This morning's New York Times includes a letter in praise of fruit juice that reads like an industry-authored encomium. It took me 15 seconds of googling (Robert Murray sweetener honorarium) to discover that the author had indeed accepted money from juice giant Welch's along with multiple other big names in the food industry. It took me a further five minutes of googling ("Robert Murray MD" disclosure) to discover that he is part of the advisory panel for Facts Up Front, an industry-driven labeling effort criticized by nutritionists for its efforts to make less nutritious foods seem like sensible choices.
In those same five minutes I learned that he was a speaker for a Mead Johnson-funded continuing medical education offering and, furthermore, that he accepts money from Abbott. I need to acknowledge my own professional bias here, but I am always and forever going to give side-eye to pediatricians who attempt to offer nutrition advice after taking money from infant formula manufacturers. Everybody loves to think that accepting industry dollars won't affect their perception of that industry or of the impact of that industry's products, but science says otherwise.
And now we have his industry-funded words presented as expert opinion in the newspaper of record. Seriously, NYT, take five minutes and google it yourselves next time. Don't give free advertising to industry shills.
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