Obama School Lunches Leaving Kids Hungry

Kids of all ages are going hungry at school, thanks to the newly-implemented Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. And ironically for the federal school lunch program, kids from the lowest-income families are suffering the most. 

Intentions were terrific behind this initiative led by First Lady Michelle Obama: a healthy, balanced lunch for every child, regardless of family income.  The goals are to serve less salt and fat, and more fresh produce and whole grains. 

The bill, the first school lunch overhaul in 15 years,  thankfully corrected egregious food choices foisted on kids by past federal  lunch programs, including mystery meats, highly-processed goops, and a dearth of fresh produce. 

(Remember when President Reagan's 1982 budget classified such fake foods as catsup and pickle relish as vegetables?) 

But as so often happens when government tries to regulate private behavior, the Obama administration went too far. Way too far. And kids across the nation are going hungry at school as a result.  The bill overreaches by setting very restrictive lunch rules, including:

Caloric  ceilings: 650 for elementary school, 700 for middle school, 850 for high school.

First Long-Term Study of GMO Corn Points to Cancer

The first tests longer than 90 days of genetically modified corn are in, and well... the results may cause you to newly support clear labeling of genetically modified foods. (See GMO Foods: Do Americans Have the Right to Know What They Eat?)

Corn and soy beans comprise a very large portion of GMO produce sold in the United States. About 85% of all corn now sold in the U.S. is genetically modified. 

A report released last month by Food and Toxicology Journal, a respected, peer-reviewed scientific journal, disclosed the results of an extensive, $4.1-million, two-year study of rats fed:

• Monsanto's NK603 corn, which is modified to be resistant to the corporation's Roundup herbicide, which kills weeds
• Roundup herbicide
• One of the above, but not both

The control group of rats was fed corn in its natural unmodified state and plain water, also over two years. (The study was timed to mime the lifespan of a rat, which is typically two to three years.)

The results, per Reuters:

"Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen and colleagues said rats fed on a diet containing NK603 - a seed variety made tolerant to dousings of Roundup - or given water containing Roundup at levels permitted in the United States died earlier than those on a standard diet.

"The animals on the GM diet suffered mammary tumours, as well as severe liver and kidney damage.  The researchers said 50 percent of males and 70 percent of females died prematurely, compared with only 30 percent and 20 percent in the control group."

Study authors reported that all three test groups of rats "experienced adverse health effects and died earlier than rats in the control group." 

"The results were really alarming" commented Dr. Seralini of test group rats. "Mammary tumors began to appear in females after 4 months, and after one year there was a high increase of a number of (kinds of) tumors." Concluded the report: