine and Psychiatry Emeritus, Harvard Medical School
Mike Feinstein, Councilmember, City of Santa Monica
Erica Frank, MD, MPH, Vice Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine; Emory Univ. School of Medicine
Simone A. French, PhD, Associate Professor, Division of Epidemiology, Univ. of Minnesota
Gilbert Fuld, MD, pediatrician, Past President, New Hampshire Pediatric Society; former member, Board of Directors, American Academy of Pediatrics
Christopher D. Gardner, PhD, Assistant Professor, Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford Univ. School of Medicine
Samuel S. Gidding, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Thomas Jefferson Univ.; attending cardiologist, Nemours Cardiac Center, A. I. duPont Hospital for Children
Global Exchange
Matt Gonzalez, President, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Gary Green, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Green Party of the United States
Joan Gussow, EdD, M. S. Rose Professor Emeritus, Nutrition and Education, Teachers College, Columbia Univ.
Jane M. Healy, PhD, author, Failure to Connect and Endangered Minds
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Cathy S. Heffernan, PhD, Associate Professor, Azusa Pacific University
Amid I. Ismail, DDS, DrPH, Professor of Cardiology, Restorative Sciences and Endodontics, Univ. of Michigan
Norman Kaplan, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Mary Kapsner, Member, Alaska State House of Representatives
Francine Kaufman, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
Kids Can Make A Difference
Jean Kilbourne, author, Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel
Jeanne Kohl-Welles, PhD, Senator, Washington State Senate; Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Univ. of Washington
Ronald M. Krauss, MD, Senior Scientist and Director, Atherosclerosis Research, Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute; Adjunct Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences, Univ. of California, Berkeley
Velma LaPoint, PhD, Associate Professor of Child Development, School of Education, Howard Univ.
Diane Levin, PhD, Professor of Education, Wheelock College
Susan Linn, EdD, Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Associate Director, Media Center, Judge Baker Children’s Center
Bob McCannon, Executive Director, New Mexico Media Literacy Project
Robert McChesney, PhD, Research Professor, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; author, Rich Media, Poor Democracy
Kevin McKeown, Mayor pro tem, Santa Monica, CA
Mary Anne Mercer, DrPH, Senior Lecturer, Department of Health Services, Univ. of Washington, School of Public Health and Community Medicine
Mark Crispin Miller, PhD, Professor of Media Ecology, New York Univ.
Alex Molnar, PhD, Professor and Director, Education Policy Studies Laboratory, Arizona State Univ.
Bill Morrisette, Senator, Oregon State Senate
Diane M. Morrison, PhD, Professor and Associate Dean for Research, Univ. of Washington School of Social Work
Mothering Magazine
Kathryn Mulvey, Executive Director, Infact
Robert K. Musil, PhD, MPH, Executive Director and CEO, Physicians for Social Responsibility
Kathleen G. Nelson, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Senior Associate Dean for Students, Univ. of Alabama School of Medicine
Marion Nestle, PhD, MPH, Professor, Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, New York Univ.; author, Food Politics and Safe Food
New Mexico Media Literacy Project
Peggy O’Mara, Editor and Publisher, Mothering Magazine
Obligation, Inc.
Organic Consumers Association
Mark A. Pereira, PhD, Assistant Professor, Division of Epidemiology, Univ. of Minnesota
Paul G. Pinsky, Senator, Maryland State Senate
Harold Pollack, PhD, Associate Professor of Social Service Administration, Univ. of Chicago
Barry M. Popkin, PhD, Professor of Nutrition, Schools of Public Health and Medicine, Univ. of North Carolina
Alvin F. Poussaint, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Thomas G. Pretlow, MD, Professor of Pathology, Urology, Oncology, and Environmental Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve Univ. School of Medicine
The Public Health Advocacy Institute, Obesity Task Force
Eric Ravussin, PhD, Professor, Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Larry Robinson, Vice-Mayor, Sebastopol, CA
Phil Rockey, Councilmember, Oakdale City Council, Oakdale, CA
Eric Schlosser, author, Fast Food Nation
Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology, Boston College; author, Born to Buy, The Overspent American and The Overworked American
Seeds of Simplicity
Mary Segal, PhD, Department of Family Practice & Community Medicine, Univ. of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Ellen Ruppel Shell, Associate Professor and Co-director, Knight Center for Science and Medical Journalism, Boston Univ.; author, The Hungry Gene: The Science of Fat and the Future of Thin
Slow Food USA
Lloyd K. Stires, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Victor Strasburger, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Univ. of New Mexico School of Medicine
Betsy Taylor, Executive Director, Center for a New American Dream
Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children’s Entertainment
V. Susan Villani, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins Medical School
Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, Chair, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health
Yale Prevention Research Center
David York, PhD, Treasurer, International Association for the Study of Obesity; Boyd Professor and Associate Executive Director Basic Research, Pennington Biomedical Research Center