Dear CEO Skinner, As health professionals engaged directly in the largest preventable health crisis facing this country, we ask that you stop marketing junk food to children. The rates of sick children are staggering. Ballooning health care costs and an over- burdened health care system make treatment more difficult than ever. And we know that reducing junk food marketing can significantly improve the health of kids. Our community is devoted to caring for sick children and preventing illness through public education. But our efforts cannot compete with the hundreds of millions of dollars you spend each year directly marketing to kids. Indeed, as health professionals, we know that parents exercising responsibility for their children’s diets and exercise is vital. We also know that no authoritative data indicates a breakdown in parental responsibility. Obesity and disease levels among kids are rising even though parents continue to parent and kids continue to exercise at rates similar to those of two decades ago. So what has changed? What has changed is the food children eat and the amount of marketing they are bombarded with. We know the contributors to today’s epidemic are manifold and a broad societal response is required. But marketing can no longer be ignored as a significant part of this massive problem. Doctors’ Orders: We ask that you heed our concern and retire your marketing promotions for food high in salt, fat, sugar, and calories to children, whatever form they take – from Ronald McDonald to toy giveaways. Stop Our children and health care system will benefit from your leadership on this issue. Sincerely* (View the full text and signatures at www.LetterToMcDonalds.org)

(Affiliation is for ID purposes only) T. Colin Campbell, PhD, Author, The Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, Chair, Dept. of China Study; Prof. Emeritus, Nutritional Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, marketing > Institutions: American Academy of Child and Biochemistry, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY Boston, MA Adolescent Psychiatry David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, > Chicago-area health leaders American Medical Student Association Director, Yale Prevention Research Center; Editor-in-Chief, Childhood Obesity, Deborah Burnet, MD, MA, Chief, General junk food Arizona Center for Integrative New Haven, CT Internal Medicine; Prof. of Pediatrics and Medicine, University of Arizona Medicine Vice Chair for Faculty Develop- Robert S. Lawrence, MD, Director, Center ment, University of Chicago Baltimore Medical System for a Livable Future; Johns Hopkins Bloom- Tim Kasser, PhD, Prof. and Chair of berg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD Chicago Hispanic Health Coalition Psychology, Knox College to kids Department of Family Medicine at Tufts Robert Lustig, MD, Director of the weight Yvette Roberts, MS, MHA, RN, CPHIT, University School of Medicine Assessment for Teen and Child Health Associate Director of Nursing, University (WATCH) Program at University of California, of Illinois Chicago Doctors for America An open letter to McDonald’s San Francisco, CA Paul Rockey, MD, MPH, Director, Division Family Practice and Counseling Alan Meyers, MD, MPH, Associate Prof. of Graduate Medical Education, American Network, Philadelphia, PA of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medical Association CEO Jim Skinner from more than Illinois Maternal & Child Health Coalition Medicine; Co-Chair, Massachusetts Chapter Anne Scheetz, MD, FACP, Organizer and of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Steering Committee Member, Health Care Inpatient Diabetes Program, Obesity Committee, Boston, MA for All Illinois Boston University 550 health professionals and William Neal, MD, James H. Walker Chair David Scheiner, MD, Doctor of Internal Medicine, Hyde Park Associates in Massachusetts Public Health of Pediatric Cardiology; Director, Coronary Association Medicine and Physicians for a National institutions in all 50 states. Artery Risk Detection in Appalachian Health Program Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, Communities (CARDIAC) Project, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV Jeremiah Stamler, MD, Chair, Department Chicago, IL of Preventive Medicine, Cardiologist, National Council of Asian and Marion Nestle, PhD, MPH, Author, Paulette Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine Pacific Islander Physicians Goddard Prof. in the Dept. of Nutrition, Food Ho Luong Tran, MD, MPH, President and Studies, and Public Health, and Prof. of Soci- CEO, National Council of Asian and Pacific New Mexico Public Health Association ology, New York University, New York, NY Islander Physicians Nutrition and Weight Management William C. Roberts, MD, Executive Director, John Tulley, MD, Chief of General Medicine Center, Boston Medical Center Baylor Cardiovascular Institute; Editor-in- and Associate Prof. of Clinical Medicine, University of Illinois Chicago Oregon Academy of Family Physicians Chief, The American Journal of Cardiology, Dallas, TX Quentin Young, MD, National Coordinator, To join the growing movement Physicians Committee for Physicians for a National Health Program; Responsible Medicine Janine Sanchez, MD, Associate Prof. Doctor of Internal Medicine, Hyde Park of Pediatrics; Director, Pediatric Associates in Medicine The Prevention Institute Diabetes Program, Division of Pediatric of health professionals, visit: Donald W. Zeigler, PhD, Director, Prevention Endocrinology, University of Miami Miller Science and Environmental Health and Healthy Lifestyles, American Medical Network School of Medicine, Miami, FL Association; Visiting Assistant Prof., www.LetterToMcDonalds.org The Vermont Nurse Practitioners Walter Tsou, MD, MPH, Adjunct Prof., Community Health Program and Dept. of Association Family Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; Preventive Medicine, Rush University Fmr. President, American Public Health Medical Center

Association, Philadelphia, PA > National Health Leaders: *Partial List of Signatures Andrew Weil, MD, Author; Founder and Patch Adams, MD, Activist Physician, Director, Arizona Center for Integrative Gesundheit! Institute, Arlington, VA Medicine; Prof. of Medicine and Public Health, and Jones-Lovell Endowed Chair T. Berry Brazelton, MD, Pediatrician, Author, brought to you by: and its campaign to: for Integrative Rheumatology, University of and Prof., Harvard Medical School and Arizona, Tucson, AZ Children’s Hospital Boston, MA