Food & Agriculture

CFA Cautions Against Alcohol Industry Influence in National Academies of Sciences Expert Committee

Consumer Federation of America submitted the following letter to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine regarding the make-up of an expert committee charged by Congress with studying the relationship between alcohol and health outcomes. The letter commends the National Academies for removing two researchers with alcohol industry ties from the committee following public outcry, but questions whether the remaining committee members have the relevant expertise to carry out the prescribed evaluation. The letter asks the National Academies to reopen the nomination process to add experts in fields such as cancer epidemiology and injury control, and to make the nomination process more transparent, so that the public can understand the full extent to which alcoholic beverage companies have influenced the make-up of the committee.