Clearly, the U.S. commitment to use information derived from those applications to promote health and prevent and treat disease remains strong. The rationale for maintaining this commitment, which is outlined in the strategies and goals of the report, Healthy People 2000 was reaffirmed. The meeting also pointed out that too often we do not have the confidence of the American public, in spite of the acknowledged importance of this field and our recognized leadership in it, nor are the resources committed to it commensurate with the priority this field of investigation merits. Undoubtedly, the American public is overwhelmingly interested in research and development in the area of human nutrition. Yet despite the excellence of the science, there is a crisis of confidence in the leadership provided by government agencies and science in this important area.
Public mistrust seems based on several perceptions.
Approaches by government and universities to push forward the frontiers of human nutrition are fragmented, and conflicts of commitment and priority are seen to be problems. There is frustration that new knowledge is neither being created nor applied at a sufficiently rapid pace, and uneasiness exists about the robustness of information that reaches the public. As for the allocation of resources to this area, it was clear that the committed resources do not reflect the leadership role expected by the public or government. The food system represents more than 20 percent of the nation's gross national product, yet our investment in research and development in this area hardly reflects that figure. Furthermore, the mismatch between that economic measure and our investments is magnified when one considers the critical role that a safe and adequate food supply plays in maintaining the health, productivity, and stability of the world's populations.