Bilderberg HHS Secretary and Surgeon-General-slash-Burger King shill call for mandatory BMI ratings of all Americans

Obesity Rating for Every American Must Be Included in Stimulus-Mandated Electronic Health Records, Says HHS
Thursday, July 15, 2010
By Matt Cover, Staff Writer
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/69436

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius speaks to reporters at HHS headquarters in Washington on July 1, 2010. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)
(CNSNews.com) – New federal regulations issued this week stipulate that the electronic health records–that all Americans are supposed to have by 2014 under the terms of the stimulus law that President Barack Obama signed last year–must record not only the traditional measures of height and weight, but also the Body Mass Index: a measure of obesity.

The obesity-rating regulation states that every American’s electronic health record must: “Calculate body mass index. Automatically calculate and display body mass index (BMI) based on a patient’s height and weight.”

The law also requires that these electronic health records be available–with appropriate security measures–on a national exchange.

The new regulations are one of the first steps towards the government’s goal of universal adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) by 2014, as outlined in the 2009 economic stimulus law.  Specifically, the regulations issued on Tuesday by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, define the “meaningful use” of electronic records. Under the stimulus law, health care providers–including doctors and hospitals–must establish “meaningful use” of EHRs by 2014 in order to qualify for federal subsidies. After that, they will be subjected to penalties in the form of diminished Medicare and Medicaid payments for not establishing “meaningful use” of EHRs.

Section 3001 of the stimulus law says: “The National Coordinator shall, in consultation with other appropriate Federal agencies (including the National Institute of Standards and Technology), update the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan (developed as of June 3, 2008) to include specific objectives, milestones, and metrics with respect to the following: (i) The electronic exchange and use of health information and the enterprise integration of such information.‘‘(ii) The utilization of an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014.”

Under this mandate in the stimulus law, Secretary Sebelius issued a regulation–developed by Dr. Blumenthal–that requires that all EHRs keep track of a person’s Body Mass Index (BMI) score. Body Mass Index is a ratio between a person’s weight and height, and is used to determine whether or not someone is overweight or obese. It is the preferred method of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for measuring obesity.

Michelle Obama has made dealing with the problem of childhood obesity the main theme of her term as First Lady.

According to the CDC,  “BMI provides a reliable indicator of body fatness for most people and is used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems.”

A person’s BMI score is used as a tool to screen for obesity or excessive body fat that could lead to other health problems. While it does not actually measure body fat directly, according to CDC, the BMI scores generally correlate with a person’s body fat percentage.

The new regulations also stipulate that the new electronic records be capable of sending public health data to state and federal health agencies such as HHS and CDC. The CDC, which calls American society “obesogenic” – meaning that American society itself promotes obesity – collects BMI scores from state health agencies every year to monitor obesity nationwide.

“Electronically record, retrieve, and transmit syndrome based public health surveillance information to public health agencies,” the regulations read.

With the spread of electronic health records, the CDC apparently will be able to collect such data more efficiently and with greater accuracy because the electronic record keeping systems can send the data automatically, eliminating the need for government – both state and federal – to keep, send, and process physical records.

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The Surgeon-General was in fact a Burger King advisor! The Obama administration and the fake anti-obesity activists are food industry apologists covering up the roles that aspartame and MSG have played in the manufactured obesity epidemic! Regina Benjamin was a Burger King shill, and the anti-obesity activists belong to fake nutritional advocacy coalitions headed up by food industry front and Monsanto fronts! When will the libsheep wake up and realize that people such as MeMe Roth and organization such as CSPI are actually food industry apologists helping to cover up the TRUE causes of obesity?! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/13/health-nominee-an-adviser-to-burger-king/

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/dennis-byrne-barbershop/2009/08/obamas-surgeon-general-nominee-advises-burger-king.html

http://entertainment.wagerweb.com/politics/regina-benjamin-also-works-for-burger-king-14441.html

http://www.wkrg.com/alabama/article/dr.-regina-benjamin-paid-by-burger-king/259468/Aug-13-2009_5-15-pm/

Related:

Define irony: When an anti-obesity crusader is a member of a nutritional advocacy coalition headed by food industry front groups

Food Nazis Using Obesity Reichstag to Bring on New Holocaust

MeMe Roth, the ultimate apologist for the food industry and whitewasher of the obesity epidemic

Obama’s Surgeon General nominee is a Burger King shill!

