Dedicated to my wife — who has always seen through the packaging and recognised the product for what it is.

By Andrew Klein

I. Introduction: The Heroic Mice

The science is elegant. Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center developed a method using a single DNA injection encoding long-acting analogues of GLP-1 and GIP — two hormones that regulate appetite and blood sugar. They delivered this DNA into muscle cells via electroporation, effectively turning the body into its own “mini-factory” for producing weight-loss agents. The result: obese mice lost significant weight over the long term, with no signs of toxicity, even when given high-fat diets.

The technology is real. The mice are heroic.

But the system they are operating in? That is a different story.

II. The Profit Loop: A Closed System of Extraction

On one side, we have a global obesity and diabetes crisis driven by ultra-processed foods — high-energy, high-sugar, high-salt products engineered to be addictive and cheap. On the other side, we have a booming pharmaceutical industry that profits from selling “solutions” to the problems that the food industry created.

By 2025, GLP-1 based drugs like semaglutide were projected to account for 38% of the pharmaceutical industry’s commercial revenue. This is not just a treatment — it is a financial instrument.

The food industry does not pay for the damage it causes. The healthcare system pays. The patient pays. And the drug companies profit.

It is a circle of dysfunction — dressed up as scientific advancement.

III. A History of Adulteration: The Victorian Roots of Extraction

In 19th-century Britain, adulteration was rampant:

· Bread was bulked with alum, chalk, and even bone dust.

· Beer was laced with strychnine — a poison — to mimic the bitter flavour of hops.

· Tea leaves were dyed with copper or iron filings.

The motive was profit. The victims were the poor. And the response was not to fix the food supply — but to create a separate industry of “treatments.”

The pattern has not changed. The names have changed. The science has changed. But the logic is the same.

IV. The Potato and the Breadfruit: Foods of Extraction

Captain Cook’s 1769 expedition encountered the breadfruit in Tahiti. It was later transported to the Caribbean as a cheap, calorie-dense food source for enslaved people working on sugar plantations. It was a food of extraction — designed to fuel labour, not nourish life.

The potato was introduced to Ireland as a subsistence crop. By the 19th century, it had become the staple of millions. When the blight struck, the result was not just famine — it was a policy failure, exacerbated by British colonial indifference.

Neither crop was “bad.” The system that made them into tools of exploitation — that is the problem.

V. From Bread to Burgers: The Modern Extraction System

The fast-food industry operates with remarkable efficiency — not in delivering nutrition, but in extracting value.

McDonald’s is the archetype. It is not a restaurant chain. It is a real estate and franchising operation that happens to sell food. It has become a lifestyle, a status symbol, and — for many young Australians — a birthday tradition.

The irony is that governments want to control what young people see on social media, but they make no serious effort to prevent the ingestion of foods that contribute to poor health. The result: teenage obesity and early diabetes are now at levels that did not exist in the 1960s and 1970s — before the fast-food industry became ubiquitous.

The marketing is relentless. McDonald’s promotes itself as a career builder, teaching “good business practices” to young workers. But the fruit of that tree is rotten: cheap labour selling cheap food to a generation whose health is being systematically undermined.

VI. The Marketing Machine: Selling Dysfunction

The marketing industry is unaccountable for the products it sells — whether those products are food, lifestyles, or politicians.

Consider the political class. Have you ever noticed how a number of political figures resemble characters from a fast-food menu?

· Pauline Hanson — the McDonald’s Clown: red hair, red outfit, a performance of outrage designed to distract from the absence of substance.

· Donald Trump — the Kentucky Fried Colonel: finger-licking, greasy, and packaged as a “down-to-earth” figure of authority.

These are not coincidences. They are brands. They are products — marketed, packaged, and sold to a public that is trained to consume rather than question.

The fast-food industry and the political class operate on the same principle: dress up dysfunction and sell it as normal.

VII. The Cost: Who Pays?

The long-term costs of this system are borne by:

· The young — who grow up in a food environment that promotes obesity and diabetes.

· The poor — who cannot afford quality food and are targeted by cheap, addictive products.

· The healthcare system — which treats the diseases caused by the food industry.

· The taxpayer — who funds the treatment but not the prevention.

The beneficiaries are:

· The food industry — which profits from selling unhealthy products.

· The pharmaceutical industry — which profits from selling treatments.

· The marketing industry — which profits from selling both.

This is a closed loop of extraction. It is not a conspiracy. It is a system — one that is functioning exactly as designed.

VIII. The Alternative

The solution is not to reject science. The solution is to re-frame it.

We need:

· Affordable, accessible, nutritious food for all — not as charity, but as a right.

· Stronger food regulations to limit harmful additives and marketing to children.

· A public health system that prevents disease, not just treats it.

· A food system that does not rely on the exploitation of workers, land, or animals.

That is not naive. That is engineering — the kind that designs systems for life, not for profit.

IX. Conclusion: A Feast of Clowns

The obesity and diabetes crisis is not a failure of individual willpower. It is a failure of design.

The food industry designed products to be addictive.

The pharmaceutical industry designed treatments to be profitable.

The marketing industry designed messages to be persuasive.

The political class designed a system to be distracting.

We are not just being fed bad food. We are being fed bad information. We are being fed bad policy. We are being fed bad leaders.

And we are being told that this is normal.

The heroic mice are a reminder: science can do extraordinary things. But science cannot fix a system that is designed to break us.

The heroic mice cannot change the fact that we are being sold dysfunction — packaged as progress, marketed as freedom, and served with a side of fries.

It is time to step away from the menu.

Andrew Klein

References

1. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. (2026). DNA injection for long-term weight loss in mice. Nature Biomedical Engineering.

2. Evaluate Pharma. (2025). Projected commercial revenue for GLP-1 based drugs.

3. The Lancet Commission on Obesity. (2024). The global syndemic of obesity, undernutrition, and climate change.

4. Food adulteration in Victorian Britain. History Today.

5. Food insecurity and obesity in Australia. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

6. McDonald’s as a real estate and franchising model. Business Insider.

7. Fast-food consumption and adolescent obesity. International Journal of Obesity.

8. Advertising and its impact on childhood obesity. Journal of Public Health Policy.

9. Food industry practices and regulatory capture. Australian Food News.

10. McDonald’s marketing as a career builder. Harvard Business School Case Study.