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Group
Seeks to Curb Promoting Junk Food to Kids
Canadians organizations fighting childhood obesity only
have to look over the border for alliances. A consumer group
in the U.S. charged that the marketing of fatty, sugary,
and low-nutrient foods was fueling childhood obesity and
it called for restricting promotions targeted at the young.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) released
a report that said advertising and marketing of what it
termed junk foods had reached an all-time high.
The Washington, DC-based advocacy group said the wave of
promotion was overwhelming parents' ability to manage their
children's diets and had helped lead to a 15 percent obesity
rate among children.
"We acknowledge there are many contributors to obesity,"
Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for CSPI, told
a news conference. But direct marketing of low nutritional-value
foods to children 'is one of the most important contributors."
The group asked the Department of Health and Human Services
to work with Congress and the Federal Trade Commission to
limit "junk-food advertising aimed at children."
Current federal rules do not restrict advertising content
to children, only how much time ads can take up during children's
programming -- 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends and 12
minutes per hour during the week.
All marketing aimed at children -- including food -- increased
from $6.9 billion in 1992 to $15 billion in 2002, according
to CSPI.
It is unclear how much of that is for food, but Mary Story
of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health,
said that for every $1 spent by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
on child nutrition education, $10 is spent by companies
promoting high-fat snacks, soft drinks, processed and fast
foods.
The Grocery Manufacturers of America said CSPI's focus on
marketing ignored other factors contributing to obesity,
such as inactivity and limited knowledge of nutrition among
parents and children.
The National Restaurant Association criticized the CSPI's
stance in a statement saying: "While diet continues
to be a main focus, the fact is that calorie intake has
remained fairly constant over the last 20 years, and physical
activity has increasingly declined."
Article Source: Reuters Health
Article Author: N/A
Net Reference 89
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