CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER
Michael Jacobson Wants Bush to Fire Lynn Swann
19 Corporate Crime Reporter 3(3), January 13, 2005
The Center for Science in the Public Interest wants President Bush to fire Lynn
Swann as chair of The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
Swann received payment from the vending machine industry to appear at a press conference at the National Press Club today. (See “Bush’s Fitness Chair Hooks Up With Vending Industry,” below)
“On the very day the federal government releases new guidelines on diet
and exercise, it is unseemly to have the chairman of the President’s Council
on Physical Fitness and Sports act as a paid shill for the junk food industry,”
said the Center’s executive director Michael F. Jacobson. “It is
shameful that the Department of Health and Human Services put its stamp of approval
on Swann’s behavior. We hereby nominate Lynn Swann to serve as Chairman
of Jocks for Junk Food. In his new position he can lord over the many dozens
of professional athletes who lease out their names and reputations to soda companies,
fast-food restaurants, and salty-snack makers.”
Swann is scheduled to appear today at noon at a press conference organized by
the National Automatic Merchandising Association to launch an initiative to
place labels designed to rank the nutritional value of vending-machine offerings.
Jacobson said that the move is just a public-relations ploy to forestall more
school systems from banning junk food from vending machines on school grounds.
In addition to calling for the firing of Swann, Jacobson also called for the
dismissal of any other member of the commission who makes commercial endorsements
for junk-food manufacturers.
Jacobson said that another member of the Council, Emmitt Smith, the National
Football League all-time rushing leader, has endorsed products from Frito-Lay,
Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s, according to his biography.
Jacobson said that council member Nomar Garciapara, who plays shortstop for
the Chicago Cubs, has made commercial endorsements for Dunkin’ Donuts
and Twizzlers.
Corporate Crime Reporter
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