The U.S. government is indirectly contributing to the nation’s obesity problem, according to one consumer advocacy group, by providing billions of dollars in agricultural subsidies that help produce junk food.
Robert Hedlund, Republican of Weymouth, deserves our hearty thanks for finally getting a vote on the updated bottle bill in the Massachusetts Senate (“Bottle bill gains OK in Mass. Senate,” Metro, July 21). It has been stalled in the Legislature for 14 years despite widespread support.
More than $18 billion in federal funding that subsidizes corn and soybean crops, which are changed into the main ingredients in junk food, ultimately are contributing to the country’s obesity epidemic, according to a public interest research group.
While Congress struggles to push a Farm Bill through before the critical legislation expires, a new report by the California Public Interest Group (CALPIRG) highlights an underdiscussed problem with the way the law has been structured in the past: it’s making us unhealthy. CALPIRG researchers found that the crop subsidies in the Farm Bill overwhelmingly went to ingredients that fuel the junk food industry rather than fresh fruits and vegetables. As a result, the subsidies artificially driving down prices for the very foodstuffs fueling the nation’sobesity crisis:
On Tuesday afternoon, MoveOn DC members attended a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, chaired by Assistant majority leader, Senator Dick Durban, called “Taking Back Our Democracy: Responding to Citizens Unitedand the Rise of super PACS”. The hearing was called to examine the proposed responses to the Supreme Court’s ruling on Citizens United and included discussion of constitutional amendments and pending legislation before Congress.
July 26, 2012 — Physicians and other healthcare professionals are being hit with a rate reduction from Regence BlueCross BlueShield on October 1, while the insurer is asking the InsuranceDivision to approve a 9.6 percent increase for roughly 53,000 people who buy their own coverage. A public hearing on that rate request will be held next Monday at 3 p.m. in Salem.
New Jersey Public Interest Research Groups will release a report Wednesday at the Paramus Farmers Market depicting how tax payer monies are supporting federal subsidies for junk food additives while contributing to the childhood obesity epidemic.
Childhood obesity rates have more than tripled in the past 30 years, an alarming public health development that is contributing about $150 billion a year to the overall cost of U.S. health care. Almost one in five children aged six to eleven are seriously overweight, making them highly vulnerable to heart disease, diabetes and other serious illnesses.
NEW HAVEN — If agricultural subsidies were to go directly to consumers in the city, residents would be able to buy 1.2 million Twinkies, or 32,120 apples, according to a study released Wednesday by Connecticut Public Interest Research Group.
A consumer report released Wednesday revealed the majority of taxpayer subsidies are being funneled toward crops used to make junk food and food additives, like high fructose corn syrup.
