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Politics : View from the Center and Left

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To: epicure who wrote (52043)3/6/2008 9:18:24 AM
From: Lane3  Read Replies (2) of 540884
 
the way US children are eating is just sickening

Concur.

we'd have the same old crap

Yes, we'd have the same old crap. For all the reasons you state, but not just because of the big, bad producers and lobbyists but because people like crap. They'd eat crap even if it weren't so cheap.

have public health professionals choose the healthiest products to subsidize

I don't think you could subsidize carrots enough to get people to choose them over potato chips. You'd have to pay people to eat them and then you'd only get those who are so poor they're starving. The majority of kids will still turn their noses up at them if offered in school.

And how many of those voters would vote for public health professionals taking away their crap? I think what you'd end up with is the goodies that your exquisite taste demands not being available to you. I think it takes capitalism to offer products to your niche market.

Another problem with having public health officials decide is that they don't necessarily know what they're doing, either. The wisdom of the nutrition people is constantly being called into question. Low fat diets aren't necessarily the best for your heart, vegetable oils may not be so good for you, chocolate is good for you, etc. etc. I think that's unmanageable.

how do you fix it?

You don't. You do some education in schools, offer public service messages, have health sections in newspapers and recognize that people won't always choose according to your values. And that that is their right.
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