Information about the Aspen Ideas Festival is here. I am scheduled for a session, The American Wellness Paradox, currently scheduled from 11:00-11:50 a.m., at the East Lawn Tent. This will be a discussion with senior HHS policy advisor, Calley Means. Here’s the blurb on it: “Americans are spending more than ever on healthcare, supplements, wellness trends, and “clean eating,” yet rates of chronic disease and metabolic illness continue to climb. As skepticism fuels the rise of movements like MAHA, debates over what Americans should eat have become deeply cultural, political, and economic. Two influential voices with sharply different perspectives on nutrition and food science explore how food systems, farming practices, consumer culture, and the wellness industry collided to create one of the defining public health debates of our time.”
Food Policy Action releases handy Congress “scorecard” on food issues
Washington is such a mess that you can’t tell the players without a scorecard, and this one is really useful.
Food Policy Action to the rescue.
Food Policy Action is a project of the Environmental Working Group. Ken Cook of EWG is its chair. Tom Colicchio is listed as the first board member.
The 2013 National Food Policy Scorecard ranks each member of the Senate and House on their votes on food issues.
The interactive map lets you click on a state and see how our congressional representatives are voting. According to the scorecard, 87 members are Good Food Champions. We need more!
I looked up New York. Senator Charles Schumer gets a perfect 100%. Yes!
But Senator Kirsten Gillibrand only gets 67%.
How come? Click on her name and the site lists her votes on key legislation. Oops. She voted against GMO labeling and against a key farm bill amendment on crop insurance. If you click on the button, you get to learn more about this vote and the legislation.
This kind of information is hard to come by. Food Policy Action’s scorecard is easy to use and performs a terrific public service.
Thanks to everyone responsible for it.
