Daniel Passerini, the legislator anticipated that today, to be World No Tobacco Day, will raise the proposal of a complete ban on advertising to acquire parliamentary status.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic.”

In Argentina, it is prohibited to place posters that can be seen from the outside of the premises in the places where tobacco products are sold. However, entities that campaign to avoid smoking say that today the law is mocked in different ways.

A survey carried out in May in Córdoba by the Foundation for Sustainable Policy Development (Fundeps) showed that the display of cigarette packets (usually framed with lights) is the main strategy of companies to promote their products. “Although the regulatory decree of Law 26,687 establishes conditions regarding advertising, nothing says about the exhibition,” said the entity.

Juan Carballo, Executive Director of Fundeps, informed La Voz that, after reporting this situation to head of the Health Commission of the unicameral, Daniel Passerini, the legislator anticipated that today, to be World No Tobacco Day, Proposal for a complete prohibition of publicity to acquire parliamentary status.

Fuente: La Voz del Interior

Seductive, rich and pleasant, sugar is an omnipresent ingredient in the Argentine diet. Faced with the alarming growth of obesity, lower consumption depends on a tangled dialectic between industry, science, government and civil society whose response is expected.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic.”

In the sun of the creative momentum of the 1990s, the film portrayed the historic legal gestation against the Brown & Williamson Company in The Infiltrate, starring Russell Crowe and Al Pacino. The argument was based on the company’s decision to add “coumarin” to cigarettes, a moderately toxic substance for the liver and kidneys that increases consumer addiction to cigarettes. A source of energy of easy and quick assimilation, disacárido formed by a molecule of glucose and one of fructose, extracted mainly of the sugar cane and beet, seductive and omnipresent, the sucrose is the most popular wild of flavor and it represents, in addition , The symbol of the new crusade for public health. Like the closely hidden secret of coumarin, the chemical composition of sugar, added in food and drink, is the focus of the current debate on food and disease. For the World Health Organization (WHO), 60% of Argentines are overweight and obesity in Argentina increased, between 2005 and 2013, by 42.5%. Moreover, according to the National Survey of National School Health of 2012, over a five-year period, in the group of adolescents aged 13 to 15 years, overweight increased from 24.5% to 28.6% and obesity Went from 4.4% to 5.9%. “The feeding of the baby with hypercaloric foods with high fat, sugar and salt content is one of the main factors that lead to childhood obesity. (…) Supplementary foods rich in fats, sugar and salt should be avoided”, cites the Commission To End WHO’s Child Obesity on its website. 

The diet

The figures reflect that in the Argentine diet there is a great deficit of vegetables and fruits, according to the degree in Nutrition Pilar Llanos, who is part of the Board of Directors of the Argentine Nutrition Society (SAN). At the same time, Llanos explains, there is an excessive presence of products that contribute high caloric density, such as flours (no fibers), sweet and savory cookies, pre-ready pastas and white baked goods. The presence of meat such as poultry, fish and red meats on many tables, continues Llano, “is replaced by industrialized products, pre-listed, easy and quick to consume and the children’s liking with the company of the empty calories provided by soda” . Argentina is the world’s leading consumer of soft drinks with 137 liters per capita per year, according to Euromonitor 2014, the world leader in market research. “It is proven how the food industry is promoting the broad consumption of goods whose regular consumption over time generates negative impacts on health,” says Juan Carballo, lawyer and Executive Director of the Foundation for Sustainable Policy Development (Fundeps). In Argentina, in particular, information on food packaging is low, no one reads the label in detail and the advertisements are simply persuasive.

Disagreements

In the face of an obvious problem, the dialectic of the discussion is complex. Industry, civil society, the state and the scientific community – which at first glance share the truth of Perogrullo that a diet of sugar, saturated fats and sodium is bad for public health – are not in agreement About what to do about it. The options are several: to impose a sugar tax like England in 2016, to make an international agreement such as the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control of 2003, to guarantee free enterprise, to sanction a strict rule on food labeling such as Chilean law 20.606, among many others. During the Round Table on the Implementation of the Plan of Action for the Prevention of Obesity in Children and Adolescents of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) held in Washington in May 2016, civil organizations throughout the Americas discussed barriers And opportunities in public health care. At the meeting, Carballo argued that there was insufficient voluntary standards and self-regulation on the part of the industry on advertising and marketing of food for children. 

The investigation

The omnipresence of sugary ingredients in the diet of Argentines is a rich, natural and pleasurable reality difficult to discuss. They are perceptions that cross all social groups, ages and sexes. Its long-neglected innocuousness is the object of study by scientific institutions and associations responsible for unraveling positions on how much sugar has to do with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) that cause morbidity and mortality. Things, a priori, are not so clear. Internal sugar industry papers published in 2016 in the journal Jama Internal Medicine by Stanton Glantz, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, suggest that studies that minimized the link between sugar and heart and slandered Saturated fats. Science, conditioned by industry, concealed a villain accusing another malefactor. “The industry operates through the financing of real research teams, some reliable, but also with ‘front organizations’ – adds Carballo – who have an institutional shell that is apparently respectable but that only have funding from the food industry sector. Its objective is to cast doubt on proven conclusions or to condition public policies”. 

