On World Vegetarian Day 2009, US WIC nutrition program expands to cover fruits, vegetables

  ~~ Maynard S. Clark: http://Maynard.Clark.GooglePages.com
An internationalist view:

An internationalist view:

"From New York to Kabul, we need to have the vegetables;
From Boston to Beirut, we need to have the fruit."
2001, Vegan Global Reflections on Peace and Rightful Human Moral Claims
  ~~ Maynard S. Clark: http://Maynard.Clark.GooglePages.com

WIC nutrition program expands to include the purchase of health-supporting, life-sustaining, disease-fighting high-fibre phytochemical-rich fruits and vegetables

These changes in the supplemental US food package better reflect the US Federal government's dietary guidelines.

Vouchers also can be used to buy whole grains, canned beans, baby food, and tortillas.

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By Mary MacVean October 1, 2009

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Beginning today (World Vegetarian Day), women and children who receive food vouchers through the federal government's WIC program will be able to use them to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.

"It's a really welcome change," said Gail Harrison, a public health professor at UCLA who was on the national Institute of Medicine panel that recommended the revisions to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children -- the first major change in the program since it began in the 1970s. "The supplemental food package contributes a very substantial share of dietary intake, and so making it healthier is all to the good."

Added Laurie True, executive director of the California WIC Assn.: "We're in seventh heaven. We've been pushing for this for 20 years."

A typical family will get $14 a month for produce alone, True said by phone Wednesday. That breaks down to $6 for children; $8 for pregnant women and mothers of children 5 and younger; and $10 for mothers who are exclusively breast-feeding.

The changes, instituted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the program, better reflect the federal government's dietary guidelines.

WIC predated the guidelines by several years and, because it was established at a time when hunger and anemia were problems, had emphasized consumption of calcium, iron, vitamins A and C, and protein. The revisions reflect today's problems: obesity and attendant diseases such as diabetes.

The changes also will allow recipients -- more than 8 million low-income pregnant women, new mothers and young children -- to use WIC funds for whole grains, canned beans, baby food and tortillas.

Previously, recipients could buy infant formula and cereal, eggs, milk, juice, peanut butter and dried beans. Nursing mothers could buy fresh carrots for their vitamin A content.

The new provisions reduce the allotments for some dairy products and juice.

Congress funds WIC annually, with $6.86 billion in fiscal 2009; the changes don't increase the program's costs.

Pina Hernandez, the outreach manager for the Public Health Foundation Enterprises WIC Program, which provides WIC services to 316,000 people in Los Angeles and Orange counties, said families would continue to receive about $60 a month in vouchers, but the mix of foods would shift.

Families are eager for the change because of the high cost of produce compared with other foods, she said.

Added True: "We have little kids who have never tasted broccoli, have never seen brown rice. . . . The issue is not just ignorance; the issue is cost and access."

All stores -- major supermarkets, corner stores, shops operating exclusively for WIC recipients -- that want to take part in the program will have to stock produce and whole grains, True said. That's 4,700 vendors in California.

A UCLA study, published last year in the American Journal of Public Health, found that "if you add vouchers for fruits and vegetables that they get used and used wisely," Harrison said.

Overall, few Americans are eating enough fruits and vegetables, said a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey released Tuesday.

In the report, the CDC said that 14% of adults and 10% of adolescents were eating the recommended amounts of both fruits and vegetables -- not including French fries -- for their age and size. The recommended amount is two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables per day.

mary.macvean@latimes.com

Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times

Stella Zhou Joins Brighter Green as an Associate 7/20/2009

Harvard Public Health graduate student Stella Zhou becomes a Brighter Green Associate. Stella's interests include population-level bioethics, animal rights, and the relationship between public health and diet. A Chinese citizen, Stella hopes to use her degree to reinvigorate the bioethics curricula used in Chinese Universities. Brighter Green looks forward to working with Stella and gaining from her fresh insights.

China: Animal Welfare on the Legal Docket

by Stella Zhou

July 26, 2009 8:58pm

Filed under:

• Rights

In future, a different destiny?

China has drafted it first Animal Protection Law. At present, Chinese animal law covers wildlife only. A team of experts headed by Chang Jiwen, director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Social Law Research Department, is looking to change this. On June 15, 2009, state media reported that the team finished drafting China’s first Animal Protection Law. According to the draft, severe cases of animal abuse, such as the hauling of cats from all over China to Guangdong Province for a Cantonese delicacy of shui zhu huo mao or water-boiled live cats, can result in the jailing of violators. Lighter punishments include fines of up to 6,000 yuan ($877.50) and detention periods of 15 days or less. The draft also proposes implanting data chips in pets as a means of controlling stray populations, and improving farm animal welfare through the adoption of humane breeding, transportation, and slaughter practices.

In August, the draft law will be published to solicit public opinion and will be submitted to various government departments by year-end. Repeated accounts of animal abuse reported by the Chinese media have spurred on the legal drafting team’s work. In 2002 for example, a student from Tsinghua University poured sulphuric acid into the mouths of Beijing zoo’s black bears. In 2005, a graduate student from Fudan University abused 30 stray cats, gouging out their eyes and eventually killing them. More recently, in 2006, a group of teenage girls in high heels trampled a number of cats to death, supposedly for fun. An Internet uproar ensued and the events sparked off heated ethical debates.

While China’s animal lovers responded eagerly to news of the draft law, critical voices were also heard. “We’re unable even to take care of the numerous poor, let alone animals. Let’s talk about human rights first!” was a common public response. Some went further, accusing the scholars and activists of blindly emulating the West and pointing out the hypocrisy of “animal welfare,” as the animals are ultimately killed regardless of how humane the slaughter.

In an interview with CCTV, Professor Chang, head of the drafting team, responded to such criticisms. He stressed that the team sought to craft the law in accord with the actual conditions for animals in China, with anti-abuse (that is, punishing the infliction of unnecessary pain on nonhuman animals) forming the basis of the law. Professor Chang admitted that it while it is currently unrealistic for China to mirror Western standards of animal welfare, he detailed step-by-step measures to improve Chinese animal welfare that can be implemented within the next two decades.

A final version of the draft law will have to go through the State Council, China's highest executive organ, and undergo three readings at the National People’s Congress (China's national legislature) before taking effect. Every change in life presents its own set of challenges. Such difficulties are inevitable, but are never reason enough to avoid action. This draft presents the Chinese people with a plan detailing not only better animal treatment, but also reforms to industrial animal agriculture systems and rural labor. The "humane" path will encounter roadblocks in China, but it is an important route to the future.