By: Reanna
Peterman
The new
administration brings a lot of questions to health professionals and what may
occur in the next four years. Here’s the short answer - it’s unpredictable.
President Trump and Republican politicians have made numerous statements
regarding food, nutrition, and health care. We now face a Republican dominated
Presidency, Senate, and House, which may lead to a lot of changes. We cannot
possibly predict what the Trump administration has in store for the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and
the Affordable Care Act (ACA). What we can do is look at messages from the
President’s campaign and past trends with a GOP controlled government. In this
article, I will break down what we can assume about the new administration and
its implications for the field of dietetics.
Once Trump
was inaugurated, the conservative House scrambled to gather a “kill” list of regulations
Trump could overturn in the first 100 days of presidency. Given that the Republicans are in charge of
both the Senate and the House, it is possible that they can overturn these
regulations with the President’s permission.
Regulations
at risk are:
● National School Lunch Program and
School Breakfast Program: Nutrition Standards for All Foods Sold in Schools as
Required by the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act 2010
● Food Labeling: Revision of the
Nutrition and Supplement Facts Label
● Public Health Prevention Fund
Obviously,
all of these regulations are important for the field of nutrition, but to what
extent could the consequences be? Let’s break it down.
1.
National School Lunch Program &
School Breakfast Program: Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act 2010 (HHFKA)
Photo Credit:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/
The Obama
administration has had a pivotal role in the world of food and nutrition.
Michelle Obama paved the way by taking action on the obesity epidemic and made
a huge impact through public awareness. She literally reshaped the school lunch
& breakfast programs and made changes with progressive policies. The House
of Republicans has been eager to repeal the HHFKA and have stated that the act
is “burdensome and unworkable”. Cutting the HHFKA would have catastrophic
effects on school nutrition and food security. Currently, the HHFKA enforces
evidenced-based nutrition requirements for school lunch and breakfast meals.
The act also prevents junk food loopholes by prohibiting unhealthy snacks at
fundraising events. One of the most important issues HHFKA addresses is student
food insecurity by providing free meals to poverty stricken kids. Currently,
44% of all SNAP (food stamp) participants are children. HHFKA allows
high-poverty schools to serve all students free meals without
excessive paperwork. This makes it easy for schools to participate and provides
students with ⅓ of their nutritional needs during the school day. Here’s where
things get a little dark - if the HHFKA was to be repealed, all of those
wonderful benefits would go away. School lunches could be sent back to the days
of pizza and french fries. Food insecurity would sky-rocket in the schools that
previously relied on the HHFKA to feed the children. For many food insecure
students, school lunch is the only meal they will have all day. Students would
go hungry and all of Michelle Obama’s hard work would be squandered. So far,
only Republicans have made statements about repealing the HHFKA, Trump has not
made an opinion on the topic yet. While Trump may be a fast-food lover, he has
stayed quiet on this issue. Unfortunately, the Republican controlled House and
Senate may be able to repeal the act without the Presidents assistance.
2. Food Labeling: Revision of the
Nutrition and Supplement Facts Label
Before Obama
left office, several acts were put into place regarding food labeling and food
safety. The FDA established major rules that include: revoking the generally
recognized as safe (GRAS) status of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), updating
the Nutrition and Supplements Facts panel, and issuing a regulation for calorie
labeling on restaurant menus and vending machines. These new rules are huge for
the world of nutrition. Here’s why - PHOs are a manufactured form of trans fat
and are harmful to human health. The updated nutrition facts label reflects new
scientific information and makes it easier for consumers to make informed
decisions. Menu labeling, similar to the new nutrition label, provides
awareness to consumers and gives people the tools to make educated choices.
Overall, these new rules are taking major strides in a healthier direction.
