CSPI has led efforts to win the passage of laws that require nutrition facts on packaged foods, put warning notices on alcoholic beverages, and define the term ''organic'' for foods. It has also conducted studies of the nutritional content of movie theater popcorn and restaurant meals, helped to instate policies that ban junk foods and soda from schools, and raised funding for the government’s physical activity programs and food safety inspections.
CSPI is currently working on eliminating partially hydrogenated oil from the food supply, reducing sodium in restaurant and processed foods, obtaining federal funding for alcohol abuse prevention policies, and providing information about the advantages and disadvantages of agricultural biotechnology.
CSPI also launched the Campaign for Alcohol-Free Sports TV, which encourages college administrators not to allow alcohol advertising on local sports programming and to work with the National Collegiate Athletic Association to ban alcohol advertising from televised college sports.
''As one of the nation’s top consumer advocates, CSPI will keep fighting for government policies and corporate practices that promote healthy diets, prevent deceptive marketing practices, and ensure that science is used to promote the public welfare,'' according to CSPI’s website.
CSPI also publishes the Nutrition Action Healthletter, one of the nation’s top nutrition and health newsletters. Its most recent edition featured articles on the truth behind nutritionally enhanced waters, how to pick the right multivitamin, and the nation’s 10 best and worst foods.
Michael F. Jacobson, co-founder of CSPI, writes in a press release about his book Six Arguments for a Greener Diet, ''Americans consume over 1 billion pounds — and 1 trillion calories — of food each day. To produce the grains, meat and poultry, and fruits and vegetables that feed a country of nearly 300 million people, our agricultural system consumes enormous quantities of fuel, fertilizers, water, pesticides, and enormous tracts of land — not just for growing food for people but mostly for producing food for livestock. And ultimately a diet rich in fatty animal products and poor in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables consumes the consumer: higher rates of heart disease, stroke, certain cancers, diabetes, and obesity cause hundreds of thousands of premature deaths each year.''
If you find such words inspiring and hope to educate the public more about nutrition, health, and the prevention of obesity-related diseases, you may wish to seek a job with CSPI.
CSPI’s website offers a wide range of jobs, such as assistant supervisor of customer service, manager of community outreach and grassroots organizing, public interest toxicologist, Internet communications manager, and community outreach and health policy organizer.
CSPI also offers paid, 10-week internships for students in undergraduate, graduate, medical, and law schools each summer and during the year. The internships offered are in the fields of nutrition and public policy, legal affairs, grassroots advocacy, alcohol and public policy, biotechnology, food safety, integrity in science, and litigation.
