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310 THE CHINA STUDYearlier reports on added sugars.^7 According to a news release from the
director-general's office at the WHO,s the U.S.-based Sugar Association
and the World Sugar Research Organization, who "represent the inter-
ests of the sugar growers and refiners, had mounted a strong lobbying
campaign in an attempt to discredit the [WHO 1 report and suppress its
release." They did not like setting the upper safe limit so low Accord-
ing to the Guardian newspaper of London,? the U.S. sugar industry was
threatening "to bring the World Health Organization to its knees" un-
less it abandoned these gUidelines on added sugar. WHO people were
describing the threat "as tantamount to blackmail and worse than any
pressure exerted by the tobacco industry."7 The U.S.-based group even
publicly threatened to lobby the U.s. Congress to reduce the $406 mil-
lion u.s. funding of the WHO if it persisted in keeping the upper limit
so low at 100.10! There were reports, after a letter was sent by the industry
to Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, that the
Bush administration was inclined to side with the sugar industry. I, and
many other scientists, were being encouraged at that time to contact
our congressional representatives to stop this outrageous strong-armed
tactic by the U.S. sugar companies.
So, for added sugars, we now have two different upper "safe" lim-
its: a 10% limit for the international community and a 25% limit for
the U.S. Why such a huge difference? Did the sugar industry succeed
in controlling the U.S.-based FNB report but fail with the WHOIFAO
report? What does this say about the FNB scientists who also devised
the new protein recommendation? These wildly different estimates are
not a matter of scientific interpretation. This is nothing more than na-
ked political muscle. Professor James and his colleagues at the WHO
stood up to the pressure; the FNB group appears to have caved in. The
U.S. panel received funding from the M&:M Mars candy company and
a consortium of soft drink companies. Is it possible that the U.s. group,
felt an obligation to these sugar companies? Incidentally, the sugar in-
dustry, in their fight against the WHO conclusion, has relied heavily? on
the FNB report with its 25% limit. In other words, the FNB committee
produces a friendly recommendation for the sugar industry which then
turns around and uses this finding to support its claim against the WHO
report.