In a victory for public health, reports Salon, the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest school district in the country, adopted a resolution to end McDonald’s McTeacher’s Nights. The resolution comes as millions of parents, educators and health professionals call on junk food corporations to stop kid-targeted marketing. To date, United Teachers Los Angeles, the National Education Association and more than 50 state and local teachers unions, representing more than 3 million educators nationwide, have demanded junk food corporations stop marketing to children in schools. McTeacher’s Nights are events at which McDonald’s invites teachers to “work” behind a McDonald’s counter and serve McDonald’s burgers, fries, and soda to students, students’ families, and other people eating at the restaurant. McDonald’s, in return, donates a small percentage of the night’s proceeds to the school — often amounting to only $1-2 per student.
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.
Health and Trade: what hope for SDG3?
Emma Woodford, Founder and Director, Health and Trade Network (HaT)
Cross posted from Health and Trade Network
“… the forces of power, particularly corporate power, are impatient with what is adequate for a coherent community. Because power gains so little from community in the short run, it does not hesitate to destroy community for the long run.” ― Wes Jackson, Becoming Native to This Place
In case you had been asleep for the last ten days, last week in New York the UN finally ratified the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aiming to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all.
Corporations and Health Watch 