Big Pharma to Educate Registered Dietitians on “Benefits” of Artificial Growth Hormones and Antibiotics in “Animal Health”

"Registered Dietitians" (RD) is a title reserved for dietitians and nutritionists registered with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND - formerly ADA). However, this group has been quickly losing credibility the past few years as the influence of the processed food industry and Big Pharma have been clearly exposed in terms of their dietary advice. Much of this corporate sponsorship and influence has been published by Michele Simon in her free online publication: And Now a Word From Our Sponsors - Are America’s Nutrition Professionals in the Pocket of Big Food? We reported earlier this year how continuing education courses sponsored by the AND and Big Processed Food companies held a seminar in California where RDs were informed that "GMOs are safe and gluten intolerance is a fad". As you will read below, Andy Bellatti of Civil Eats is reporting how Elanco–the global pharmaceutical company behind recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST), an artificial growth hormone, and various antibiotics used on livestock farms–is reaching out to dietitians to educate them about the "benefits" of artificial growth hormones and antibiotics in "animal health". The AND and registered dietitians have long sought to maintain a monopoly on nutrition advice, and squash freedom of nutrition speech by other groups with different nutritional values. This attempt to monopolize the field of nutrition has suffered some major setbacks, however, in recent months. For example, a recent federal ruling that all qualified nutrition professionals—not just Registered Dietitians—may order therapeutic diets in hospitals, leveled the playing field between alternative nutrition professionals and Registered Dietitians in hospitals, where funding from Medicare and Medicaid is involved.