Food Industry Invites Then Disinvites Critic

Yoni Freedhoff, obesity expert and health and nutrition blogger at Weighty Matters, recently found himself disinvited from speaking on health and nutrition policy at a food industry event by the Ontario Medical Association. Undaunted, he went to the web to share what he felt the food industry was trying to keep him from saying. Freedhoff is a professor at the University of Ottawa and founder of Ottawa’s Bariatric Medical Institute.

After Freedhoff cancelled patients and booked travel, he found he was no longer invited. So, Freedhoff shared his prepared slides online. They detail what he thinks the food industry needs to do to help further public health — and why he believes they probably won’t do it. Freedhoff’s talk portrays the food industry in an unflattering light and lobbies for higher taxes on high-sugar, high-fat food, lower taxes on healthier food, and restrictions on advertising of food to children. Fleishman Hilliard, the Canadian PR firm that had organized the event in question, say they invited Dr. Doug Weir, the president of the Ottawa Medical Association, to speak, not Dr. Freedhoff.

Click here to read the LA Times story on these events, here to read Dr. Freedhoff’s December 10 blog post on the topic, and here to view Dr. Freedhoff’s slides presented on YouTube.