2003-11-02 -- More U.S. Families Hungry or Too Poor to Eat, USDA Study
Says


Throughout the world, famine, malnutrition, and paradoxically, obesity
are major problems that are rapidly increasing, yet the planet is
abundant with nutritional food sources.  Some contradictions in the
profit system that are responsible:

  *  Food is a commodity, grown for profit rather than need, so food
is destroyed or unplanted to keep up prices though people are hungry.

  *  More profitable meat-based diets are supported, though livestock
consumes food that people could eat. Livestock eats 77% of US corn.
14 times as much acreage is planted in hay for livestock than
vegetables for people. One pound of beef uses 16 lbs of grain 5,500
gallons of water.

  * International Monetary Fund, Word Bank, and World Trade
Organization policies allow cheap US food to flood underdeveloped
countries, driving local food production under, making countries
dependent on US food.

  *  Nearly 17% of the US population lives below the poverty line,
often in areas where food stores are expensive and/or have only
"convenience" foods.

  *  In 1999, the US Department of Agriculture reported that 36
million Americans in 10 million households did not have adequate food.

  *  That same year, during the "boom, " a US Mayors' Conference
reported emergency food requests had increased 18% over the previous
year.  21 % of these requests were unmet.

  *  More than half of recent $54 billion in welfare cuts came from
Food Stamps, which 25 million depend on.  Over 80% of Food Stamps go
to families with children.

Anuradha Mittal
Institute for Food and Development Policy - Food First
398 60th Street, Oakland, CA 94618 USA
Phone: (510) 654-4400 http://www.foodfirst.org


Some in the ruling circles are wondering whether the health effects of
this increasing exploitation of workers and their families is
endangering national security.  The Defense Department's Industrial
College of the Armed Forces (ICAF) issued a report on the health care
"industry" saying " .. militarily, the failure to mobilize and field a
healthy workforce could negatively impact our ability to project force
and form alliances, hence compromising national security. Furthermore,
a strong military force requires a healthy population from which to
draw potential recruits."  In an extremely interesting article, it
goes on to provide a military justification for Universal Health Care.
http://www.ndu.edu/icaf/IS2002/2002%20Health%20Care.htm



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More U.S. Families Hungry or Too Poor to Eat, Study Says

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: November 2, 2003



WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (AP) - Despite the nation's struggle with obesity,
the  Agriculture Department says, more and more American families are
hungry or unsure whether  they can afford to buy food.

About 12 million families last year worried that they did not have
enough money for food, and  32 percent of them experienced someone's
going hungry at one time or another, the agency  said in a report
released on Friday.

Nearly 3.8 million families were hungry last year to the point that
someone in the household  skipped meals because the family could not
afford them. That is 8.6 percent more families than  in 2001, when 3.5
million were hungry, and a 13 percent increase from 2000.

The report was based on a Census Bureau survey of 50,000 households.
It was the third year  in a row the department found an increase in
the number of people who were hungry or  uncertain whether they could
afford their next meal.

The survey also found more families who were unsure if they could buy
food or did not have  enough food in their cupboards. Last year, 11
percent of 108 million families were in that  situation. That is up 5
percent from 2001 and 8 percent from 2000.

Most poor families struggling with hunger tried to ensure that their
children were fed, the report  said. Nonetheless, one or more children
in an estimated 265,000 families occasionally missed  meals last year
because the families either could not afford to eat or did not have
enough food  at home. The report estimated there were 567,000 hungry
children in all.

Margaret Andrews, an economist with the agency and an author of the
annual survey, said the  prevalence of hunger and food insecurity is
clearly tied to the poverty rate.

Ms Andrews noted that the latest estimates by the Census Bureau show
that more people are  poor. Some 34.6 million Americans were living in
poverty last year, 1.7 million more than in  2001, according to the
Census Bureau.

In the United States, 65 percent of adults and 13 percent of children
are overweight, according  to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Barbara Laraia, an associate professor of  nutrition at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said hunger and
obesity could  coexist because many hungry families buy high-calorie
foods that are low in nutrients.

"They're dependent on foods that are going to make their bellies feel
full, rather than on  nutrients," Ms. Laraia said. "The diet is
compromised."

Many families will spend their incomes on fixed expenses before buying
food.

"Food is the most elastic part of the budget," Ms. Laraia said,
"meaning that's what households  will compromise on when they have
fixed payments such as their rent and their utilities."