Physicians Committee Demands That Federal Government Halt ‘Industry-Stacked’ and ‘Racist’ Dietary Guidelines Revision
Process Is ‘Rife With Conflicts of Interest,’ Says Doctors Group’s Legal Action
Process Is ‘Rife With Conflicts of Interest,’ Says Doctors Group’s Legal Action
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine today formally petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to halt its process for revising the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, noting that the process, as proposed, is racist and “rife with conflicts of interest that result in nutrition recommendations favoring the economic interests of unhealthful food industry associations over the health interests of the general public.”
The legal petition was filed in response to a set of proposed scientific questions HHS and USDA jointly published on April 14, 2022, which are intended to guide the development of the Dietary Guidelines 2025-2030. The agencies will use the questions to influence the selection of Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) members, the DGAC’s agenda, and the content of the next Dietary Guidelines. The DGAC is a group of nominated individuals, which reviews nutrition research and drafts a scientific report that the USDA and HHS use to develop the final guidelines.
The proposed questions specifically avoid issues that are key to African American health—notably foods associated with massive disparities in deaths from colorectal, prostate, and breast cancers—meaning that these issues will be excluded from the upcoming revision process. The proposed questions are also skewed in favor of industry, sidestepping the health problems caused by meat and dairy products.
The Physicians Committee’s legal action requests that the Dietary Guidelines focus on public health, its original intent, rather than bolstering the meat and dairy industries. The document says that “the agencies have inappropriately designed these questions to skew the revision of the Dietary Guidelines (1) away from a discussion of the health risks posed by meat and dairy products, (2) away from the health problems these products pose for persons of color, and (3) away from the benefits of plant-based diets, all to the detriment of public health.”
“Enough is enough,” says Vanita Rahman, MD, clinical director at Barnard Medical Center. “The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans must stop putting meat and dairy industry interests over public health—and that starts by ensuring that the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee answers questions that explicitly address the dangers of animal products and the benefits of a plant-based diet.”
The petition asks that the HHS and USDA Offices of Inspector General investigate and ensure that the agencies:
“By intentionally and repeatedly using artful language in critical aspects of the Dietary Guidelines process, HHS and USDA have deceived and harmed Americans for decades, compromising public health interests in favor of promoting specific food products,” concludes the petition. “Because the Dietary Guidelines are ‘promoted by each Federal agency in carrying out any Federal food, nutrition, or health program,’ it is imperative that they be issued in accordance with the law.”
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Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a nonprofit organization that promotes preventive medicine, conducts clinical research, and encourages higher standards for ethics and effectiveness in education and research.
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