Podcast With Robyn O'Brien, the Crusader Taking on America's Food Industry

Thoughts from our recent conversation with Robyn O'Brien on her book, The Unhealthy Truth, which can be listened to on the Newshour podcast page here or on iTunes here.

Robyn O’Brien is on a crusade to make America’s food safer, calling the movement to know what we are eating “one of the greatest human rights issues of our time.” As the author of the best-selling book, The Unhealthy Truth: One Mother’s Shocking Investigation into the Dangers of America’s Food Supply, O’Brien wants to educate the public about what they are putting into their bodies. Putting her passion into productive use, O'Brien founded the AllergyKids Foundation and has been referred to as the “Erin Brockovich” of food by the New York Times.

Ten years ago, after one of her daughters had a severe allergic reaction, O’Brien was compelled to look into the numbers regarding the incidents of various childhood diseases in the United States. As a former Wall Street analyst, she had the skills to do the research but was shocked at what she found: nearly one in three children in the U.S. suffer from autism, allergies, ADHD, or asthma. Compared with earlier eras, more and more children are developing chronic illness and are more dependent than ever on prescription drugs.

“This generation of kids has earned the title of generation Rx,” states O’Brien and she points out that “from 1997 to 2007 there was a 265% increase in the rate of hospitalization related to food allergic reactions.”

For O’Brien this hard data suggests that something is wrong with our food. Although more research needs to be conducted on the compounding effects of artificial growth hormones and genetically engineered ingredients, many parts of the world have banned things like artificial food coloring or artificial growth hormones. It looks to O’Brien as though American food companies are getting away with using unhealthy ingredients here at home.

“One of the most stunning things to learn is that our American food companies formulate their products differently for people in other countries,” she said. Genetically engineered food has been banned in 35 countries and 60% of the world’s population has labelling on GMO products—but the U.S. does not.

In a nation that spends more money on health care than any other country on the planet but often lags behind other developed nations in terms of things like life expectancy, O’Brien wonders about the negative impact of bad food on the American economy. “How can we lead the global marketplace if we are this sick?” she asks. O’Brien criticizes the self-interested lobbying efforts of groups like the Grocery Manufacturers Association, who had opposed mandatory labelling of GMOs and other efforts to make American food more organic.

But O’Brien also notes how these lobbying efforts have backfired, given that the organic food industry has been growing at nearly double the rate of the conventional food companies. Campbells Foods recently stated its belief in mandatory labelling of GMOs, and O’Brien points to this as one positive example of transparency winning out, especially since the consumer has been voting with their feet in support of alternate food options.

And yet O’Brien states that the United States “lacks a level playing field” when it comes to supporting organic farms, which do not yet receive the same access to crop insurance or financial aid as non-organic farmers. “If you had neutrality at the farm and the farmers didn’t have to make a decision based on a perceived financial bonus [to be non-organic], you would start to see a different operating system that would obviously flow through to the consumer,” O’Brien states.

O’Brien also believes that the public should demand that more be done to investigate the linkages between newer ingredients in food and the occurrence of diseases in the American population. Part of the problem is that by not labelling foods, there is no accountability in the marketplace, and people cannot take legal action if the foods cause harm.

O’Brien ultimately believes that change will come through consumer behavior and that policy, as always, “will follow the money.” She points to signs of progress with different grocery chains—such as Kroger’s which now offers the “Simple Truth” organic line of products—and O’Brien believes that the increased profitability of an expanded organic food industry will entice many to invest. Noting the growing concern in the U.S. that “we have to take back our health” O’Brien reminds us that “there is so much opportunity for people to get involved in every way at every level.”

Listen to this full interview with Robyn O'Brien by clicking here. For a complete archive of our broadcasts and podcast interviews on finance, economics, and the market, visit our Newshour page here or iTunes page here. Subscribe to our weekly premium podcast by clicking here.

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