Copy of Genetically Modified Food & School lunch program

Genetically Modified Food & The National School Lunch Program

By: Cloey Blevins

Questions:

• Why can't I send a lunch with my son to his preschool?
• Where does the food served at schools come from?
• What's it made of & what's the cost?
• Why are frozen, canned, and fried foods served over organic locally grown?
• Why aren't we providing the best nutrition to our children?

Programs Costs:

What is the National School Lunch Program (NSLP)?

Disease/Ailments in correlation with GMOs:

• obesity
• diabetes
• cancer
• antibiotic-resistant infections
• behavioral disorders
• learning disabilities
• autism
• alzeimer's
• heart disease

Facts:

• U.S. organic sales of certified organic products hit $35 billion in 2013
• Estimate for 2014 is $40 billion
• Organic sales are increasing 10-15% annually, more than 5 times the 2% percent growth rate of "conventional" or GMO food
• According to a recent poll, nearly half of U.S. households prefer organics
• In 1972, the FDA conducted approx. 50,000 food safety inspections/ in 2006 only 9,164 were conducted
• "Genetically engineered food makes up 80-90% of the U.S. diet and is said to be the primary cause of deteriorating public health and childhood disease"

• corn
• papaya
• soy
• sugar beets
• yellow summer squash
• zucchini

Most Common GMOs Found in School Lunches

"

In North America, over 80% of our food contains GMOs

"At least 22 children in India have died as a result of eating soy-based school lunches served to them in the country's Bihar state, according to new reports. The tainted lunches, which were loaded with genetically-modified (GM) soybeans and pesticide chemical residues, were given to the student victims as part of a U.K.-based government meal program similar to the one currently being implemented in the U.S. by Michelle Obama for American public schoolchildren." -Ethan A. Huff, Natural News

Kevin's Law

"GMO" Defined

• Kevin's Law was nicknamed in memory of two-year-old Kevin Kowalcyk of Colorado, who died in 2001 after developing hemolytic-uremic syndrome due to eating a hamburger contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 from a fast-food chain.

• Kevin's Law would have strengthened the U.S. government's ability to prevent contaminated meat and poultry from entering the food supply

• Corporate meat processors have lobbied against Kevin's Law, arguing that it would increase the cost of food and is unnecessary

Kevin's Mother

Stands for Genetically Modified Organisms and is "plants or animals that have had their genetic makeup altered to exhibit traits that are not naturally theirs. In general, genes are taken (copied) from one organism that shows a desired trait and transferred into the genetic code of another organism." (Monsanto)

A GMO (genetically modified organism) is the result of a laboratory process where genes from the DNA of one species are extracted and artificially forced into the genes of an unrelated plant or animal. The foreign genes may come from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or even humans. Since this involves the transfer of genes, GMOs are also known as "transgenic" organisms. (OCA)

Possible Correlation???

"10% in central nervous system prescription drugs, such as antidepressants, anti-anxiety, and drugs used to treat ADHD"

F.Y.I.

The Costs of School Lunch:

*Propylene Glycol has been know to have many side-effects, one of which causes central nervous system depression

*High-Fructose Corn Syrup effects

or ADHD?

(both ingredients are commonly in

foods marketed towards children)

Children's Health Decline:

"Spending on children's health rising faster than adults over past four years" -Health Care Cost Institute (July 2012)

"Children tend to use less expensive health care,

so a bump in children's health is troubling because

it could indicate that kids are getting sicker or receiving unnecessary tests or excess procedures"

-Professor Gaynor, PhD economics

Cash Reimbursement Rates for schools (July 1, 2014-June 30, 2015):

Free Lunches Reduced-priced Lunches Paid Lunches

$2.93 $2.53 $0.28

Free Snacks Reduced-priced Snacks Paid Snacks

$0.80 $0.40 $0.07

*School food authorities that are certified to be in compliance with the updated meal requirements will receive an additional 6 cents of federal cash reimbursement for each meal served

• In 2012, the National School Lunch Program cost a total of $11.6 billion for 31.6 million children
• "Assuming a 180-day school year, students eligible for the free lunch receive on average $462.60 per year in benefits"- David N. Bass

vs.

• the per capita spending on children's healthcare of $2,123 (2010)/ 18.6% increase from 2007

Who are School Food Authorities?

Put the Money Where the Mouth is:

FEED

over

GREED

My grandma always said "Pay it to the grocer or pay it to the doctor"

...Take your pick, but remember we ARE what we EAT!

Where Should We Spend Our Money?

Works Cited

• http://www.nea.org/home/37485.htm
• http://-www.naturalnews.com/041282_school_lunch_deadly_poisons_dead_children.html#
• http://www.responsibletechnology.org/take-action/gm-free-schools
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin%27s_Law
• https://www.organicconsumers.org/campaigns/appetite-change
• http://www.webdeb.com/cancer/propylene-glycol.htm

Eat Healthy=longevity/

more full-filling life

costs less $$$

Eat Unhealthy=illness/disease/miserable lifesyle

Costs More (due to medical bills) $$$$$$$$$

Defined as: "the governing body which is responsible for the administration of one or more schools; and has the legal authority to operate child nutrition programs therein or be otherwise approved by USDA to operate the program."

A USA Today investigation found that fast food chains have higher quality/safety standards for the meat they use than what the Dept. of Agriculture provides the National School

Lunch Program, which serves 31 million

students each day. This investigation also

found that 8,500 schools across the

country did not have their kitchens

inspected at all in 2008.

School cafeterias are not being inspected and held to the standards of the Child Nutrition Act.

"The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal Program operating in over 100,000 public and non-profit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provided nutritionally balanced, low cost or free lunches to more than 31 million children each school day in 2012. In 1998, congress expanded the National School Lunch Program to include reimbursement for snacks served to children in afterschool educational and enrichment programs to include children through 18 years of age."

"The Food and Nutrition Service administers the Program at the federal level. At the state level, the National School Lunch Program is usually administered by state education agencies, which operate the program through agreements with school food authorities."

-NSLP program factsheet (USDA website)