Coca-Cola struck agreements to fund health studies at several public universities that gave the beverage maker the ability to review and kill studies it didn't like, according to a new report from the University of Cambridge.
Cambridge's Department of Politics and International Studies discovered Coke's demands while examining research funding agreements between private corporations and public institutions. It reviewed some 87,000 documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
Its report, released Tuesday, said Coke retained the right to "quash studies progressing unfavorably" or "pressure researchers using the threat of termination" in at least five agreements with various academic institutions between 2015 and 2016.
"It's a playbook from Big Tobacco and Big Pharma. We looked to see if this is something that can happen with Big Food," said Dr. Sarah Steele, a policy researcher from Cambridge and lead author of the study, which was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Public Health Policy.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Friday May 10 2019, @05:47PM (1 child)
+1 for Food - when Big Tobacco got spanked in the U.S.A. they redirected their cash hoard into the big processed food companies, figuring, correctly, they could use what they knew about the science of addiction and behavior to create, and broadly market, more profitable packaged foods.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday May 10 2019, @06:19PM
It is quite amusing that the post uses the term "Big Food" to refer to the industry.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.