How doctors fund fast-food firms blamed for obesity

DOCTORS are unwittingly funding junk-food firms with fees paid to their regulator.

The General Medical Council has investments of nearly £870,000 in food or soft drink firms Nestle, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Pepsico, Coca- Cola, and Unilever, the British Medical Journal found.

The regulator charges doctors a £ 161 registration fee and another £420 in annual fees.

Almost two-thirds of Britons are overweight or obese, which raises the risk of health problems. The rise in fast-food outlets is seen as a driving factor.

GP Sam Everington, of Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group, said doctors ‘would be horrified to know their money is being invested in fast-food companies that are the cause of so much disease’, adding: ‘This is no different to investing in tobacco companies.’

The GMC said it had a duty to maintain its financial assets and applied ‘ ethical restrictions’ to firms its money was invested in, adding: ‘ This includes tobacco, alcohol, pornography, gambling and highinterest-rate lending.’