Information about the Aspen Ideas Festival is here. I am scheduled for a session, The American Wellness Paradox, currently scheduled from 11:00-11:50 a.m., at the East Lawn Tent. This will be a discussion with senior HHS policy advisor, Calley Means. Here’s the blurb on it: “Americans are spending more than ever on healthcare, supplements, wellness trends, and “clean eating,” yet rates of chronic disease and metabolic illness continue to climb. As skepticism fuels the rise of movements like MAHA, debates over what Americans should eat have become deeply cultural, political, and economic. Two influential voices with sharply different perspectives on nutrition and food science explore how food systems, farming practices, consumer culture, and the wellness industry collided to create one of the defining public health debates of our time.”
McDonald’s goes non-GM (in the U.K., at least)
A colleague brought back a couple of brochures she picked up at a McDonald’s in London. They make interesting reading, especially the parts about genetically modified (GM) ingredients.
“The Simple Facts About Our Food” (printed April 2007) says:
The feed used for rearing our chickens is not genetically modified and is free from antibiotic growth promoters…We know consumers in the UK often express concern about GM products or ingredients and therefore we can reassure you that we do not use any GM products or ingredients containing GM material in our food.
“That’s What Makes McDonald’s” (2008) says:
Our free range eggs…come from hens fed on a non-GM diet and are free from artificial colorants…We’d like to reassure you that we don’t use any GM products or ingredients containing GM material in our food.
Have questions? McDonald’s U.K. answers them (sort of) at www.makeupyourownmind.co.uk.
GM labeling (or non-GM) is a no brainer. If McDonald’s can do it in the U.K., it can do it here. And so can all other food makers. You don’t have to decide whether GM is good, bad, or indifferent to want it labeled. Labeling would reduce suspicion, if nothing else.
And I wonder how those GM Nutrageous candy bars (see previous post) are doing in the U.K.

