Dead Food, the Political Economy of Disease and Climate Injustice: Cynical Reason and Decolonial Feminist Bioethics.

This article critically examines how institutionalized cynical reason—a form of enlightened false consciousness—perpetuates structural injustice by enabling political and corporate actors to maintain ineffective public policies addressing hunger and climate change. It highlights that hunger and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are not natural or unavoidable phenomena but are produced and sustained by neoliberal economic systems, global trade policies, and corporate interests that prioritize profit over health and environmental sustainability. The author emphasizes the ethical implications of tolerating "dead food" policies that provide cheap, nutrient-poor diets to vulnerable populations, thereby exacerbating health inequities and fueling a lucrative market for pharmaceuticals. A feminist decolonial bioethical perspective is proposed to challenge these entrenched power dynamics by centering diverse ontologies, social justice, and structural change in global health and food policy debates.