The sugar industry lobbyists are seeking to stall a U.N. campaign against obesity. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) chronic diseases account for nearly 60 percent of the 57 million deaths a year worldwide that are deemed preventable. According to the World Heart Federation, 1.1 billion adults and 22 million children under age five are obese worldwide, with over-eating or poor eating habits replacing malnutrition as a health problem in many developing nations.
This is merely an extension of the sugar industry's resistance to this proposal one year ago. The closest analogy I can think of is the tobacco industry seeking to stall WHO initiatives to help people stop smoking. The only problem here is that I believe that sugar is more dangerous to your health than smoking. The only way that the sugar industry is able to get away with this is that they are a major player in U.S. politics. The sugar industry gave more than $3 million in donations in the 2002 federal elections.
Yahoo! News May 19, 2004