Today, let's examine some of the fat hogs of academia that keep rushing to the trough of corporate money and wallowing in blatant conflicts of interest. The latest breed to feed at this trough is the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.
Guess who is providing a million bucks to the academy to help promote the health of children's teeth? Coca Cola - yes the makers of caramel colored sugar water! Maybe the dental society can get a matching grant from the makers of Twinkies.
For Coca Cola to urge kids to "brush regularly" is like Budweiser running its sanctimonious ads on St. Patrick's Day urging us to "drink responsibly." Of course, the soft drink PR hustlers dashed out to assert with a straight face that: "Scientific evidence shows that soft drinks do not cause obesity, dental cavities, or any other health problem."
Sure, and cigarettes don't cause lung cancer - remember that one? In fact, there's plenty of scientific evidence to show that the surge in children's consumption of soft drinks is, as one academic journal reported last fall, "paralleled by increasing rates of obesity in children and reports of rampant tooth decay."
Interestingly, while the dental academy is cozying up to Coke, practicing dentists all over the country are so alarmed by the role of sodas in children's tooth problems that they've been joining the spreading grassroots movement to ban soda machines from schools. Brand me a skeptic if you must, but somehow I doubt that the academy's Coke-funded dental health promotion will include pushing cola out of schools.
Big Jim Hightower 4/10/2003
