EU eyes regulation to tackle US-size obesity problem

15 May 2006

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Both sides agreed that consumers need more information on the food they buy.

15/05/06 BRUSSELS -- European Union and U.S. regulators disagreed at a meeting on healthy diets Friday on the extent of regulation needed to deal with their common and mounting problem with obesity.

However, both sides agreed that consumers need more information on the food they buy. But the two sides disagreed on how much to trust business to regulate itself, with the E.U. saying legislation has a role to play.

"At the end of the day, it's the consumer who makes the choice," said U.S. Deputy Secretary of Health Alex Azar said, explaining people must choose healthy diets themselves by "passing up hamburgers in favor of carrots" and other vegetables.

"We want to work with business" but sometimes we also "need legislation to oblige industry," said E.U. Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou.

The problem of obesity is immense on both sides of the Atlantic. Azar said 130 million U.S. citizens are overweight and 60 million are obese. In the E.U., with a larger population, 204 million are overweight and 61.4 million obese. The danger, both leaders agreed, was particularly bad for children. Kyprianou said that obesity accounts for up to 7% of direct health care costs.

"The wider costs to the economy - working days lost, early retirement - are even more worrying. In fact, it is estimated that the percentage of disability-adjusted life years lost due to obesity, poor nutrition and physical inactivity is even higher than that due to smoking," he added.

The U.S. started earlier attacking the problem. It first put in strict food labeling laws which allowed business to claim their product was "low fat" or "high in fiber" back in 1990, U.S. officials said.

The E.U. will get its own legislation next week if the European Parliament approves. Under the so-called Nutrition and Health Claims proposal, an E.U. body will gain the power to approve any such claims.

Another proposed piece of E.U. legislation establishes a list of vitamins or minerals that may be added to food while providing specific rules on labeling. It will also include criteria for the establishment of maximum and minimum levels of vitamins and minerals in food.

But the U.S. has gone much further than the E.U. in allowing food makers to make health claims. Starting three years ago, it allowed the Food and Drug Administration to accept manufacturers' food claims on the basis of emerging evidence. This means, Azar said, salmon producers can tout their fish as high in healthy fats that help reduce the risk of heart attacks. Similar claims remain illegal in Europe.

The U.S. government favors free-market solutions. Azar praised McDonald's Corp. (MCD) for offering healthy salads. "The customers have to choose the salads, or McDonald's won't keep producing them," Azar said. "It's about markets, not mandates."

In addition, Azar contradicted a questioner who said legislation forced Coca Cola Co. (KO) and other soft drink makers this year to yank all non-diet sodas from schools. Beverage companies agreed to sell only water, unsweetened juice and low-fat and nonfat milk to elementary and middle schools, where children are usually under age 15. Diet sodas and sports drinks will remain in high schools.

"No this was the companies acting themselves," he said.

Kyprianou cited similar examples of cooperation in the E.U., but added that he might impose legislation if necessary. Food company executives say they have received letters from his office suggesting that the E.U. may impose maximum limits on the amount of salt they put in their products. E.U. spokesman Philip Todd said he is unaware of any such plan.

"There are some common principles on which we can all agree, including the need to focus attention on calories as opposed to specific food categories, to recognise the importance commercial communications can play in promoting healthier living and to encourage physical activity," said Daniela Israelachwili, director general of the EU's Confederation of the Food & Drink Industries. "Nonetheless," she said, "we should be cautious in assuming that common solutions - especially of a regulatory nature - are necessarily appropriate."

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