Food advocates expect great things from Obama's FDA

[Why Syzygy]

...Even the FDA is getting geared up for the overhaul that advocates have been requesting for far too long, and food advocates expect great things from the Agency's new head, Margaret Hamburg, who has a reputation for putting science and human health before politics. As a whole, the Federal Government is taking on food and agriculture as a central component of our failing health system.

Obama's 2010 federal budget reflect this, and sets aside a $1 billion annual increase for improving child nutrition in order to meet the President's goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015. Notably, the budget also includes language that -- according to the Administration -- "reflects the President's commitment to supporting independent producers... and investing in the full diversity of agricultural production, including organic farming and local food systems." ...

As the Administration cuts back on these subsidies and promotes fruits and vegetables (which have thus far been referred to as "specialty crops"), the country is positioned to inherit the kind of healthy food supply that has been out of reach since the Second World War. ...

Obesity is rampant, herbicides and fertilizers continue to poison streams and rivers throughout the nation, and even though downer cows are no longer legal, most of the animals we eat live and die under appallingly inhumane conditions. Right now the food movement is teetering on the cusp between an era of powerlessness and rage and a future of health, justice and balance.

http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/132452/why_what%27s_for_dinner_may_be_about_to_change/?page=entire

The new administration has also:
. Banned slaughter of downer cows :applause: (USDA)
. Planned a White House garden
. Begun enforcing Chicken CAFOs (manure permits) (EPA)