The Coca-Cola Case

Although the influence peddling revealed in the documents dates back almost 50 years, more recent reports show that the industry continues to exert its influence in the science of nutrition. On January 4, The Praxis Project and the Center for Science in the Public Interest filed a lawsuit against Coca-Cola for misleading the public by breaking down research linking sugary drinks with obesity, type 2 diabetes And the like. “Coca Cola has a long history of support and fruitful relationships with research and non-profit organizations in the countries where it is present,” said Francisco Do Pico, Coca-Cola Director of Public Affairs and Communications for Argentina. Always occur in a transparent context and in no case have conditions tending to favor topics of interest to the Company “. The company provides up-to-date information on its website www.transparency.coca-colacompany.com on the amounts of money it allocates to research activities. However, within its policy of transparency, all the academic institutions to which Coca-Cola funds are not yet explicitly disseminated. 

Interests crossed

Food, on the other hand, is closely linked to food production by industry; And to the regulation of the marketing of healthy products in the market, on the part of the State. In the middle of both actors are the facts obtained from scientific research. In spite of everything, gray areas appear everywhere. The journalist and author of the book Malcomidos, Soledad Barruti, last year published an article denouncing that the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) was in fact an NGO financed by corporations of the food industry that realized field studies in public schools of Buenos Aires, with Endorsement and funds from the city’s “My Healthy School” state program to investigate child habits in relation to food. “For me it is fundamental that we begin to ask who financed an investigation Who sponsors the nutritional and pediatric societies of Argentina? Why do I see stamps from the Argentine Nutrition Society (SAN) on salt packets if it is assumed That we have to consume less salt, which is fortified with iron? I think it suffices to say who paid the study and in what paradigm of nutrition is inserted.

The Cormillot case

A few hours after releasing the new list of Pricing, in August 2016, the national government returned in its footsteps and withdrew from the program the four “Cormillot” brand products that were introduced after Dr. Alberto Cormillot took over as an official of the Ministry of Health and advise in the development of the official policy of regulated prices. Dulcor foods licensed by Cormillot generated a state of suspicion about a potential conflict of interest in which the professional television would be both part and counterpart. “There can not be an official who has direct links to a food company that bears his name,” Barruti says or sells food products, diets or services around his name. 

The triumph of sucrose

The Science and Technology of Foods race belonging to the Department of Productive and Technological Development of UNLa (University of Lanús) in November 2016 made a survey of preferences of food consumption with sugar in Argentina. The work revealed that 92% of Argentines that incorporates sweet foods daily to their food does it because it is rich and 82% of them because it is pleasant. “It is a matter of Food Education to make the institutions aware that they do not include foods such as snacks and snacks in the diet of schoolchildren”, summarizes the licensed Llanos, of SAN-. Perhaps a first step would be to take letters in spaces where, like schools, the state has a strong role. School kiosks could be the seed of a distinct food profile associated with the educational process. A place where the private sector, without being a bad word, can participate along with civil society. The naturalness of the presence of sucrose in the Argentine diet, as a triumph of pleasure against the antithesis of good health, makes the consumption of drinks and sugary foods is part of the status quo of the daily menu. An idea prevails: each is responsible for himself without prejudice to the State, civil society and science – that is, concepts similar to those that slide tobacco smokers. Several ethics result from a chemical purification process whose success depends on the percentage of sucrose contained in its crystals. 

The position of the industry

Groups of companies represented by the Latin American Alliance of Food and Beverage Associations (Alaiab), meeting in Washington D.C. In 2015, expressed their disagreement with “those approaches that seek to pigeonhole the private sector as an actor … incompatible with the development of public health-related policy proposals … Alaiab believes that the so-called ‘Conflicts of interest’ should not delay the proactive dialogue. ” “It is clear that the chambers and companies of Copal,” says Daniel Funes de Rioja, president of the association, “have worked for the quality of the food we produce.” We and the ministries of Health and Agroindustry recently celebrated an agreement to promote habits Healthy life and provide adequate information to society through labeling and advertising. ” The meeting, to which no civil society organization was invited, was a step of coordination between the State and business. On the legal and parliamentary level, the debate is still pending on deep marketing and labeling laws, two sensitive issues for the industry. Rumors that a law establishing front labeling of containers with large, easily visible black seals warning of foods high in sugars, sodium, saturated fats, and calories (as in Chilean law) may spark off criticism. “We believe that this is an absolutely wrong law,” adds Funes de Rioja, “since it not only has distortions from a technical point of view, but also from a practical point of view.” Our country, unlike Chile, is a world exporter Many times technical norms are created without scientific-sanitary basis that imply trade barriers. ” The companies gathered at Copal claim to do research to document the ingredients and the effects that certain foods can have. “All of this is done with the highest scientific solvency,” explains Fines de Rioja, “which are chambers or companies with entities such as the Argentine Nutrition Society, for example, and other academic institutions with which we work.”

