Meet the next target of the "all-regulation-is-bad" crowd: school lunches.
Our children face a devastating obesity crisis -- and yet some Washington lawmakers are calling even the most commonsense moves to ensure them a healthier diet a "classic nanny-state overreach."
Really? Let's look at what these simple, straightforward federal efforts actually do.
For instance, the first meaningful overhaul of school nutrition guidelines in 15 years would cut sodium in subsidized lunches by more than half, encourage more whole grains and serve low-fat milk. They also would limit kids to a single cup of starchy vegetables (read: French fries) per week. Is that terrible?
But that's not the only part of the Michelle Obama-backed healthy food movement that offends these regulation foes.
The very same politicians who have made a career of calling for a free and open marketplace of ideas want to limit the amount of information kids (and parents) can get about their food. Calorie counts on menus have been a proven boon for families who want to cut out hidden fat, sugar and salt from their diet -- but Republican lawmakers say that providing even this basic information on menus and at food stores is "back-door regulation."
This argument isn't just fodder for political shouting matches in Washington, though. These efforts have real consequences for the millions of children facing obesity and obesity-related diseases.
Today, one in six American kids is obese, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity. And the problem is getting worse.
In the past three decades, the obesity rate among teenagers (aged 12-19) has more than tripled (from 4.9% to 18.1%). The rise is even visible among the very young. During that same time period, obesity rates have doubled among kids aged 2 to 5 (from 5% to 10.4%).
The long-term health consequences of this crisis are real, too. Researchers estimate that one out of every three boys and two out of every five girls born in the United States in the year 2000 will be diagnosed with diabetes. More than 100,000 children suffer from asthma every year because of their weight. And if current adolescent obesity rates continue, by 2035 there will be more than 100,000 additional cases of coronary heart disease attributable to obesity.
The crisis is real -- and we need to get serious about dealing with it. But we won't make any progress if Washington politicians continue their kneejerk reactions to even the most reasonable and scientifically sound new federal rules.
Follow Angela Glover Blackwell on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PolicyLink
Food stamps for all ?
Schools have a way of getting information. And they can regulate their school lunches tighter, even to the level of the bill Michelle Obama supports, without D.C.
As for the politicians. They won't require labeling of GMO? Well, I just will avoid products with corn, soy and those frankensalmon they're going to allow. I'm cooking more and more from scratch. They won't outlaw HFCS (made with GMO corn I'm sure) so any company that insists on adding it to their product, that product I will not buy. I haven't since May 2009.
The farmer's market is my friend, I'm expanding my own garden, and I'll be joining a CSA soon.
The more people care and start to be restrictive as to what they will and will not buy, the more ineffective lobbyists will be in bribing politicians to toady to the mega corporations.
Now, time to work on the voting booths. You know which bums to throw out, right?
http://www.mercurynews.com/sunnyvale/ci_18195588
The case started with whistleblowers here in my home state of Massachusetts, but the courts here never pursued it. New York State got a $ 2 million judgement against Sodexo, but the NY Times didn't even carry the story of then-attorney-general Cuomo's press release. The money went back to the school districts.
The money will go back to the schools who were systematically overcharged. The offenses include charging districts for food given to the vendor by the USDA, and failing to repay kick-back rebates from junk-food corporations for food "purchased from them, to the public school districts that were overcharged.
Nationwide, the USDA suspects many millions of dollars in overcharges by Sodexo and other vendors, and has launched an investigation.
Its all social engineering and none of it should be legislated.