|
The 2007 Farm Bill ? Act Now to Help
Fight
Obesity
Senator Harkin
announced this week that the Senate Agriculture
Committee will mark up the Farm Bill sometime on
the week of October 22. This
bill provides a unique opportunity to improve
health policy and help combat obesity. The
Campaign to End Obesity encourages the Senate
Agriculture Committee to include the Child
Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection
Act in the 2007 Farm Bill. Including this
legislation would greatly improve the nutrition
environment of every school in the country and
would be a major step toward achieving the goals
agreed to at the National Summit on Obesity policy
(click here to
view the list of priorities identified at the
Summit).
Now is
a critical time to encourage all members of the
Senate Agriculture Committee to join Senators
Harkin, Murkowski and 24 additional cosponsors ?
Democrats and Republicans ? in fighting childhood
obesity. Include the Child Nutrition Promotion and
School Lunch Protection Act in the 2007 Farm Bill.
The
Farm bill also provides many additional
opportunities to increase health and help reverse
the obesity epidemic. In addition to addressing
child nutrition, the Campaign to End Obesity
strongly supports the following proposed
inclusions.
Ø
Expand the USDA Fruit and Vegetable
Program to help schools in all 50 states provide
healthy snacks to students during school
activities
Ø
Create a demonstration project that
will evaluate strategies to address obesity among
low-income
communities
Ø
Reauthorize National Nutrition Monitoring
which provides the only large, representative
sample of dietary intake and related health,
knowledge, and behavior data in the
United
States.
Ø
Expand the authority of the Senior
Farmer?s Market Nutrition Program that provides
senior citizens with vouchers to buy fresh produce
at markets and roadside
stands
Ø
Study the Food Distribution Program on
Indian Reservations to determine if the food
packages meet dietary guidelines and
needs
HOW CAN YOU
HELP?
YOU CAN
TAKE
ACTION!
·
Lend
your voice
·
Get
updates and alerts about key events and
developments
·
Get
more information
Click here to take
action. | 
