Weapons of mass consumption.
Addicted to Power. How the Military Industrial Complex went from Tobacco to food poisoning.
In the mid 1950’s, scientists began to notice that smoking was linked to an increased risk of contracting lung cancer but it was not until the 1970’s that the notion that nicotine was a highly addictive substance began to gain credibility amongst the scientific community.
Research in the 1960s had shown that the substance did have an addictive effect but addiction was attributed primarily to the social class of the smoker, as opposed to the medical effect of nicotine, the US surgeon general declaring in 1964 that;
‘The habitual use of tobacco is related primarily to psychological and social drivers, reinforced and perpetuated by the pharmacological actions of nicotine.’
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3052352/
In 1975 a working group at the 1975 World Conference on Smoking and Health concluded that cigarette smoking should “be viewed as a form of drug dependence, most appropriately termed, in heavy smokers, compulsive drug use or drug addiction.”
At the conference Jerome Jaffe, who had promoted methadone treatment of heroin addicts as President Richard Nixon's “drug czar” from 1971 to 1973, commented that;
‘The major difference between tobacco dependence and other drug addictions is tobacco's social acceptability’.
Whilst this article does not explore the obvious reluctance of governments to tackle the issue of tobacco related illness seriously, it should be noted that in 1963, tobacco industry in the United States peaked at $9.5 billion, when adjusted for inflation.
What the series does examine though, is who the major benefactors from this massive, relatively new income stream were, what they did with their wealth and how they transferred increasing evidence that smoking was highly addictive to the processed food industry.
I will show how they used the public's addiction to tobacco to create two of the biggest global corporations of the day and how, via these giant, virtual monopolies, applied the science of addiction to ensuring that the world became addicted to processed food.
The latter half of the series will examine the toxic nature of processed food and how it is almost certainly the root cause of, not only the obesity phenomena but also the rampant rising levels of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and dementia throughout the world.
Another factor I will look at is how, under the umbrella of The Military Industrial Complex, the world's richest corporations expanded to aggressively gain control the of agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors, ensuring that the poor and rapidly declining health of humanity, particularly in the US and ‘the west’, has become a deliberate, managed and profit focused strategy that affects us all.
From cradle to an early grave.
Before we get to this point though, let's go back to the 1970’s and pinpoint exactly who the pioneers were and how they laid the foundation for the weaponisation of the food we eat.
In 1847 when the family of Philip Morris opened their first London tobacco shop and began making tobacco products that ‘royalty and the working man alike would enjoy’ they can not have predicted that more than 175 years later, the company they founded would, in 1983 become the leading manufacturer of cigarettes in the United States, a position they've held till today.
Similarly, when he set up his own tobacco company in Winston, Salem in 1875, R.J. Reynolds surely could not have foreseen the meteoric rise that would lead to the introduction of Camel cigarettes to the world in 1913. Initially specialising in chewing tobacco, it was the introduction of Saccharine into his product in 1989 that saw Reylonds become a leading figure in the US tobacco industry.
Was this a precursor to the addition, en masse, of harmful chemicals to our food chain?
Scientists now refer to the dopamine effect when analysing the link between substances and addiction, as discussed in this research paper published by the US National Library of Medicine.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3225760/
By 1980 the effect of nicotine in producing dopamine was already clear though, as shown in this paper, also published by the national library of medicine.
In 1980, research led by R.A. Wise showed that it was the effect of Nicotine in producing Dopamine in the brain that led to people becoming addicted to smoking rather than the inherent properties of the substance itself.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3225760/#B82
Was this in the minds of the current owners of RJ Reynolds and the Phillip Morris companies when they made the move to the food industry?
If it was, they certainly made the transfer in a big way, acquiring Kraft, General Foods and Nabisco, allowing tobacco firms to dominate America’s food supply and reap billions of dollars in sales from popular brands such as Oreo cookies, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and Lunchables.
