Alec Baldwin Fights For Healthier School Lunches
Filed under: campaigns, food & drink — Michael d'Estries @ 10:46 am
November 13th 2007
Actor Alec Baldwin has written Senator Hillary Clinton and challenged her to back major reforms to federal food policy. New legislation is set to hit next week that would “keep high-fat, high-cholesterol, high-sugar foods plentiful in schools,” according to Baldwin. From the article,
“Baldwin wants Clinton to oppose the Farm Bill in a bid to prove that she cares about childhood obesity issues, and will fight for a healthier America if she becomes the next president. According to the Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine, the controversial bill is ‘responsible for a multitude of environmental, health, economic, and social problems, as well as the appalling state of school lunches.’”
I have to say that school lunches — as far as I can remember them from ‘96 — are pretty terrible. Back then, I didn’t really care about not having many options to ‘burger day’ — but I did not understand the harmful effects of such unhealthy cuisine either. Not to mention that what we eat when we’re younger can set the stage for habits the rest of our lives. Here’s a bit of insight on the bill from the Ruthland Herald,
“The farm bill, which will set agricultural policy for the next five years, has drawn well-deserved criticism for its continued emphasis on subsidies to big growers of the five major commodities — wheat, corn, rice, soybeans and cotton. Author Michael Pollan has called this the “let-them-eat-high-fructose-syrup model” of farm policy.
Nationally, two-thirds of the billions in crop subsidies go to 10 percent of growers, creating many pernicious effects. Subsidizing corn is a way to keep Coca-Cola and other foods that make us fat cheap for consumers. It is also a way of making the major agribusiness and manufactured food companies rich.”
So, another wait and see. Meanwhile, would you like fries with that?
I agree, school lunches are in a sorry state. Most of the meat and animals products used are from factory farms. I never ate school lunches when I was in school, except one day when a local group donated veggie burgers to the cafeteria.
Next Up! Baldwin fights for his career. You see that new movie he’s in?? http://digg.com/videos_people/Alec_Baldwin_Plus_Half_Naked_Chicks
I’m encouraged to believe that Hillary could make some headway with this given that her hubby also worked on ridding schools of soda pop.
Wonder how long it’ll take the geniuses in power to realize that we’re fostering (maybe even creating) ADHD with the crappy, sugar-laden, high-carb, protein-poor, nutritionally-void food that’s most commonly targeted at children? Who can justifiably be surprised when l’il Johnny can’t sit still during school when we’ve fed him rocket fuel for breakfast?
You don’t have to demonize everything fun about childhood food (what fun would being a kid be if you couldn’t have an ocassional Twinkie?) but let’s at least set a baseline that’s made up of healthful foods.