Comment: I guess it is now racist to be against fast food and claim fast food is killing people, even if you present evidence to prove the dangers of fast food.

“You say Burger King is killing its customers with aspartame and MSG? THAT’S RACIST! BURGER KING HIRES POOR-DOWN-ON-THEIR-LUCK BLACK PEOPLE ON WELFARE WITH CRACK ADDICTED BABIES! YOU AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE ON WELFARE WITH CRACK ADDICTED BABIES? THEN YOU BETTER SHUT UP ABOUT BURGER KING KILLING ITS CUSTOMERS WITH ASPARTAME AND MSG!”

And guess who owns the most stock in Burger King? Goldman Sachs. You can’t make this shit up.

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Obama’s surgeon general nominee advises Burger King
Helps fast-food giant put healthier options on menu
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/13/health-nominee-an-adviser-to-burger-king/
By Jim McElhatton (Contact)

Originally published 04:45 a.m., August 13, 2009, updated 01:14 p.m., August 13, 2009

President Obama’s nominee for surgeon general, whose job it is to help encourage Americans to get thinner and healthier, has been working part time as a scientific adviser to the fast-food giant that sells sandwiches like the Whopper and BK Triple Stacker.

Dr. Regina Benjamin, hailed by Mr. Obama for her efforts in running a health clinic in hurricane-ravaged rural Alabama, has been paid $10,000 since last year for serving on a scientific advisory board for Burger King, according to newly filed public financial disclosures.

The documents do not specify the scientific issues on which Dr. Benjamin advised the fast-food company, and her medical office in Bayou La Batre, Ala., declined a request for an interview. Burger King officials said Dr. Benjamin served on the company’s nutritional advisory panel, formed last summer as part of “ongoing efforts to promote balanced diets and active lifestyle choices.”

The Edelman public relations firm, hired by Burger King, recommended Dr. Benjamin and other specialists to serve on the panel, an Edelman spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Vicki Rivas-Vazquez, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said Dr. Benjamin would resign her position from Burger King upon confirmation by the Senate. She also said Dr. Benjamin would recuse herself from any specific party matters involving Burger King for the next two years as part of the Obama administration’s ethics pledge.

“As the nation’s leading spokesperson on public health, she will continue to promote healthy eating and exercise,” she said.

“As third-party counselor bringing her expertise on public health on an advisory panel, she was advocating for food options that were lower in sodium and recommending that nutritional information appear on food packaging,” Ms. Rivas-Vazquez said of the nominee’s work on the Burger King panel.

Still, the existence of a financial relationship between a big fast-food company and a surgeon general nominee troubles Dr. Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University and author of “What to Eat.”

“Fast-food companies are not public health agencies; their job is to sell fast food – and the more, the better,” Dr. Nestle said. “For me, this would represent an impossible conflict of interest.

“I can’t speak for anyone else and I am aware of the counterargument that if you want companies to become more health conscious, you need to work from the inside. But in my experience, that argument does not hold.”

Dr. Stephen Cook, a child obesity specialist and assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Rochester, said he’s pleased that Dr. Benjamin disclosed the financial arrangement because “like any scientist, we should disclose our relationships.”

He also said it is difficult to draw any conclusions about Dr. Benjamin’s involvement with Burger King without knowing what she discussed with the company.

“We don’t know the content of those discussions,” he said. “Perhaps she was pushing them to make water or low-fat milk the default drink and lower the price of that compared to soda.”

Burger King, like McDonald’s and other big fast-food chains, has been under pressure to offer healthier fare in recent years amid concerns about the role of fast food in America’s obesity crisis. Public health advocates have long said fast food, while not the only factor, contributes to the nation’s obesity problem.

