The William Mahfood-led Wisynco Group has scored big with Jamaicans and everyone working to improve the health of children by withdrawing its lawsuit against the Heart Foundation of Jamaica (HFJ) over its sugary drink campaign.

The beverage distributor said yesterday it had accepted the HFJ’s admission that it “inadvertently and unintentionally” included Wisynco’s brand, CranWata, in a post related to their campaign. Wisynco also accepted the HFJ’s pledge to ensure that the post is no longer accessible on the Internet and that it does not intend to publish, republish, post, or repost the offending material.

“Consequently, Wisynco sees no need to pursue its claim against the HFJ and has not only withdrawn it, but has also offered to underwrite the HFJ’s legal expenses associated with the claim,” Wisynco said in its press statement.

We sense that the company had always been conflicted about filing the defamation suit against an organisation whose activities it had previously supported in the quest to achieve better health for Jamaicans.

The HFJ’s advertising campaign, which began airing towards the end of 2017 with the support of the Ministry of Health, adopted the “Dad Knows Best” campaign by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The anti-sugar lobby has been gaining momentum in its global obesity prevention campaign, driving a message that overconsumption of sugar has devastating consequences on health, especially in children.

“The campaign is designed to increase awareness of the harms of sugary drinks to children and prompt parents and guardians to purchase healthier options for themselves and their children…(and) will run on TV, radio, print, billboards and social media,” the HFJ said.

It relies on World Health Organisation (WHO) claims that obesity rates have become more prevalent among children over the last four decades, with figures moving from 32 million in 1990 to 42 million in 2016.

“WHO states that the majority of overweight children live in developing countries, where the rate of increase is 31 per cent higher than in developed countries. If current trends continue, the number of overweight or obese infants and young children globally may increase to 70 million by 2025.”

The Jamaica segment of the WHO’s 2017 Global School-Based Student Health Survey said it found that obesity rates in boys had almost doubled since 2010, with girls not far behind with rates increasing by 47 per cent.

HFJ said the 2017 survey also found that 69.9 per cent of children aged 13-15 consume carbonated soft drinks one or more times per day, and concluded that children who consume this amount of sugary drinks increase their odds of being overweight by 50 per cent.

“Continuous consumption of this amount of sugary drinks will not only increase a child’s chance of being overweight, but also exposes them to various health problems such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes,” HFJ said.

Wisynco also showed that it values its long-standing reputation as a good corporate citizen by offering to defray the legal expenses of the Heart Foundation, apparently so as not to weaken the organisation financially.

We applaud the company’s efforts in promoting a healthy lifestyle as one of its core values and its promise to continue and even strengthen efforts to improve the lives of Jamaicans.