Madison Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin should raise its tax on beer for the first time in 40 years to fund programs that will help reverse the state's alarming rates of problem drinking, supporters told lawmakers Tuesday.

Trying to build support for raising an unpopular tax, backers told an Assembly committee the extra money was badly needed to pay for better alcohol treatment programs and law enforcement efforts to fight drunken driving. They cited data showing Wisconsin has among the nation's highest levels of binge drinking, fatal drunken driving crashes and pregnant women who drink to excess.

"What we're doing right now isn't adequate. We're top in the nation in almost every statistic," bill sponsor Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, told the Assembly committee on public safety. "Pregnant women drinking too much. Fatalities. Young kids. Why do nothing? Why assume the status quo is going to change?"

She put three pennies on the table in front of her, saying that's how much the tax would increase on a 12-ounce bottle of beer. The plan would raise the beer tax from $2 per 31-gallon barrel to $10, which technically comes out to more than 2 cents per bottle.

But representatives of the state's powerful brewing industry told lawmakers much higher costs would be passed on to consumers, perhaps 12 cents or more per bottle, which would hurt their sales. They said the markup would come as the product is passed through distributors and retailers.

One best-selling book advocating fresh, local foods is shaking up America's Dairyland.

Students across University of Wisconsin-Madison's campus, organic grocers, scientists, and dairy farmers large and small have jumped into the debate on how food is produced and eaten. The discussions started last month when the university began giving Michael Pollan's book, "In Defense of Food," free to all incoming freshmen and school officials urged professors to use it in class.

"I have not seen the students this excited about something in years," Irwin Goodman, a horticulture professor who is vice dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences said of the buzz on campus about Pollan's field-to-table philosophies.

The book urges readers to "eat food, not too much, mostly plants" and criticizes food companies and scientists for replacing traditional foods with unhealthier, highly processed substitutes and confusing consumers with health claims.

Pollan's work has been used on college campuses from the University of California-Berkeley, where he is a journalism professor, to Columbia University in New York City for courses ranging from science journalism to environmental politics. But the program at UW-Madison is unique because the book and related topics are being discussed everywhere from French and political science courses to an exhibit on the history of food. And Pollan is to speak at the 17,000-seat Kohl Center Thursday in the liberal college town.

One best-selling book advocating fresh, local foods is shaking up America's Dairyland.

Michael Pollan's book titled "In Defense of Food" urges readers to "eat food, mostly plants," and is the subject of a new program in which incoming freshmen can get the book free and many professors are using it in classes. Pollan will give a lecture Thursday at the Kohl Center in Madison.

The book program has people from the classroom to the farmlands jumping into the debate over the American diet and food production system.

Some dairy farmers see the book as an attack on modern farming and are speaking out against Pollan's views. University food scientists are also criticizing Pollan's claims. And the growing local food movement is using the opportunity to spread its message.