Source: La Voz Del Interior

In the last decade, progress was made in the regulation and implementation of public policies on gender and communication. However, in the last year far from further progress these measures are in a serious state of uncertainty, with clear weakening.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic.”

From the shadow report presented by the Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies (FUNDEPS) and the Civil Association Communication for Equality, the actions implemented to fight violence against women in the media were presented, based on the obligation Assumed Argentina to modify the sociocultural patterns that perpetuate discrimination against women.

After a long walk, starting in 2009, a new normative framework came into force that protects women from media and symbolic violence in the media. To this, the public policies generated by the Public Defender’s Office and the AFSCA, among other spaces, were added to combat these forms of inequality. This meant a clear breakthrough in the State’s role of guaranteeing rights, although it was still perfect in both standard and implementation.

However, in December 2015, as one of the first measures of the national government under management, the Executive Branch amended the Law on Audiovisual Communication Services (LSCA) and its implementing authority, pillars of the normative framework in communication and gender. Furthermore, the perspectives of the 17 Convergence Principles announced by the National Communications Entity (ENACOM and ex-AFSCA) with a view to drafting a new project to regulate communications and the National Plan of Action for Prevention, Assistance and Eradication of Violence against Women 2017-2019, are not very encouraging.

This is compounded by the uncertainty that exists over the continuity of the Public Defender’s Office, a body created for the protection of audiences by the Audiovisual Communication Services Act and recently recognized by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, since it is not foreseen Another similar in projections of the new legislation announced. In addition, the period of the current defender Cynthia Ottaviano ended on November 14 and has not been announced its renewal or any new designation.

In order to achieve a more just and equitable society, it is essential to ensure that content and media programming stop promoting a culture of discrimination and violence.

*Coordinator of the Human Rights Area-Gender and Sexual Diversity Axis of the Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies (FUNDEPS).

Source: “Backwardness in gender policies”, Página 12

The Province called a table to update the map of law 9.814. The different positions of the rural sectors and the environmentalist and ecological NGOs do not reach an agreement that allows to raise a project. According to expert studies, the province has 3.6 million hectares of native forest.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic.”

As in 2009, when the law that created it was enacted, the territorial planning of the native forests (OTBN) of Cordoba continues to pose irreconcilable differences between the rural sector and environmentalism.

This year, the Province convened a table to update the map of Law 9.814, which paints these ecosystems in three colors, according to their state of conservation and permitted activities. But in this space, the different positions of the rural sectors and environmentalist NGOs and environmentalists do not reach an agreement that allows to raise a consensual project for the Legislature to approve.

A few days ago, the Argentine Agrarian Federation (FAA) made clear its position that Cordoba’s OTBN is “oversized” and requires a sincere.

“We believe that the forest cover ‘native forest’ in the province should not exceed two million hectares, corresponding to the red category between 500 thousand and 600 thousand, and to the yellow category around 1.5 million hectares,” a document Presented at this dialogue table. But according to expert studies, the province has 3.6 million hectares of native forest, or 1.6 million hectares more than the FAA.

The work was carried out in 2009 by the ecologists Marcel Zak and Marcelo Cabido, and it is the scientific study of the native forest more detailed Cordobés to date. The count includes open forest, scrub in different states and halophyte ecosystems (saline environments).

The current provincial map adds four million hectares, that is 1.9 million hectares more than the idea of ​​the FAA. “The very serious distortions that originated in the initial map and throughout the regulatory stage of the law plus arbitrary and discretionary management by the enforcement authority resulted in a misclassification of conservation categories,” they point out from the FAA.

One of the FAA’s arguments for reducing the protected area is the same as the one outlined by the Confederation of Rural Associations of the Third Zone (Cartez) a few weeks ago: the human being must manage the land with degraded autochthonous environments such as scrubland, For the forest to return.

Environmentalists argue that these shrubs provide most of the ecosystem services by which the law decided to protect forests such as maintaining soil fertility, regulating water and climate and sequestering carbon dioxide responsible for climate change.

“To want to exclude vegetation structures from the OTBN simply because they have not reached their state of maximum tree development is not correct, according to the criteria proposed by the different resolutions,” said a document signed by members of the Cordoba Environmental Forum, the Peasant Movement of Cordoba , The Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies (Fundeps), several institutes of the National University of Córdoba and the Conicet. They also argue that the law does not allow recategorization to classifications of lower value, as they propose from the rural sector.

The ruralists want silvopastoral production. Environmentalists argue that silvopastoral activity in the yellow zone should be subject to an environmental impact assessment process and that the law does not allow the selective clearing or implantation of exotic pastures.

Fuente: La Voz del Interior