On Monday, President Obama addressed the American Medical Association during their annual convention in Chicago, in an effort to garner support for his health care reform initiative. Yesterday, the AMA approved a new, very progressive policy resolution on sustainable food, which slams industrialized food production a a major cause of illness and environmental decline. Coincidence? Maybe. But it couldn't come at a better time for advocates of sustainable food production. In the press announcement about the new policy, Dr. David Wallinga, the Wm. T. Grant Foundation Distinguished Fellow in Food Systems and Public Health at the University of Minnesota, doesn't mince words:

"Physicians now recognize that one cannot easily separate the health of food from how healthfully that food is produced. The profligate use of antibiotics and fossil fuels in today's food system, for example, is directly linked to climate change and to the epidemic of antibiotic resistant infections, in hospitals and in communities...as well as asthma and other respiratory diseases.... "

In the press announcement about the new sustainable food policy, Dr. David Wallinga, the Wm. T. Grant Foundation Distinguished Fellow in Food Systems and Public Health at the University of Minnesota, doesn't mince words:

"Physicians now recognize that one cannot easily separate the health of food from how healthfully that food is produced. The profligate use of antibiotics and fossil fuels in today's food system, for example, is directly linked to climate change and to the epidemic of antibiotic resistant infections, in hospitals and in communities. "

The overuse of prophylactic antibiotics in food animals--shooting healthy animals with drugs as a preventive measure, rather than treating ill animals--has been found to be one of the primary reasons for the global uptick in frequently deadly staph infections. AMA's new sustainable food policy builds on a report from their Council on Science and Public Health, and it makes the case for a sustainable food system to promote both human and environmental health:

...locally produced and organic foods reduce the use of fuel, decrease the need for packaging and resultant waste disposal, preserve farmland ... Industrial food production is a significant contributor to increased antibiotic resistance, climate change, and air and water pollution.

Given the historic and overly cozy relationship between the AMA and the pharmaceutical industry, the statement from this particular group that industrial food production is a "significant contributor" to increased antibiotic resistance is fairly heroic. Under its new sustainable food policy, the AMA is pledging to:

*Support practices and policies in medical schools, hospitals, and other health care facilities that support and model a healthy and ecologically sustainable food system.
*Encourage the development of a healthier food system through the US Farm Bill and other federal legislation.
*Consider working with other health care and public health organizations to educate the health care community and the public about the importance of healthy and ecologically sustainable
food systems.

Having doctors works on these issues makes perfect sense, especially given the need for health care reform. But it's interesting to note that the AMA doesn't make the connection between industrialized food production, processed foods, and diet-related diseases. The abundance of low-nutrition, high-calorie processed foods present in the American marketplace are a direct result of the over production of foods due to industrial practices. In other words, we're surrounded by so much junk food because we grow so many subsidized crops, like corn, which are then turned into low-nutrition foods. Oh, well. It's still pretty swell that the AMA is supporting local, organic, and sustainable. Might President Obama's visit have anything to do with the medicos' enlightenment? During his visit, the President told the AMA that part of reforming health care is taking personal responsibility and reforming our national diet:

It also means cutting down on all the junk food that's fueling an epidemic of obesity -- which puts far too many Americans, young and old, at greater risk of costly, chronic conditions. That's a lesson Michelle and I have tried to instill in our daughters. As some of you know, we started a White House vegetable garden. I say "we" generously, because Michelle has done most of the work....

Obama Foodarama 18/6/09