SUSAmerican Governments America has been one of the most diverse countries out there. We are given plenty of opportunity which has made us evolve as a nation, and we continue to raise the countries standards at a higher and higher rate. Everything around us has had the opportunity to mature and grow, but has this been the case for our people’s health and well being? Look again...
Our dietary habits are the leading driver of death and disability, causing an estimated 700,000 deaths each year. Heart disease, stroke, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, cancers, immune function, brain health – all are influenced by what we eat. For example, our recent research estimated that poor diet causes nearly half of all U.S. deaths due to heart disease, stroke and diabetes. There are almost 1,000 deaths from these causes alone, every day. By combining national data on demographics, eating habits and disease rates with empirical evidence on how specific foods are linked to health, we find that most problems are caused by too few healthy foods like lack of fruits and vegetables and instead gain too much salt, processed meats, red meats and sugary drinks (Mozaffarian, 2017). Point being, America has been struggling with health issues all throughout the nation. The biggest cause of these health issues include the food that we grow and eat. As a nation, we need to step up our game and change the flaws in the quality of our food. This also means the way that we raise/feed our animals, how they live, and where we get our products from. This is a harm to everyone in the nation, and we should all be given the cream of the crop by simply giving the respect that is needed. According to FoodDive, author Lillianna Byington writes about how voters decided to pass a measure regulating the amount of space farm animals have in cages and crates. The results were highly disappointing as the animals were not treated with respect. These results mean poor quality in product. Starting in 2020, animal confinement would change by banning the sale of eggs from hens which confines to less than one square foot of floor space per hen, as well as the sale of calves in areas with less than 43 square feet of space per animal. Then beginning in 2022, egg-laying hens would have to be kept cage-free and breeding pigs would need at least 24 square feet of usable floor space per animal (Byington, 2018). This could lead to a multitude of problems because of the fact that our food is being mistreated by the way it lives before it dies. If we could wrap our heads together and realize that we shouldn’t be completely opposed of what is right for our lives and the future generations to come, then we would be more willing to go forth with this project of improvement. For instance, the ballot measure in Massachusetts passed in 2010, and scheduled to take effect in 2022, mandates all pork, veal and eggs farmed and sold comes from animals not confined to small areas. But the initiative has faced backlash from critics in the farming industry who say it would force out-of-state farmers to comply and that violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress the authority to regulate commerce between states. Currently 13 states are suing Massachusetts to stop the cage-free egg voter initiative (Byington, 2018). Unfortunately the California measure could see similar legal struggles if other states don't want to comply with these new standards to sell their products in the state. But if both the ballot measures withstand the potential legal battles ahead, more states across the country could set new standards for animal cages. And this isn’t the last of it.To put this food reform situation altogether, the food policy plate is full to overflowing. According to Sean McBride, the Farm Bill is mired in politics. New approaches to trade have created instability for farms and farmers. Federal agencies don’t quite yet know how they are going to regulate plant-based and laboratory-grown food. This is just a start. The federal government’s dietary guidance for consumers, the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, is stuck at the starting gate. The United States Department of Agriculture has not issued congressionally mandated labeling regulations for foods containing genetically engineered ingredients. It is stated that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is working on a national nutrition strategy as well as a regulatory framework for the use of gene-edited crops (McBride, 2018). We are a nation that has grown to be one of the top countries in the world. Our health should be on the top of this list as well. Without changing the ways of our food quality and “ignore” these issues, then we will continue to be have a major decline in our food industry. We need to make a change, and it’s got to happen now.
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AuthorUndergraduate student generated content. Blog posting and updating done by Kristina Flores Victor, Assistant Professor of Political Science at CSUS Archives
March 2020
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