OPINION:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Senate confirmation hearings this week present an excellent opportunity to expose the stranglehold created by collaboration among the various federal departments and agencies (“RFK Jr. vows to protect vaccine access, says U.S. faces ruin if it doesn’t get healthier,” Web, Jan. 29).
I have spent the past 25 years hearing the frustrations of parents and school officials over the lack of input they get on what children are fed. Many people don’t realize that collusion between the departments exists where food is concerned. Contracts between the government and food and soft drink manufacturers generally have 10-year terms and do not require amendments in the case of changing health statuses of students. Additionally, HHS and the insurance industry limit access to physical fitness by charging excessive liability coverage to states. These facts are contributing to unhealthiness in our children.
The HHS needs to follow the surgeon general’s lead on tobacco and issue clear warnings about the impact of junk foods. It should state that food addictions based on artificial sugars and high sodium do, in fact, exist. The committees must question Kennedy about how he will approach corporations about deceptive marketing practices, such as the glamorization of unhealthy foods and the use of professional athletes in ads. Perhaps we could offer tax credits to corporations that promote healthy options, especially those companies targeting our youth.
Advertisements for anti-obesity pharmaceuticals saturate our media networks, as does the latest attempt to push Medicare/Medicaid to provide coverage for these drugs.
Detangling the knot that government-corporation collusion has created with regard to nutrition will be an enormous undertaking, and we need our public officials to stay focused on the government bureaucracy that allowed it to form in the first place.
Neither Kennedy’s personality nor his personal life is at issue here. Instead, we need to focus on his expertise. To make America healthy again, we need the confirmation hearings to help, not hurt.
GREG RALEIGH
Washington
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