Although, by the 2000’s, the tobacco giants had spun off their food companies and largely exited the food industry, in the intervening decades they left a lasting legacy on the foods that we eat.
As this research, published in the journal ‘Addiction’ shows, ‘hyper-palatable’ foods, which contain potent combinations of fat, sodium, sugar and other additives can drive people to crave and overeat them. The Addiction study furthermore found that in the decades when the tobacco giants owned the world’s leading food companies, the foods that they sold were far more likely to be hyper-palatable than similar foods not owned by tobacco companies.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/add.16332
Nowadays the ownership of the processed food industry is more complicated. The three biggest and best known names in the industry are Nestlé, PepsiCo, The Kraft Heinz Company, General Mills, and The Hershey Company. Now that seems like a competitive environment, until you follow the money. When you follow the investment funds you find that the major investors in these companies are;
Nestle - BlackRock, Vanguard, USB asset management. By the way, the biggest investors in USB? Vanguard and BlackRock.
PepsiCo - BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street. State Street's biggest investors are BlackRock and Vanguard.
Kraft-heinz - Berkshire Hathaway, BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street. Surprise surprise, Berkshire Hathaway’s biggest institutional investors? BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street.
General Mills - BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street.
The Hershey company - Hershey Trust Co, Vanguard, BlackRock. A new player? No. The Hershey Trust Co is owned by its parent company, The Hershey Company and therefore indirectly, by Black Rock and Vanguard
In case you haven't figured it out by now, BlackRock and Vanguard finance the food you eat.
You think you have a choice? AS George Carlin once said, you can choose what flavour Bagel you eat but that's where your choice ends!
Now that we know who controls the processed food industry, let's look at the top 5 additives used in the production and remember, it is estimated that in the west, around 60% of food eaten in the home is processed. Add to that the 20% of our diet that comes from takeaways and it is apparent that around 80% of the food we consume is what we class as being processed.
Why is that a problem? We will look at some scientific studies later but for now let's look at the top 6 additives found in processed food and a brief summary of the damage, leading nutritionists and scientists say they do to our health.
1. Artificial Sweeteners
Although the FDA maintains that aspartame is safe, studies worldwide suggest otherwise. Artificial sweeteners like aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal) and sucralose (Splenda) are linked to a variety of health concerns, including:
• Possible carcinogenic effects
• Neurotoxicity
• Brain tumors
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Diabetes and obesity
• Migraines and memory issues
2. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
High Fructose Corn Syrup is a highly refined sweetener and one of the leading sources of calories in the American diet. Found in processed snacks, soft drinks, and condiments, HFCS contributes to:
• Obesity
• Type 2 diabetes
• Increased LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels
• Tissue damage
3. Sodium Benzoate
This preservative, commonly used in soft drinks and food colourants, can become a carcinogen when combined with Vitamin C. Peer-reviewed studies have linked sodium benzoate to:
• Hyperactivity in children
• Potential cancer risks
4. Trans Fats
Trans fats, often labeled as “partially hydrogenated oils,” extend the shelf life of many processed foods. They are associated with:
• Increased LDL (bad) cholesterol and reduced HDL (good) cholesterol
• Heart attacks, strokes, and heart disease
• Inflammation, diabetes, and obesity
5. Artificial Dyes and Colorants
Artificial food dyes make processed foods visually appealing but have profound health implications.
• Yellow No. 5 has been linked to asthma symptoms.
• The British Journal The Lancet linked dyes to hyperactivity in children.
• Red Dye No. 2 was banned in the 1970’s after being found carcinogenic in rats, but other dyes like Red No. 40 and Blue No. 1 are still widely used!
6. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
MSG enhances flavour but acts as an excitotoxin, potentially damaging or killing cells and has been linked to:
• Depression and fatigue
• Headaches and migraines
• Obesity, as it overrides the brain’s satiety signals
In part 2 of this series, we will look at the specific foods we eat that are contaminated by these poisons and at the peer reviewed studies that prove how harmful they are.
