PepsiCo to Fund Nutritional Science Fellowship at Yale

by Tara Lohan · 2010-03-12 13:06:00 UTC
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pepsiYale University Office of Public Affairs announced that PepsiCo is going to fund a graduate fellowship to aid "nutritional science research" in the Yale School of Medicine's M.D.-Ph.D. program.

This is interesting news considering that Change.org blogger Greg Plotkin wrote earlier this week that a new study is showing that soft drinks are contributing to tens of thousands of new cases of diabetes and that in turn is leading to thousands of premature deaths. Interestingly, that's the very topic that the fellowship is supposed to focus on -- obesity and diabetes. Will the Pepsi-funded researchers conclude that soda is a central part of the problem? I'm guessing not.

It's almost hard to believe but the dean of the medical school was actually quoted as saying, "PepsiCo's commitment to improving health through proper nutrition is of great importance to the well-being of people in this country and throughout the world." What? Are you kidding me? It seems that New Haven must now be located in an alternate universe. Since when are Mountain Dew and Doritos healthy or nutritious?

As disheartening as it is to see Yale teaming up with Pepsi, this sort of relationship is nothing new in the ag world. A few years back, Nancy Scola wrote about how, thanks to budget cuts starting with George W. Bush, land-grant colleges have gone running into the arms of agribusiness for "research money." Iowa State has a Monsanto Auditorium and Monsanto-funded graduate fellowships on seed policy, she writes. (Yes, seed policy!) Texas A&M has a chair for the "Dow Chemical Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering," and the list goes on.

The unfortunate thing is that we've seen all too clearly the effects of corporate agriculture's dominance on the food we eat. Yale is merely that latest university to sell out at the expense of public health. I'm sure there are lots of other schools accepting corporate money for so-called "research" programs. Let's get a list started.

Photo credit: Michel Fillion

Tara Lohan is a senior editor at AlterNet.org where she heads up the environment, water, and food sections. Her work has appeared on the websites of The Nation, Mother Jones, the Huffington Post and in Yes! Magazine.
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