Dr. Norah Campbell:

I will be very quick. Framing is one of the big prongs of research in this area. It simply means how health problems are understood. When you set up a health problem by saying obesity is a physiological disease and that it is beneficial to educate people on it, empower people and give them healthy choices, the solution invariably becomes very much an individual one. Research internationally has shown that industries frame problems and do so in three ways. One method is through policy partnership. The industries have a seat at the policy table, and they are working really hard to frame the problem so its solutions will be very much downstream and made to be downstream. We have television programmes on how to lose weight that are sponsored by supermarkets. This frames the solution offered as the route to losing weight. We know that the science shows that this is completely not the case. The main thing I have seen in the literature is that when any of the industries is faced with regulation or a regulatory threat, it does two things, one of which is to position itself as the problem-solver. The implication is that it is needed at the table to solve the problems. These problem-solvers work towards strategic delay. We have had a reformulation strategy in this country since 2017, not 2021. In 2017, it was run by the industry lobby. We still do not have figures on its so-called success metrics. The reports were launched by the Taoiseach at the time and the initiatives were entirely self-run by the industry.

The second prong is known to involve the creation of policy dystopia. If I am a lobbyist working for the food industry, alcohol industry or tobacco industry, including the vaping industry, I am told to create certain messages. One is that the policy threatens employment. That is a really big one. There is no research that supports that. Another big message is that the policy is regressive. Other messages are that smugglers will increase illicit trade, the policy acts beyond its jurisdiction, there is not enough evidence to keep on gathering evidence, and the cost of compliance and monitoring will be too high such that compliance should be left to the industry. Yet another is that the problem is complex and multifactorial, meaning we all need to sit down and have another big think about the matter. This is known in the literature as policy dystopia. We can see this lobbying playbook every single every single time politicians interact with industry representatives. It pertains to the alcohol and ultra-processed food industries. Historically, this has been the case. When the committee members see and embrace these discourses, they should know that they are being framed by industry.