They provide Americans with the means to be more aware of their food while also
preventing unhealthy fats from being used by manufacturers. Compared to the
HHFKA, these new rules are not as hot a topic but Trump’s nominee,
Representative Tom Price (R-Ga), has just been confirmed as Secretary of Health
and Human Services. The new secretary has been a vocal opponent of many health
issues including: The ACA, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) a sweeping
reform of food safety laws, and menu labeling regulation. Currently, it’s
expected for Price to focus on health care reform but the possibility still
exists that the FDA’s new rules could be revoked.
3. Public Health Prevention Fund
(PHPF)
You may have
never heard of this fund before but let me tell you, it’s important!
This massive fund covers everything from chronic disease prevention to clean
air and water. The PHPF was created as a part of the ACA and it is the nation's
first mandatory funding of our public health system.
Here are
some of the awesome things that the PHPF funds:
● Protects children and adults through
immunizations.
● Reduces premature births.
● Funds local solutions to the leading
causes of death and disability, including food and waterborne illness.
● Prevents childhood lead poisoning.
● Implements heart disease, stroke, and
diabetes prevention programs.
● Helps older adults manage chronic
diseases.
● Reduces tobacco use and raises
awareness of risks of secondhand smoke.
● Improves children’s physical activity
and nutrition.
● Youth suicide prevention.
● Entirely funds Racial and Ethnic
Approaches to Community Health (REACH)
○ REACH reduces racial and ethnic
health disparities in addition to increasing access to fruit and vegetables.
● Entirely funds Health and Human
Services Block Grant
○ Provides 50 states, DC, two American
Indian tribes, and eight US territories with funding to address local public
health needs.
Connors, N.
2017. What the PHPF Does. [Webinar]
http://www.dialogue4health.org/web-forums/detail/the-new-administration
Yeah, that’s
a long list. On top of all that, the PHPF now funds 12% of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) budget. To put that into perspective, if
the PHPF was repealed, the CDC would lose over $5 billion in the next 5 years.
But that’s not all. Over the next 10 years, the PHPF would provide $14 billion
to improve public health and chronic diseases. States would lose over $3
billion.
Here’s a
graphic depicting how much states rely on the PHPF.
Photo Credit:
http://healthyamericans.org/reports/prevention-fund-state-facts-2017/
Here’s why
you should be concerned. The PHPF was targeted before back in 2016. Republicans
would have successfully removed the PHPF if it wasn’t for Obama who vetoed it.
Unfortunately, since the PHPF is a part of the ACA, there is a large
possibility that the fund could go under the chopping block yet again.
President Trump has made his views of the ACA very clear and this puts the PHPF
in a precarious position. Eliminating the PHPF would cause a chain of events
that would ripple throughout the United States. The PHPF supports all Americans
and helps promote many nutrition programs. Unfortunately, human health and
wellbeing are not considered civil rights and nutrition falls under that
category. That is why nutrition professionals should be advocating on behalf
our field and promoting the values of nutrition.
It’s not all doom and gloom
I hope I
haven’t left you feeling like all is lost and that nutrition will be left by
the wayside but it is important for you to know the facts. The future of the
dietetic profession could be drastically affected by the new administration. It
is our job as professionals to be aware of what’s going on. Right now, I am
calling you to action. This is not the time to sit back and stick your fingers
in your ears while going “LaLaLaLaLa”. No, this is the time to step up and
advocate for yourself and for nutrition. Don’t worry. There are lots of ways
you can take action without even leaving your computer. Here’s a list of
advocacy tools that you can take advantage of right at your desk.
If you want
to do more, here are some suggestions from Don Hoppert from the American Public
Health Association.
● Letters to Congress with state
information
● Phone calls
● Hill visits or meetings in your
district during recess
● Join sign-on letters
● Social media – share your letters,
and other advocacy activities on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social
media platforms
Hoppert, Don.
2017. Advocacy Activities for Public Health Advocates.
http://www.dialogue4health.org/uploads/resources/Hoppert_012517.pdf
I wish you
all the best of luck in your advocating efforts. Stand strong and don’t give up
on what you believe in.
Sources:
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