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Big Food Is Making Us Fat & Sick - Tell the FDA to Ban Ultraprocessed Foods

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler took on the tobacco companies. He proved they were deliberately making cigarettes more addictive. Now, he says the junk food industry is doing the same thing.

He is petitioning the FDA to force food manufacturers to prove that the ultraprocessed foods they’re filling grocery store shelves with are safe to eat—he has evidence they cause obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

The petition covers refined sweeteners like corn syrup and maltodextrin, flours and starches that have been extruded, and refined starches combined with additives like emulsifiers and methylcellulose.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has said the FDA will act on the petition, and the public can comment on it now.

TAKE ACTION: Tell the FDA to Make the Industry Prove Its Ingredients Are Safe!

READ MORE: Methylcellulose: A Laxative, and a Key Ingredient in 3D-Printed Fake Meat

Sign the Petition

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PETITION TO THE FDA:

Please act on the recommendations in David A. Kessler’s Petition to Limit the Exposure of Refined Carbohydrates used in Industrial Processing in order to Prevent Obesity, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease in Children and Adults.

Ultraprocessed foods are making Americans fat and sick. Their main ingredients are processed refined carbohydrates, often sweeteners, refined flours, and starches made from herbicide-soaked genetically modified crops like corn, soy, and canola.

Ultraprocessed foods are designed to trigger compulsive and addictive overeating, increasing caloric intake, while causing obesity and metabolic dysfunction. The result is a cascade of chronic illness, from heart and kidney diseases, to type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, and possibly even neurodegenerative disorders.

The FDA is to blame.

It has let companies claim their ultraprocessed food ingredients are “generally recognized as safe.” This exempts them from the burden of proving that there is a reasonable certainty that their ingredients will cause no harm when consumed as intended.

Urgent action is needed.

Only 12.2% of Americans are metabolically healthy.
Seventy-four percent of Americans are overweight or obese.
About 38% of Americans are insulin-resistant or prediabetic, and about 1 in 3 adolescents 12 to 17 years old have prediabetes.
Americans have a 40% lifetime chance of developing diabetes and a 23–25% lifetime risk of developing heart failure.
About 1 in 7 adults have chronic kidney disease.

Visceral fat in the abdomen causes cardiac and kidney diseases, diabetes, certain forms of cancer, and possibly dementia. Fifty to sixty percent of Americans will develop at least one of these conditions over their lifetime.

The FDA should make the industry prove these ingredients are safe or take them off the market.

Please act on the recommendations in Kessler’s petition.

Thank you.

Appetite for a Change