Americans’ Health Is Closely Tied to Corporate Behavior

To the Editor:

I was glad to read that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will devote one of its units to improving the overall health of Americans (“Instilling Healthy Competition,” December 3).

I especially applaud the question that President Steven Schroeder is asking: How can the foundation, while growing and restructuring, emphasize the importance of creative grant making while better achieving its mission?

Although there are many ways to answer this important question, I would like to offer one suggestion. Your article says that the foundation’s program will emphasize the role of personal behavior in health, putting on the table issues like preventing smoking and drug use. While those are critical issues that need to be addressed, it does not make sense to deal with them without also dealing with the effect that corporate behavior has on Americans’ health.

As we all know, many corporations have been poisoning our water, air, and soil — and, consequently, human communities — for decades. Donor institutions must no longer turn a blind eye to this fact. …

It is shortsighted to ignore corporate behavior; individuals who lead healthy lives are nevertheless subjected to the toxins in the environment that surrounds them.

I hope that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recognizes the integral nature of environmental health to personal health and integrates this critical issue into its grant making.

Ruth Katz
Development Officer
Mothers & Others for a Livable Planet
New York