The Scholarly Session this year will be a panel discussion:

Food, the Feds, and the Fortune 500:  

Food, Health and Safety in the Time of Agri-Corporations

Historians of medicine and health have become increasingly interested in the national and global history of food safety and regulation, as well as the  history of food-related illnesses, whether caused by deficiencies, surfeits, of chemical additives.

The mainstream media have been taking up many of the same issues, with best-selling books by Pollan and Schlosser, and popular films like "Super Size Me" and "King Corn."

This panel discussion will survey the history and prospects for the field; we will discuss the popular fervor over food, health, and the environment, and the shifting regulatory environment in the United States.

Does history offer any insight into how January's Supreme Court decision on campaign finances is likely to reshape corporate agriculture's ability to shape food regulation?

What role should progressive historians of medicine play in public education and agenda-setting around food and health?