A recent study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private nonprofit research organization, found that having a fast-food restaurant within a tenth of a mile of schools was associated with at least a 5.2 percent increase in obesity rates among ninth-graders.

In 2007, the Center for Science in the Public Interest sued Burger King in Washington, D.C., over its use of trans fats, but the company stopped using the product and a judge eventually threw out the lawsuit. The case is under appeal. Doctors say trans fats raise bad cholesterol levels and can increase the risk of heart problems. Many big fast-food chains have stopped using trans fats.

Among other moves in recent years, Burger King has been offering fresh-cut, skinless apple slices made to look like french fries at its locations across the country. The company in 2007 also said it was restricting ads for unhealthy food aimed at children.

Since her nomination, Dr. Benjamin has won support from both sides of the political aisle. Rep. Jo Bonner, Alabama Republican, said Mr. Obama “did himself and his administration proud” in picking Dr. Benjamin. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, called her “an excellent choice.”

Like Mr. Obama, members of Congress praised Dr. Benjamin for running a small rural clinic and rebuilding it after fire and hurricanes.

“When people couldn’t pay, she didn’t charge them,” Mr. Obama told reporters last month. “When the clinic wasn’t making money, she didn’t take a salary for herself.

“When Hurricane Georges destroyed the clinic in 1998, she made house calls to all her patients while it was rebuilt,” Mr. Obama said. “When Hurricane Katrina destroyed it again and left most of the town homeless, she mortgaged her house and maxed out her credit cards to rebuild that clinic for a second time.”

The Burger King advisory position is one of several outside jobs that Dr. Benjamin has held since last year, according to her disclosure form.

She also reported receiving more than $20,000 for serving on another advisory board at Nebraska-based ConAgra Foods, one of the country’s largest food producers with products such as David Sunflower Seeds, Crunch ‘n Munch, Healthy Choice and Chef Boyardee.

Dr. Benjamin reported more than $90,000 in earnings from her former role as chairman of the Federation of State Medical Boards and $8,000 for being an expert witness for the American Medical Association.

In addition, she received meeting and speaking fees ranging from a few hundred dollars to $7,000 for appearances with groups such as the California Hospital Association and Kaiser Family Foundation.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/13/health-nominee-an-adviser-to-burger-king/

Murder King kicks family out because infant daughter wasn’t wearing shoes

NOTE: I don’t call them Murder King because of animal welfare. I call them Murder King because they murder their customers with aspartame-laced diet sodas and MSG-laced sandwiches. Did you know that the BK Veggie has MSG? Must be why it tastes so good.

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Burger King: No shoes rule taken too far with baby
By The Associated Press

SUNSET HILLS, Mo. — Like most restaurants, the Burger King in this St. Louis suburb has a no shoes, no shirt, no service policy.

And baby, do they enforce it.

Too much so, the company admitted, after apologizing for restaurant workers who asked a mother to leave because her 6-month-old wasn’t wearing shoes.

Jennifer Frederich, her mother and Frederich’s infant daughter, Kaylin, stopped at the Burger King in Sunset Hills on Sunday. The baby was shoeless — Frederich figured tiny baby feet were immune from the rule.

But workers told the family to leave because the shoeless baby was violating a health code. In fact, shoelessness is not a health code violation in St. Louis County.

Frederich told KTVI-TV that she and her mother ate hurriedly and left before they could be kicked out. Frederich did not have a listed phone number, and The Associated Press could not reach her for comment.

Burger King released a statement Thursday indicating workers had taken the no shoes, no service policy too far.

“Our franchisee, which independently owns and operates this restaurant, apologizes for this guest’s experience,” the statement read. “The franchisee is retraining his restaurant team on the proper use of the ‘no shoes’ policy.”

The franchise owner also contacted Frederich to apologize in person.

Frederich told the TV station the flap was a bit overblown, and she hoped no one would be fired. But she appreciated Burger King’s apology.

Burger King, based in Miami, is the nation’s second-largest hamburger chain, with 11,800 restaurants worldwide.