Del Giudice Inés M, Tsai Krystle A, Arshonsky Josh, Bond Sara, Bragg Marie A
Public Health Nutrition Program, School of Global Public Health, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
Department of Population Health, NYU School of Medicine, 180 Madison Ave, 3rd Floor, New York, NY10016, USA.
Public Health Nutr. 2023 Mar;26(3):510-518. doi: 10.1017/S1368980022001859. Epub 2022 Oct 28.
This study used publicly available Form 990 tax documents to quantify food industry donations to patient advocacy organisations (PAO) dedicated to supporting patients with non-communicable diseases.
Observational, cross-sectional assessment of significant national and international food industry donations to US-based non-communicable disease-focussed PAO between 2000 and 2018. Researchers recorded and categorised the: (1) frequency and value of donations; (2) reason for donation; (3) name and type of PAO recipient and (4) non-communicable disease focus of the PAO.
Form 990 tax documents.
Nine food and beverage companies that donated to non-communicable disease-focussed PAO.
Adjusting for inflation, nine food and beverage companies collectively donated $10 672 093 ( 2709) to the PAO between 2001 and 2018. The largest category of donations was ‘matching gifts’ (67·9 %, median amount = $115·16), followed by ‘general operations support’ (25·8 %, median amount = $107·79). Organisations focussing on cancer received the largest number and amount of donations ($6 265 861, 1968). Eight of the nine companies made their largest monetary value of donation to PAO focussed on cancer.
Publicly available tax data provide robust information on food industry donation practices. Our findings document the food industry’s role in supporting patient advocacy organisations and raise questions regarding conflicts of interest. Increased awareness of food industry donation practices involving PAO may generate pressure for policies mandating transparency or encourage donors and recipients to voluntarily disclose donations. If public disclosure becomes widespread, constituents, advocates, researchers and policymakers can better supervise and address potential conflicts of interest.
本研究使用公开的990表格税务文件，对食品行业向致力于支持非传染性疾病患者的患者权益倡导组织（PAO）的捐赠进行量化。
对2000年至2018年间美国国内和国际食品行业向专注于非传染性疾病的美国PAO的重大捐赠进行观察性横断面评估。研究人员记录并分类了：（1）捐赠的频率和价值；（2）捐赠原因；（3）PAO受赠方的名称和类型；（4）PAO关注的非传染性疾病。
990表格税务文件。
九家向专注于非传染性疾病的PAO捐赠的食品和饮料公司。
经通胀调整后，九家食品和饮料公司在2001年至2018年间共向PAO捐赠了10672093美元（中位数为2709美元）。最大的捐赠类别是“匹配赠款”（67.9%，中位数金额为115.16美元），其次是“一般运营支持”（25.8%，中位数金额为107.79美元）。专注于癌症的组织获得的捐赠数量和金额最多（6265861美元，中位数为1968美元）。九家公司中有八家向专注于癌症的PAO进行了最大金额的捐赠。
公开的税务数据提供了有关食品行业捐赠行为的有力信息。我们的研究结果记录了食品行业在支持患者权益倡导组织方面的作用，并引发了关于利益冲突的问题。提高对食品行业涉及PAO的捐赠行为的认识，可能会给要求透明度的政策带来压力，或鼓励捐赠者和受赠方自愿披露捐赠情况。如果公开披露变得普遍，选民、倡导者、研究人员和政策制定者就能更好地监督和处理潜在的利益冲突。
