Junk Food Firms Wield Litigation Against Governments Over Obesity Laws

The World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that some of the same companies profiting from the global obesity crisis are suing governments to stop them from implementing health laws. According to a joint study by The Guardian and Lighthouse Reports, 235 lawsuits have been filed against governments in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, the United States, and the UK since 2010.

The most commonly targeted policies were labelling requirements, followed by junk food taxes and regulations on marketing. Of the 75% of decided suits, the food companies lost, but the lengthy process of litigation resulted in 'regulatory chill', says WHO's director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The lawsuits have cumulatively cost nearly 600 years of time and billions of dollars in healthcare and legal costs. The study found that 38% of cases with identifiable plaintiffs had origins in eight parent companies: Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Mondelēz, Kellogg's, Danone, Ferrero, Xignux, and Heartland Food Products Group.