Food makers warned about ads pitching high-fat snacks to children

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Bush administration's reluctance to crack down on ads that sell calorie-laden, high-fat snacks to kids could change if the industry doesn't do a better job of policing itself,

Thursday, July 14th 2005, 3:11 pm

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Bush administration's reluctance to crack down on ads that sell calorie-laden, high-fat snacks to kids could change if the industry doesn't do a better job of policing itself, the head of the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday.

``If industry fails to demonstrate a good faith commitment to this issue and to take positive steps, others may step in and act in its stead,'' FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras said at a conference on childhood obesity and food marketing.

The focus of the two-day conference is on the efforts of food makers, restaurants, retailers and media and entertainment companies to regulate themselves.

Pressure has been mounting on the industry after the government-chartered Institute of Medicine reported that obesity among kids and teenagers has more than doubled over the past three decades. Food and drink companies spend $10 billion to $12 billion a year on marketing aimed directly at kids, the institute said.

Overweight and obesity are directly linked to the amount of time children spend watching television, said Dr. William Dietz, director of nutrition and physical activity for the government Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ongoing research by an FTC economist has thrown a new wrinkle into the mix. Pauline Ippolito, associate director of economics at the agency, said that food commercials on children's TV shows have declined by 34 percent since 1977.

Still unknown is the impact of an explosive growth in Internet games, particularly on Web sites run by food companies. There are also food ads on regular gaming sites.

A dominant industry group, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, has plans to call for a crackdown on food advertising in conjunction with the FTC meeting.

A Democratic senator said that's not ambitious enough.

``There appears to be no meaningful enforcement mechanism, no truly independent body with the will and the power to crack down on offenders,'' said Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, the senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee.