The Need for More Supermarkets in New York

Special Report

Key Findings
Access to food is not evenly distributed in New York. Many people have to travel excessive
distances to buy food at a supermarket.

The uneven distribution of food in New York disproportionately affects large numbers
of low-income people.

There is a connection between diabetes and lack of supermarket access.



Weekly Sales Volume for Supermarkets

Healthy Food Access Portal

Welcome to the nation’s first comprehensive healthy food access retail portal.

http://www.healthyfoodaccess.org/

Promoting Equity through the Practice of Health Impact Assessment

Only 8 percent of African Americans live in a census tract with a supermarket, compared to 31 percent of whites.

In 30 years, people of color will constitute a majority of the U.S. population.


http://www.policylink.org/atf/cf/%7B97c6d565-bb43-406d-a6d5-eca3bbf35af0%7D/PROMOTINGEQUITYHIA_FINAL.PDF

Filmmaker Byron Hurt on His Hopes for Soul Food Junkies

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/filmmaker-byron-hurt-on-his-hopes-for-soul-food-junkies

The Hidden Costs of Fast Food

Incredible! Please read.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-allen/fast-food-bad_b_1514960.html#s968333&title=Our_health_suffers

FDA

It didn't take me long to see why some people considered the three letters F-D-A to stand not only for Food and Drug Administration, but also for Foot Dragging Artists. For the next four decades I've seen countless examples of failure to act, which have resulted in countless illnesses and deaths.

The FDA appears to suffer from two problems.

First, its own staff requires virtually absolute proof -- as in dead bodies with toe tags identifying the chemical cause of death -- that a substance is deadly before it dares reverse a previous approval.

Second, agency officials fear that companies would run to their friends in Congress to stop the agency from acting. And with the current pro-business House of Representatives, that is not an idle concern. But whatever the underlying cause, the public expects -- and deserves -- greater protection from the agency that was established to keep harmful substances out of their daily diet.

Huff Post

MONSANTO

Monsanto’s GMO corn has been linked to weight gain and organ function disruption, while GMO crops and pesticides destroy our farmland and environment. According to the Alliance of Natural Health, the grandchildren of rats fed GMO corn were born sterile. GMO is just one of those things to avoid, but with our own government in bed with Monsanto, it’s not easily done. Monsanto has recently launched a proverbial war against the open labeling of genetically modified foods, and only through activism and awareness can it be overcome.

Leaders in the disinformation campaign launched against the labeling initiative cry out that it would be—like the infamous Proposition 65, “The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986”—a way for bounty-hunting trial lawyers to file suits against even natural food companies for supposedly selling products containing undisclosed GMOs. Of course, GMO’s ally StopCostlyFoodLabeling.com receives funding from the Council for Biotechnology Information. It should be no surprise that the likes of Monsanto and Dow count themselves members of the said organization.

It hasn’t been long since the Food and Drug Administration deleted 1 million signatures and comments from the “Just Label It” campaign calling for the labeling of GM foods, even after 55 politicians offered support for the initiative. It only shows that the fight against GMOs won’t be easy (or cheap).

Still, it’s worth fighting.

Reading the STOP the Costly Food Labeling Proposition:
THE BOTTOM LINE: THE PROPOSED FOOD LABELING INITIATIVE IS EXTREME, COSTLY AND MAKES NO SENSE.

Right... right.

Read more: http://naturalsociety.com/monsanto-launches-campaign-stop-gmo-labeling/#ixzz20R0HXAa5

SENSIBLE FOOD POLICY

Between 2008 and 2010, the US Farm Bill gave nearly 8x more financial subsidies to genetically engineered corn and soy (most of which is for livestock feed and high fructose corn syrup) than to support fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Consumption of fruits and vegetables has been on the decline in the US, while medical costs associated with heart disease, cancer, and diabetes continue to rise.

With more than $500 billion at stake over the next 5 years, the Farm Bill has immense and far-reaching impacts on crop subsidies, conservation policies, fresh food programs, and SNAP (food stamps).

Time to act is running out. Under the draft House version, federal crop insurance subsidies would drastically increase to an unprecedented average of $10 billion/year — with no subsidy caps, no income limits, and not even minimal conservation requirements.

-Ocean Robbins