Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) today released the following statement in response to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) new proposal to require a front-of-package nutrition label on most packaged food and beverages.
Today’s front-of-package food label proposal put forward by the FDA, after years of consideration, is pathetically weak and must be substantially improved.
There is a growing body of evidence that ultra-processed foods are deliberately designed to be addictive – similar to cigarettes and alcohol – and are major contributors to the twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes in our country.
And yet, the proposed FDA rule fails to adequately warn the American people of the dangers of consuming these unhealthy products. Adding insult to injury, the FDA is giving corporations three years to put these labels on the front of their packages. That is absurd.
Tobacco labels in the United States do not say, “High in tar, medium in nicotine, and low in carcinogens.” They say, “Cigarettes cause lung cancer, emphysema, and may complicate pregnancy.”
We need to put strong warning labels on unhealthy food and beverages that makes it clear that consuming these products could lead to serious illnesses.
In addition to front-of-package warning labels, if we are serious about the health of our kids and grandkids, we must also do what many other countries have done and ban junk food advertisements targeted towards children.
I will be re-introducing legislation to require the food and beverage industry to put strong warning labels on their products. This legislation will also ban junk food ads targeted at kids.
The food and beverage industry is undermining the health and well-being of our children in order to make record-breaking profits. For the sake of our kids, Congress and the federal government must have the courage to take on their greed.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the rate of childhood obesity in America has tripled since the 1970s. Today, one out of every five children and over 40 percent of adults in our country are obese. Equally as alarming, more than 10 percent of people in the United States have Type 2 diabetes. Ultra-processed foods now make up an incredible 73 percent of our nation’s food supply and can be as addictive as alcohol and nearly as addictive as cigarettes. It is estimated that, if the United States does not change course, the number of children with Type 2 diabetes will increase by 700 percent over the next 40 years.
Countries like Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, and others have successfully implemented strong front-of-package nutrient warning labels. New nutrient warning labels implemented in Chile were associated with fewer purchases of unhealthy products high in salt, sugar, and saturated fats. In Mexico, front-of-package labels include a stop sign and additional disclosures that identify products containing caffeine and other harmful ingredients that should be avoided by children.
In April of last year, Sanders introduced the Childhood Diabetes Reduction Act – legislation that would enact a federal ban on junk food advertising targeted towards children and would require the FDA to put strong warning labels on products high in added sugar, salt and saturated fat.
