America's food giants have flatly refused to accept even a hint of blame that their businesses were contributing, in some ways, to the global pandemic of obesity which has subjected its victims, about 300 million worldwide , to critical medical conditions like gallbladder diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, high levels of cholesterol and osteoarthritis.

A draft WHO document titled "WHO Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health", which is to be presented to the World Health Assembly meeting in May this year for approval, asks the food manufacturers to 'limit the levels of saturated fats and trans-fatty acids, sugar and salt in existing products' and to 'follow responsible marketing practices that support the strategy, particularly with regard to the promotion and marketing of foods high in saturated fats, sugar or salt, especially to young children'.

But, according to the WSWS website, soon the draft report was published, the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA), which represents corporations such as Bird's Eye, Coca-Cola, Del Monte and Heinz, put pressure on the Bush administration to attack the findings of the report.

The report, it is important to note, has been prepared by a team of independent international experts on diet. But it hardly matters. Being true representative of the interests of the corporate interests, the administration acted as was it required to do.

William Steiger, a special assistant in the US Department of Health and Human Services, sent a letter to the United Nations expressing Washington's serious concerns about the contents of the report.

The letter disputed the whole scientific basis of the WHO report and denied the role of food manufacturers and fast-food outlets in creating the demand for unhealthy foods, especially by targeting food advertising at children, and took exception to the singling out of particular foods such as those containing high levels of fat, salt and sugar.

Steiger said the US government holds the view that "all foods can be part of a healthy and balanced diet" and that "choosing a diet is a matter of personal responsibility."

It is interesting to note that the WHO report, when finally agreed, will have only an 'advisory' character. It will merely 'recommend' to the food manufacturers to carry out certain 'initiatives' but will not impose any of its conclusions on the corporations. The WHO was originally asked by the 2002 WHO Assembly to prepare this report.

The fact remains that over the past few decades levels of obesity have increased throughout the world and about 750 million people, approximately one-sixth of the world's population are considered overweight.

Today about half of adults and a quarter of children in America are overweight or obese. The spreading of US style fast food outlets throughout the world has gone hand in hand with the increase in obesity.

In the US, the health costs arising from chronic conditions linked to obesity or overweight run into billions of dollars a year. An estimated $11.3 billion is spent on treating various diabetic complications.

As Eric Schlosser, author of the famous book "Fast Food Nation" observes: 'The obesity epidemic that began in the United States during the late 1970s is now spreading to the rest of the world, with fast food as one of its vectors. Between 1984 and 1993, the number of fast food restaurants in Great Britain roughly doubled - and so did the obesity rate among adults.'

The way fast food is prepared makes its consumption a hard habit to break. It became a habit with the advanced countries' working people and Third World's affluent sections for various reasons.

What makes the fast food so demanding, it is interesting to note, is its flavour, not the quality of what is served. Without this flavour, today's fast food corporations would not exist. They would like the customers to believe - and the latter do believe - that the flavour has originated in their kitchens.

But few know about the mystery of flavour. It is a well-kept secret. The hard fact is that the smell and taste of their foods originate in a test tube - they are manufactured in distant factories run by other firms.

There exists a "flavour corridor" in New Jersey state of the United States, dotted with dozens of chemical plants producing flavours, smells and aromas which meet two-thirds of global demands of various consumer industries such as soft drinks, coffee, milkshake, roasted meat, candies, cosmetics, etc.

The result is that eating french fries is a source of aural as well as oral pleasure. Since eating is an aesthetic experience as well, the food chains ensure that the products they serve should not only taste good but have the right feel, look and sound.

The result is that fast food companies like McDonald's have become giant corporate enterprises having outlets in every corner of the world bringing home huge profits by selling irresistible burgers. It spends an estimated $2 billion a year alone in advertising worldwide.

According to its ads, McDonald's food is cheap, tasty, healthy and easily available. But studies show that 55 per cent of the calories in a Big Mac come from fat, together with 83 mg of cholesterol.

The New York Times recently reported that three new McDonald's restaurants come on line every day. Several consumer groups have condemned the efforts of the US government to undermine the WHO document.

The attempt of the food manufacturers to mislead consumers had already been highlighted in a report submitted last year to the WHO consultation on diet and health.

A report of the International Association of Consumer Food Organisations (IACFO) contains a section on 'How companies skew the science', explaining how food companies deride the evidence linking diet with bad health and seek to present their products in the best possible light.

In 1978, Heinz, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, General Foods, Kraft and Procter & Gamble established the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) whose purpose was to hire scientists who could carry out research in a manner that keeps their corporate profits undisturbed.

Meanwhile, the "State of the World Report 2004" published by the World Watch Institute, a US environmental pressure group, gives a glimpse about how some of the big food companies were dominating the global market.

It states that McDonald's served 46 million people a day in 2002 and its total revenue was $15.4 billion. Coca-Cola's revenue for the same year was $19.6 billion.