58 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 13 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
OpEdNews Op Eds    H4'ed 9/16/09

Healthcare reform also requires food system reform

By       (Page 1 of 2 pages)   3 comments
Follow Me on Twitter     Message Èzili Dantò
Become a Fan
  (19 fans)

Ezili Danto Note
Ezili Danto Note
(Image by Ezili Danto)
  Details   DMCA
Health care reform demands U.S. food policy and agricultural reform

******************

"Lance Armstrong serves on the President's Cancer Panel, which released a report this year concluding that processed forms of corn and soybeans - heavily subsidized commodity crops- are known contributors to obesity and chronic diseases, including cancer. The upcoming reauthorization of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act (the Farm Bill) provides an opportunity that must not be missed to strongly increase support for fruit and vegetable farmers."


There is a connection between farm subsidies, health, and food security -- in both the United States and in countries like Haiti. The US government's food policies and profit priorities harm the planet, as well as the people who eat processed foods, which are full of contaminants such as pesticides, additives, and bacteria from processing. This non-green diet makes us sick and the chronic diseases it causes drive up health care spending.

"That's why our success in bringing health care costs under control ultimately depends on whether Washington can summon the political will to take on and reform a second, even more powerful industry: the food industry." (Big Food vs. Big Insurance .)

Too many people have had family members die of cancer or know someone very close who died of cancer. It's an unspeakable experience. It certainly makes your faith in scientific advancement falter.

Here's a case in point. For many Haitians living abroad it's extremely ironic to see that the generation of our grandparents and great grandparents actually lived longer than our own parents and relatives who immigrated, work and live in the US all their lives. It happened and is happening in this writer's family.

Both my grandmothers who lived their entire lives in a rural town in Southern Haiti and many of their generation survived or are surviving into and past their 80s. My grandmothers lived longer in Haiti than my mother who immigrated to America. So many folks in America are dying young from cancer, diabetes, and/or heart disease. Part of it is the American diet.

In great grandma's Haitian countryside meat was a luxury indulged in just occasionally and dairy was not a daily staple. The old Haitian diet was organic and there was no US government "trying to help the defense industry move over to a civilian use of their nitrate explosives which became fertilizer, and their nerve gas, which became herbicides and pesticides."

That's why taking on the medical cost of health care is one thing, but there is something seriously wrong with the Western food diet, not to mention the US domestic and international harm done by farm subsidies that force US farmers to grow commodity crops such as rice, soy, corn, sugar and tobacco, and use toxic fertilizer that harms the environment, seeps into the river system and kills the fish.

In the article The Carbon Trade , Janet Gilles makes the point, inter alia, that:

"the government pays to pollute the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. The United Nations Environmental Group says nitrate pollution is the greatest threat to our fisheries worldwide.

In exchange for cheap corn fed beef, fish, chicken, and pork, which have little nutritional value as the animals are no longer getting the rich assortment of greens from their natural diet, we are killing the wild fish.

Right now, farmers are paid for the number of acres under cultivation for "commodity crops , which are crops that go to a manufacturer, such as Archer Daniels Midlands, before they go to the table.

Real foods, fruits and vegetables and nuts, are not subsidized. In fact, if a farmer getting his $200,000 a year for growing soy or corn decides to grow a few acres of food for the table (specialty foods in the legislation) , say he decides to grow some tomatoes, he loses his entire $200K.

No more crop rotation. Only industrial agriculture gets the subsidy." ( The Carbon Trade by Janet Gilles, Sept 11, 2009.)


US farm subsidies don't just hurt US citizens, our children, US food security and the environment, but of course, also other nations these toxic foods are shipped to, like Haiti.

US subsidized rice is inferior to the organically-grown Haitian rice and is actually killing Haitians in Haiti. Here's an example:

Next Page  1  |  2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Valuable 1  
Rate It | View Ratings

Èzili Dantò Social Media Pages: Facebook Page       Twitter Page       Linked In Page       Instagram Page

Human Rights Lawyer, Èzili Dantò is dedicated to correcting the media lies and colonial narratives about Haiti. An award winning playwright, a performance poet, author and lawyer, Èzili Dantò is founder of the Haitian (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Follow Me on Twitter     Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

Did mining and oil drilling trigger the Haiti earthquake?

The Avatar Movie from a Black perspective

Rush Limbaugh/Clear Channel must be held accountable for racial, sexual slur and hate tirade on Haitians

Haiti: Brandt Busted as Clintons with Hollywood celebrate sweatshop

Oil in Haiti, reasons for the US occupation, Part 2

Bring Back Our Girls: Rescue the 234 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram gunmen

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend