Both industry complexes are by far not without significant problems but at the same time this type of conspiracy theory is on the same level as claiming big pharma has long accomplished to cure cancer but “holds it back in secrecy” to earn more money with drugs which don’t “cure” - no wonder science the current administration is so successful to suppress science in the US
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I don’t think it’s a conspiracy between Big Ag and Big Ph, and I also don’t think that’s what ML8000 was implying.
I think, as I said up above, it’s a symbiotic relationship that developed out of basic human nature and greed. There was an arbitrage opportunity, and both Big Ag and Big Ph jumped on it to each other’s benefit.
I mean, I don’t think the CEO of PepsiCo called up Pfizer’s boss and said, “hey, I’m going to start making really really palatable potato chips and [wink, wink] that are totally devoid of nutritional value and are calorically dense, just FYI..”
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I disagree with your thought process as people would complain everywhere if pharma/biotech wouldn’t have (and continue) develop drugs which try to prevent/cure diseases related to unhealthy life styles. Of course, every business (in any business area) in the end has to make money to survive but if you think pharma/biotech (more or less) was “looking forward” to the consequences of obesity etc. through (missing) food regulation by big AG to pick “the right targets” to benefit most from obesity and its subsequent diseases, you don’t really understand how programs are selected and how resources are allocated within that industry.
Over the last 30-40 years drugs developed by the industry have significantly prolonged lives of people which had life style related diseases which is a reflection on how people decide to live their lives and not based on a symbiotic relationship of two industries (which is just conspiracy theory). Significant changes to food regulations could have prevented some/significant parts of these consequences if over the last 30-40 years.
There’s no conspiracy between big ag and big pharma. They’re doing their own thing separately but what they do within the larger US society, structure and culture does have synchronicity to it, a relationship. Big ag has practices that aren’t healthy for people, big ag creates products to cure and manage the unhealthy. Both serve different elements of society and both are there to make $$$ within the economic structure, a hybrid of corporate capitalism and state managed funding, research. It’s about the structure and system. In many ways it’s very dysfunctional because the aim is shareholder satisfaction and corporate power.
Along these lines, why else would American healthcare be based mainly through employment? How American healthcare is structured within US society explains both the complexities of the US economy, history, society and its dysfunction. The thing everyone mostly agrees with is US healthcare is broken and dysfunctional but no one can fix it. Why? Perhaps the powers that be don’t want it fixed. They figured out how to game the system to their benefit. It’s structural and it links dysfunction.
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I would be fucking pissed if government regulations prevented the development and sale of donuts, Coke Zero and breakfast cereals.
There isn’t always black and white in regulation - you can also regulate by having an effect on ingredients, composition etc without slowing down overall development
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- California will ban certain ultraprocessed foods from school meals as part of legislation that establishes the first legal definition of the term in the U.S.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law defining ultraprocessed foods as items containing at least one additive, or high amounts of saturated fat, sodium or added sugar. Foods containing sucralose or other sweeteners also qualify as ultraprocessed.
- The state’s ban only affects the “most concerning ultra-processed foods,” which health officials will define by 2028. Schools then have until 2035 to phase out the restricted items.
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