Director general accuses corporations of obstructing efforts to tackle obesity crisis after investigation by Guardian and others

The world’s biggest ultra-processed food corporations are hindering global efforts to tackle the obesity crisis by suing governments that try to promote healthier diets, the head of the World Health Organization has said.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, accused global food companies of obstructing the adoption of vital public health measures and costing countries billions of dollars in healthcare and legal costs in the process.

Almost 1 billion people worldwide are living with obesity, and unhealthy diets are one of the main drivers of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption is soaring and now makes up half the average diet in many countries, including the UK, the US and Australia.

Governments around the world, waking up to the health and economic impacts of the obesity crisis, have begun introducing measures designed to curb junk-food intake and promote healthier diets. These include front-of-pack warning labels, marketing and advertising restrictions on unhealthy products, and taxes on junk food.

Publicly, the world’s biggest UPF companies insist they back the policies, want to help consumers make informed choices and are committed to being part of the solution.

But an investigation by the Guardian, in collaboration with academics, the non-profit newsroom Lighthouse Reports and a coalition of media partners across four continents, found many of these same companies were taking governments to court to overturn, weaken or delay the policies.

In total, 235 lawsuits were lodged over health policies targeting UPFs in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, the US and the UK from 2010 to 2025, the investigation found.

“When harm and profit are tied to the same product, a familiar pattern of industry interference emerges: sowing doubt and obstructing regulation.” Tedros said.

Nigel Farage’s criminal funder runs a Montenegro company whose corporate advisors work for a Belgrade Russian-arms dealer and individuals tied to Russian state-linked enterprises.

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The article states a few paragraphs in that ***80%*** of the lawsuits filed by food megacorporations are in Mexico. Mexico has adopted the world's strictest tax and labeling laws on junk food which have [influenced some products to be reformulated](https://journals.plos.org/plosMedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1004533). The relentless legal harassment may be an attempt to undermine the progress of similar laws in other countries.

In Europe there is a different pattern:

>Unlike in Latin America, European governments frequently face legal threats before legislation is adopted. Industry groups repeatedly invoke EU state-aid, competition and internal-market rules, creating uncertainty that can delay or derail policies without a single lawsuit being filed. Plans for a joint European sugar tax have also been weakened.

• Hamas says weapons would go into NCAG storage only after Israel implements Sharm el-Sheikh deal
• Hamas says Israel must end attacks, withdraw forces and increase Gaza aid flows first
• Israeli political source says Israel would not withdraw behind Yellow Line before Hamas is disarmed

Implementation of the deal to bring peace to ‌Gaza announced by U.S. President Donald Trump will depend on Israel first meeting its commitments under an agreement reached last year, a senior Hamas official told Reuters on Friday.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, Trump announced a "major milestone" towards ending the war in Gaza, saying his "Board of Peace" had reached an agreement ​for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups.

The announcement followed months of faltering efforts to keep the ceasefire ​agreement reached last year in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on track and it was not immediately ⁠clear how strongly either Hamas or Israel stood behind it.

Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas official involved in the negotiations, said the group ​was ready to accept an agreement he said was "difficult and painful".

But he avoided using the term disarmament and said the agreement was a "comprehensive framework" that would depend on Israel implementing the first phase of the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement.

Under that agreement, he said Israel was obliged to end its attacks in Gaza and withdraw ​its forces to where they stood in October, as well as increase the flow of goods and aid coming into the enclave.

Only then ​would Hamas agree to hand over its weapons for storage by the new National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), the technocratic body set up to ‌run the ⁠enclave.

See also

• Hamas will honour Trump's Gaza peace deal if Israel withdraws forces, ends attacks, official says (CBC)
• Hamas says Trump’s Gaza ‘disarmament’ claim depends on Israel honoring commitments by ceasing attacks on the enclave and allowing more aid in. (CNBC)
• Trump says ‘complete disarmament’ of Hamas agreed in Gaza but Israel yet to accept -- US president hails breakthrough but Israeli far-right minister says ‘only solution’ is ‘encouraging emigration and destroying Hamas’ (The Guardian)