The Deception of Healthy Food Products: Part V

(A Blog Series by Chef Maika)
Let’s go back to the past again to understand where we are now. This time it was just 20 years ago. Marketing and advertising scandals were very popular in the 1980s. A lot of deception was taking play, and the battle for consumer protection had to once again regain strength to fight this dangerous irresponsible health epidemic. However, this time the FTC and FDA could not protect us. A Pandora box opened in full force with our 40th President Ronald Regan. His administration enforced a campaign known as “Deregulate”, which was basically a positive go for Corporate America (Gardner, 2006). Federal Government regulators like the FTC and FDA were no longer permitted to intercede in American lives and private business affairs. President Regan’s Administration had re-positioned this responsibility to individual states. So President Regan appointed James Miller in 1981(who was part of the Office of Management Budget, OMB) as Chairman of the FTC and his position was to deregulate the federal system as quick as possible (7). Marketers and advertisers saw this as a great advantage. Many companies were allowed to make health claims on products without anyone to say no! This type of accepted scandal was ignited by one major and popular company, the Kellogg Company. The company made a claim for one of their cereals, stating it should be part of a diet to help prevent some types of colon cancers. However, the National Cancer Institute denied this claim, even before Kellogg decided to dispatch it to the public. The infamous Kellogg campaign went forth with no way of the FTC or FDA to interfere, thanks to the help of none than other, James Miller. Even though, the FDA tried to stop it under the law that a company cannot make a health claim without the approval of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (8-9). Ok, I must admit I am all for “Deregulate”, but to a certain extent! Those who agree with deregulation, I can see why. Who wants to live under a government of tyranny? But when it comes to the government cutting off responsibility to protect the citizens of the United States, there is a problem. Especially, when its protection from the part of Corporate America that is money hungry, we need a much stronger force to take on such a task.