An approach to conflicts of interest in UK food regulatory institutions.

The history of food is replete with examples of food scandals leading to institutional and procedural reforms intended to rebuild trust. For trust to be sustainable, systems need to be trustworthy. Food regulatory institutions are at the interface of science and policy, and they should have robust and reliable mechanisms for identifying and addressing commercial conflicts of interest (COIs) among the membership of their boards and advisory committees.

Why did EFSA not reduce its ADI for aspartame or recommend its use should no longer be permitted?

On behalf of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Kass and Lodi recently published a letter purporting to 'refute' our July 2019 analysis of EFSA's December 2013 assessment of the risks of aspartame. We had previously claimed inter alia that the EFSA panel had evaluated studies that had indicated that aspartame might be harmful far more sceptically than those that had not indicated harm. We reported that EFSA had deemed every one of 73 studies suggesting harm to have been unreliable.

The Introduction of Thousands of Tonnes of Glyphosate in the food Chain-An Evaluation of Glyphosate Tolerant Soybeans.

Glyphosate-tolerant (GT) soybeans dominate the world soybean market. These plants have triggered increased use of, as well as increased residues of, glyphosate in soybean products. We present data that show farmers have doubled their glyphosate applications per season (from two to four) and that residues of late season spraying of glyphosate (at full bloom of the plant) result in much higher residues in the harvested plants and products.

EFSA's toxicological assessment of aspartame: was it even-handedly trying to identify possible unreliable positives and unreliable negatives?

Background: A detailed appraisal is provided of the most recent (December 2013) assessment of the safety and/or toxicity of the artificial sweetener aspartame by the European Food Safety Authority's Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources Added to Food. That appraisal is prefaced with a contextualising chronological account drawn from a documentary archive of the key highlights of the antecedent scientific and policy debates concerning this sweetener from the early 1970s onwards. The appraisal focuses specifically on Section 3.

Developing national obesity policy in middle-income countries: a case study from North Africa.

Background: The prevalence of overweight and obesity is a rapidly growing threat to public health in both Morocco and Tunisia, where it is reaching similar proportions to high-income countries. Despite this, a national strategy for obesity does not exist in either country. The aim of this study was to explore the views of key stakeholders towards a range of policies to prevent obesity, and thus guide policy makers in their decision making on a national level.

A collaboratively-derived science-policy research agenda.

The need for policy makers to understand science and for scientists to understand policy processes is widely recognised. However, the science-policy relationship is sometimes difficult and occasionally dysfunctional; it is also increasingly visible, because it must deal with contentious issues, or itself becomes a matter of public controversy, or both. We suggest that identifying key unanswered questions on the relationship between science and policy will catalyse and focus research in this field.

The potential role of taxes and subsidies on food in the prevention of obesity in Europe.

Background: Obesity implies costs not only for the individual but also for society. The authors explore the opinions of stakeholders on the potential of taxes or subsidies, as measures for tackling obesity in Europe.

Methods: Structured interviews were conducted using Multicriteria Mapping, a computer-based, decision-support tool, with 189 interviewees drawn from 21 different stakeholder categories across nine members of the EU interviews, to appraise 20 predefined policy options aimed at reducing obesity, including 'taxing obesity-promoting foods' and 'subsidising healthy foods.

Policy options for obesity in Europe: a comparison of public health specialists with other stakeholders.

Objective: To explore policy options that public health specialists (PHS) consider appropriate for combating obesity in Europe, and compare their preferences with those of other stakeholders (non-PHS).

Design: Structured interviews using multicriteria mapping, a computer-based, decision-support tool.

Setting: Nine European countries.

Policy councils on food, nutrition and physical activity: the UK as a case study.

International experience of Policy Councils on food and nutrition has developed over recent decades but they have not received the attention that is due to them. The 1992 International Conference on Nutrition recommended that governments create Food Policy Councils but few have been created. There has been more experience in local and sub-national policy councils, particularly in North America.

Carcinogenicity of saccharin in laboratory animals and humans: letter to Dr. Harry Conacher of Health Canada.

We appreciate this opportunity to provide input to the Health Protection Branch's (HPB's) review of the artificial sweetener saccharin. Concerns with regard to the safety of saccharin are of great public health significance and of great interest to the public because saccharin is consumed by tens of millions of people, including children and fetuses. Any evidence of carcinogenesis--and there is ample such evidence--of such a widely used chemical should spur health officials to minimize human exposure to it.