March 17th, 2011

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

When City Council was considering a soda tax last spring, doctors from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia testified about the dangers of sugar-sweetened drinks. On Wednesday, the hospital announced that it would expand its obesity program with the help of $10 million from the very industry that produces them.

The money could as much as triple the number of overweight kids that Children’s Healthy Weight Program will serve in the next three years. But critics said it undermines the hospital’s independent voice.

“There’s no question that the Children’s Hospital will do good with the money,” said Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. “The question is, at what cost?”

Read the full story: Children’s Hospital gets $10 million for obesity program from beverage nonprofit