 Michael F. Jacobson, who holds a PhD in microbiology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is co-founder and executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a nonprofit health advocacy organization supported largely by its 900,000 members. CSPI focuses on nutrition, food safety, scientific integrity, and alcohol policy. It publishes Nutrition Action Healthletter, the largest-circulation health newsletter in the world, as well as numerous studies and reports, including “Salt: the Forgotten Killer” and “Liquid Candy: How Soft Drinks are Harming Americans’ Health.” CSPI is a key player in the ongoing battle to prevent diet-related chronic diseases in America and food-borne illness outbreaks. CSPI educates consumers and encourages government and corporations to take steps to protect the public’s health.
CSPI led efforts to win passage of the 1990 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, which requires nutrition information on most food labels, as well as a law requiring warning notices on alcohol-beverage labels and an FDA regulation requiring that trans fat be listed on foods labels. CSPI’s studies on the nutritional quality of restaurant meals generated worldwide interest and spurred major chains to add more healthful items to their menus. CSPI also has halted numerous deceptive food labels and ads, through complaints to government agencies, discussions with companies, and litigation. Jacobson and CSPI have long been concerned about junk-food marketing aimed at kids, the nutritional quality of school meals, microbial contamination of foods, and the safety of food additives.
Jacobson is author or co-author of numerous publications, including: Six Arguments for a Greener Diet (2006, CSPI); Restaurant Confidential (2002, Workman); Marketing Madness (1995, Westview); What Are We Feeding Our Kids? (1994, Workman); The Fast-Food Guide (1986, 1991 Workman); The Complete Eater’s Digest and Nutrition Scoreboard (1986; Doubleday); Salt: The Brand Name Guide to Sodium (1983, Workman); and Eater’s Digest: The Consumer’s Factbook of Food Additives (1972, 1976, Doubleday).
Jacobson is the recipient of the Food Marketing Institute’s Esther Peterson Consumer Service Award (1992) and the Food and Drug Administration’s Commissioner’s Special Citation and Harvey W. Wiley Medal.
Dr. Jacobson’s numerous media appearances include many major broadcast, cable, and radio news shows. He has had numerous technical papers and letters published in the Journal of Molecular Biology, the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. His popular articles have appeared in Smithsonian, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Christian Science Monitor, and other periodicals.
Please tell us about the mission and the history of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Two colleagues and I founded CSPI back in 1971. We met when we were volunteers with Ralph Nader and thought that it would be interesting to start an organization that was led by scientists rather than lawyers, which is an oddity in Washington. One of our purposes was to try to get scientists involved in working on social issues. Back then, we worked on both environmental and health issues.
After a while, we ended up mainly focusing on health, food safety, nutrition, and preventive medicine. We’ve become one of the leading organizations in the country that promotes better nutrition through educating consumers. We do this through books, media appearances, and our Internet website (www.cspinet.org). Our Nutrition Action Healthletter, which has almost 900,000 subscribers, is our main educational vehicle. Our funding comes almost entirely from our subscribers, either through subscription fees or additional donations.
We also engage in a range of advocacy efforts that focus on government policies and corporate practices, particularly marketing practices and issues related to the nature of the products that food manufacturers and restaurants offer to the public. |
