Table 5 Number of interactions in which strategies, practices and mechanisms†were used by industry to influence Health Canada regarding the Healthy Eating Strategy, October 2016 to June 2018 (n = 113)
From: Strategies used by the Canadian food and beverage industry to influence food and nutrition policies
Strategies | Practices | Mechanisms | Number of times used (% of interactions in which the tactic was used) | Number of stakeholders which used the tactic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Constituency building | Â | Â | 3 (2.6) | 4 |
| Â | Establish relationships with key opinion leaders and health organizations | Promote interactions with health-related organizations | 1 (0.9) | 2 |
| Â | Seek involvement in the community | Â | 3 (2.6) | 2 |
| Â | Â | Support physical activity initiatives | 3 (2.6) | 2 |
| Â | Â | Undertake corporate philanthropy | 3 (2.6) | 2 |
Financial incentive | Fund government initiatives | Â | 1 (0.9) | 1 |
Information and messaging | Â | Â | 57 (48.7) | 44 |
| Â | Frame the debate on diet- and public health-related issues | Â | 48 (41.0) | 39 |
|  |  | Emphasize industry’s actions to address obesity and chronic disease | 24 (20.5) | 26 |
| Â | Â | Highlight beneficial actions and initiatives unrelated to obesity and chronic disease | 7 (6.0) | 9 |
| Â | Â | Promote the good intentions and stress the good traits of industry and industry products | 33 (28.2) | 29 |
| Â | Â | Shift the blame and draw attention away from industry, e.g. focus on individual responsibility, role of parents, physical inactivity | 24 (20.5) | 21 |
| Â | Â | Take quotations out of context to support industry positions | 1 (0.9) | 2 |
| Â | Promote deregulation | Â | 33 (28.2) | 21 |
| Â | Â | Demonize the nanny state | 2 (1.7) | 4 |
| Â | Â | Emphasize the paucity of evidence in support of proposed initiatives | 8 (6.8) | 8 |
| Â | Â | Highlight the potential burden, challenges and unintended consequences associated with regulation (losses of jobs, administrative burden, worse public health outcomes) | 30 (25.6) | 18 |
| Â | Shape the evidence base on diet- and public health-related issues | Â | 31 (26.5) | 31 |
| Â | Â | Criticize the evidence and assert that studies are junk science | 3 (2.6) | 2 |
| Â | Â | Disseminate and use non-peer reviewed or unpublished evidence | 13 (11.1) | 16 |
| Â | Â | Emphasize the complexity and uncertainty in science | 6 (5.1) | 6 |
| Â | Â | Fund research, including through academics, ghost writers, own research institutions and front groups | 18 (15.4) | 15 |
| Â | Â | Make general references to supporting evidence without providing specific citations | 9 (7.7) | 7 |
| Â | Â | Pay scientists and health professionals as advisors, consultants or spokespersons | 8 (6.8) | 5 |
| Â | Â | Provide industry-sponsored education materials | 5 (4.4) | 9 |
| Â | Â | Demonstrate reluctance to provide information that is not publicly available | 6 (5.1) | 7 |
| Â | Stress the economic importance of the industry, including the number of jobs supported and the money generated for the economy | Â | 22 (18.8) | 27 |
Legal | Influence the development of trade and investment agreements to include clauses favourable to industry | Â | 5 (4.4) | 10 |
Opposition fragmentation and destabilization | Criticize governmental and community organizations and advocates | Â | 3 (2.6) | 3 |
Policy substitution | Develop and promote alternatives to proposed policies including revised policies, voluntary codes, self-regulation and non-regulatory initiatives | Â | 40 (34.2) | 23 |
Total Number of Interactions between Industry and Health Canada | Â | Â | 117 | Â |