Government overreach at the breakfast table

Four major federal agencies with responsibilities for regulating food, beverage and restaurant products and overseeing marketing and
advertising have placed thousands of companies throughout America in an impossible regulatory bind. The Interagency Working Group on Food
Marketed to Children (IWG), made up of USDA, CDC, FDA and the FTC, has just produced an elaborate set of new standards for the content of
food products.  These powerful agencies have said that no company should advertise food products that fail to meet the rigid standards
to anyone under 18 years of age.

Of the 100 most popular foods consumed in America, only 12 would meet the new proposed standards. Foods like whole wheat bread, yogurt, 2%milk and thousands of others fail to pass muster. 

But it gets worse.

Only last year, three of these four agencies were part of a five year effort to update the nation's dietary guidelines that indicate foods the government believes should make up a healthy diet. You guessed it – the IWG guidelines are in direct conflict with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans released just last year.

President Obama in January of this year recognized the problem created by a government that overreaches in its regulatory policies.  In order
to promote new jobs and reduce the burden of regulation, he issued an Executive Order calling agencies to promote predictability and reduce
uncertainty. Unfortunately, apparently the IWG was not listening.

Moreover, the "new" food guidelines did not take into account the cost of their proposal estimated to be more than $28 billion or the
potential loss of 74,000 jobs if industry is pressured into compliance. That is why the Association of National Advertisers and 150 other business associations and more than 150 Members of Congress have asked the agencies to withdraw their proposal. We hope that these messages are heard.

Dan Jaffe, Executive Vice President for Government Relations,Association of National Advertisers