Research Group Funded by Coca-Cola to Disband
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR date published DECEMBER 1, 2015 4:57 PM
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| The New York Times |
A group called the Global Energy Balance Network, led by scientists and created by Coca-Cola, announced this week that it was shutting down after months of pressure from public health authorities who said that the group’s mission was to play down the link between soft drinks and obesity.
Coke’s financial backing of the group, reported by The New York Times in August, prompted criticism that the company was trying to shape obesity research and stifle criticism of its products.
Public health authorities complained that Coke, the world’s largest producer of sugary beverages, was adopting tactics once used by the tobacco industry, which for decades enlisted experts to raise doubts about the health hazards of smoking. Last month, the University of Colorado School of Medicine said it would return a $1 million grant that Coca-Cola had provided to help start the organization.
Monday night, the Global Energy Balance Network removed all content from its website and posted a brief statement saying it was discontinuing its operations “due to resource limitations.”
The group’s president, James O. Hill, a prominent obesity researcher and professor at the University of Colorado, declined a request for comment.
The University of South Carolina had also accepted $500,000 from Coke to help start the group. But a spokesman for the university, Wes Hickman, did not return phone calls or messages on Tuesday asking what the university planned to do with the money it had taken from Coke.
Yoni Freedhoff, an obesity expert at the University of Ottawa who first raised questions about the group’s funding, said he believed the group was disbanding because it had lost its credibility.
“I think ultimately the Global Energy Balance Network was a megaphone for Coca-Cola,” he said. “And now that Coca-Cola is no longer providing the funds to support that megaphone, it’s shutting down. I think that speaks to the purpose of the establishment of this group.”
For months, the group denied that it was allowing Coke to influence its message or the work of its scientists.
But the public health community responded sharply. In August, a letter written by the chairman of the nutrition department at Harvard’s school of public health and signed by 36 other scientists criticized Coca-Cola and the Global Energy Balance Network for spreading “scientific nonsense.”
Other health groups that had accepted millions of dollars in funding from Coke, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, announced a short time later that they were ending their relationships with Coke.
In a statement issued in August, Dr. Hill acknowledged that Coca-Cola had provided the money to start the Global Energy Balance Network, but insisted that Coca-Cola had “no say in how these funds are spent” and that it “does not have any input into our organization.”
But a series of emails obtained by The Associated Press and reported last week suggested that Dr. Hill had allowed Coke to help pick the group’s leaders, create its mission statement and design its website.
In one exchange with Dr. Hill, Coke’s chief scientist, Rhona Applebaum, shared a proposal outlining the establishment of the group and its purpose. “Akin to a political campaign,” the proposal said, “we will develop, deploy and evolve a powerful and multi-faceted strategy to counter radical organizations and their proponents.”
Dr. Hill also proposed doing a study that would help Coca-Cola focus the blame for obesity on a lack of exercise and urged the company to pay for it.
“This would be a very large and expensive study, but could be a game changer,” he wrote to executives at the company. “We need this study to be done.”
Last week, Coca-Cola announced that Dr. Applebaum was retiring and that the company would not be seeking a successor. The company said it was dispatching a top executive, Sandy Douglas, to meet with public health advocates around the country.
In a statement, Coke’s chief executive, Muhtar Kent, said the company was working on becoming more transparent.
“Our support for scientific research was based on the desire to identify a more holistic, workable approach based on the best evidence,” he said. “Clearly, we have more work to do to reflect the values of this great company in all that we do.”
可口可樂斥資並由一群科學家領導的組織全球能量平衡網（GEBN），因公衛部門認為GEBN主要任務是為了淡化軟性飲料跟肥胖之間的關係，數個月下來的壓力，GEBN在這禮拜宣布解散。
八月紐約時報曾報導過，由可口可樂資助的非營利組織讓外界批評公司是為了塑造肥胖研究跟他們家的產品並無關連。
而公衛部門指出這個世界最大的飲料商採用菸草工業用過的策略，花了許多時間力邀專家來證明吸菸有害身體健康。而上個月，科羅拉多大學把可口可樂贊助的一百萬退回去。
星期一晚上，GEBN將所有網站內容刪除，並貼出一段簡短聲明停止營運，「基於資源受限因素。」該組織領導人Hill是主要的肥胖症研究學者也是科羅拉多大學教授，對此他並未表示意見。
南卡羅來納大學也曾收過50萬元美金支持相關研究。但星期二學校發言人未針對這些錢的用途做任何回應。
Yoni是渥太華大學的肥胖症專家，他第一個對組織資金提出質疑，認為組織解散是因為他已完全沒了信用。
「我認為GEBN說到底就是可口可樂的喇叭，而現在可口可樂不再投入資金支持這個喇叭了。」他說。
持續幾個月以來，GEBN否認可口可樂涉入組織事務或有任何影響力。
但公衛部門馬上回擊，在八月時哈佛一位營養部門負責人寫了一封信並由36位科學家公同連署，批評可口可樂跟GEBN在散播科學廢話。
其他衛生團體曾收過可口可樂上百萬的資助，包括美國兒科學會及營養飲食學院，也很快就宣佈結束他們與可口可樂的合作關係。
Hill八月曾發表過聲明，承認可口可樂有提供資金給GEBN，但強調可口可樂並沒有要求錢要怎麼用也並無涉入組織內部。
不過美聯社發出他們所收到一連串的電子郵件，指出Hill允許可口可樂指導人事，下定目標還設計網頁。
曾與Hill交流過的可口可樂研究科學家Rhona分享一個提案，提出組織願景，「這是一個政治運動，我們將會研究，有效利用並強化多方策略來面對那些激進的敵人。」
Hill也建議做研究來幫可口可樂提出肥胖是因為缺少運動並願意為這件事付出代價。
「這是一個成本很高很浩大的研究，但我們必須做到。」他寫給公司高層的信裡這麼說著。
上星期可口可樂宣佈科學家Rhona退休，且無意尋找接班人。並說公司正派遣一位高級經理人Douglas跟全國的公衛倡導者會面。
聲明裡面，可口可樂的執行長Kent也說，公司正努力變得更透明化。
「我們支持科學研究滿足我們有更全面，更可行的方法的渴望，而這些方法需要有最好的證據，」他說。「顯然我們必須盡所有努力反映這間好公司的價值。」
disband (v.) 遣散
obesity (n.) 肥胖
stifle (v.) 阻止
enlist (v.) 謀求
megaphone (n.) 擴音器
dispatch (v.) 派遣
transparent (adj.) 顯而易見的
holistic (adj.) 全面的
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