"Gavés de sucre" ("sugar force-fed") is an excellent 52 minutes programme on the sugar industry which was broadcasted by French national TV France 2 on June 15 2012. CEO was interviewed for it.
The programme focuses on the sugar industry lobby, and the EFSA nutrition panel. This panel wrote in an opinion that there is no proven link between sugar and obesity. Something also claimed by the sugar industry.
The section on EFSA starts from minute 38.
When interviewed by France 2, the chair of the NDA panel Albert Flynn says he did not know who had funded the studies that were considered by the nutrition panel for its scientific opinion. Regarding the link between sugar and obesity, four studies are cited. Two appear to be funded by the sugar industry which is clearly indicated in the studies' acknowledgements.
This points again to the problem of industry-funded studies used for EFSA's scientific opinions. There is ample evidence that industry-funded studies tend to be biased in outcome, and should therefore not have the same weight as publicly-funded studies.
Flynn is known to have been working for Kraft although it is not known how much he earned. With the new COI rules, he would not qualify as chair of the NDA panel again. Indeed, he is not on the renewed NDA panel.
