Houston hospitals under fire for offering fast food

Corporate Accountability International (CAI) reports that two national groups have called on several Houston hospitals to remove fast-food chain restaurants from their grounds. One recent campaign by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine focused on Chik-fil-A. It says about 20 hospitals across the country have the franchise, and it launched an advertising and billboard campaign that parodied Chik-fil-A’s slogan, with white-coated doctors asking people to “Eat More Chickpeas.” Taylor Billings, a Houston organizer for CAI, criticized both Texas Children’s and Ben Taub hospital for having a McDonald’s. “To have two of the leading health institutions in Houston hosting the world’s most recognized junk food brand, it just doesn’t make any sense,” Billings said at a protest March 31 outside the headquarters of the Harris Health System in Houston.