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Doctors prescribe fix for farm bill |
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By Jim Snyder
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Posted: 10/24/07 07:00 PM [ET] |
To a group of doctors, the massive farm bill pushed by powerful agribusinesses is the worst kind of congressional pork.
Millions of dollars in federal subsidies support crops that are turned into feed that raises actual hogs (not to mention chicken and cattle) that eventually become fatty foods served in the nation’s schools.
The food chain contributes to a dangerous obesity epidemic among American children, as well as to diet-related diseases like heart disease, diabetes and cancer, says Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM).
Too often, he said, bacon, chicken nuggets and Salisbury steak with gravy pushes healthy fare to the side.
The PCRM is lobbying this week in support of the FRESH Act, a bill introduced on Tuesday by Sens. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) that would direct more subsidies now targeted at grain, sugar and tobacco farmers to fruit and vegetable growers. It would compete with a measure Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, unveiled on Tuesday that provides more traditional subsidy support.
The participation of doctors in the debate is another example of how this year’s farm bill is attracting a variety of interests that are not traditional players in agriculture issues. Others include Oxfam America, the charitable group based in Great Britain, and U.S. unions, which have pushed for more funding for the conservation of hunting and fishing lands.
On Tuesday, Oxfam also endorsed the FRESH Act and criticized Harkin’s bill, which the Agriculture Committee will begin marking up on Wednesday. Oxfam said all signs from the committee indicate “support for a status quo” bill that will keep in place “trade distorting commodity subsidies and do little to limit handout to large corporate farms.”
The fruit and vegetable lobby, which for years has received next to nothing in direct federal payments, also stepped up its involvement in this year’s debate. After their own lobbying push, fruit and vegetable growers convinced House Democrats to increase federal support to around $1.6 billion over the five years covered by the farm bill.
That’s not enough to satisfy the physicians group. The House bill still “falls dramatically short,” Barnard said. “A lot of it was window dressing.”
PCRM, the American Medical Association and other health groups plan to press the Senate to spend more on fruits and vegetables in its farm bill.
Reform groups didn’t have much luck in the House, where an amendment backed by Reps. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) was handily defeated. In the Senate, they will also face a steep challenge given the fact that members of the Agriculture Committee appear to be rallying around a deal between Harkin and Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.)
The Lugar-Lautenberg measure, which has six additional co-sponsors in the Senate, would also spend more on nutrition programs and phase out direct payments to tobacco growers.
It would also expand the Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program, which provides fruits and vegetables to 5,000 schools.
Johns Hopkins University, Roswell Park Cancer Center and nearly 100 other healthcare providers plan to send a letter to Congress this week to support the FRESH Act, Barnard said.
Barnard said the political clout of agribusinesses, which gave federal candidates nearly $20 million in campaign contributions last cycle, has trumped efforts like PCRM and other health groups so far.
But Barnard said the “public is starting to wake up” to the relationship between farm subsidies and the rising incidence of childhood obesity. |
