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| Twinkies |
Already, the CDC has awarded $650 million of grants to states and communities through a program called the Prevention and Public Health Fund. In many cases, the grant recipients have used these federal dollars to run advertisements against “sugary products” or other food and beverages that they believe have an adverse impact on the health of American citizens, regardless of the quantity consumed. We are talking about hundreds of millions of tax dollars that are being used to discourage the consumption of lawfully marketed American-made products.Last year, the NY Times took a look into what's in the Twinkies that Aaron Schock wants to see marketed without interference from government regulatory agencies charged with safeguarding the health of Americans-- and they found that not everything in a Twinkie comes from good old American-grown wheat. Let's take, for instance, the Chinese-made petroleum products that go into a Twinkie. And Twinkies aren't just filled with petroleum products; they also contain gypsum, trona, limestone and phosphorus ore. There's an interesting discussion of "the Twinkie Industrial Complex."
Using taxpayer dollars to attack the beverage and food industry might seem like a good idea to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but it’s this exact type of harmful government spending that we can ill afford and serves no purpose in the overall wellness debate-- other than to be critical of domestic companies that employ thousands of hardworking Americans.
When a company like Hostess-- which employed hundreds of employees in my congressional district-- dedicates millions of dollars to market its products, it shouldn’t have to worry about the company’s tax dollars being used against it to dissuade the public from buying its products. In fact, the brand damage that occurs from these government-funded attack ads results in businesses having to dedicate even more resources toward marketing-- money that could otherwise be used to give pay raises to their employees or reinvest and grow their business.
...I believe the CDC-- which does great work on early detection and prevention of, and treatment for breast and cervical cancer, as well as work on immunizations, flu vaccines and a host of worthy efforts-- simply should change its priority from singling out one product and attacking American job creators to focusing its efforts on a more comprehensive approach to combating obesity.
As a result, I have introduced the Stopping Taxpayer Outlays for Propaganda Act, the STOP Act, which will ban taxpayer dollars from funding such ads so the public can focus on meaningful steps to address obesity and promoting a healthy lifestyle. This includes prohibiting the use of federal money for print, radio and television or any other media advertisement, campaign or form of publicity against the use of a food or beverage that is lawfully marketed under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.I fully support and try to live a healthy life, myself, by making smart choices about what I eat and drink and by working out regularly. These are the types of behavior we should be promoting-- not using our precious tax dollars to attack job creators in a time of sustained levels of high unemployment.
Processed food ingredients are made in large parts from the most common industrial chemicals, like phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid and ethylene, which comes from natural gas.But Aaron Schock wants liberty-- not some regulators snooping around figuring out what's in Twinkies and what effect they have on children's health. When it looked like Twinkies might cease to exist, Michele Bernard, an RN wrote that "We’ll miss some of its wonderfully fattening ingredients, like sugar, animal shortening, cottonseed and canola oil, beef fat, dextrose, mono and di-glycerides, artificial flavors, caramel color, yellow No. 5, red #40. There are also a who’s who of corn products in each delicious Twinkie including corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, modified cornstarch, cornstarch, corn flour, and corn syrup solids."
...One thing I noticed in my travels is there are certain food processing hubs in the Midwest where these large plants that process beans and seeds are located. The power needed to run these things is extraordinary. That was very unfoodlike, in my mind, and really surprised me.
...It seems that the “cream” is probably partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. I think the key ingredient is polysorbate 60, and possibly cellulose gum. The filling has to be of a consistency that works well in the pumps and tubes that make these things. On the label they call it a “creamy filling.” They don’t actually say what it is.
...They get hard, but they don’t spoil. I’ve got a bunch of them scattered around my office. I’ve got one from 2005 in my hand. It’s a little hard. I don’t think I’d want to eat it. It’s solid, but it hasn’t spoiled. As part of my research, I made Twinkies at home. We made cake from scratch with whole-food ingredients. It was yellow cake and cream filling from whipped cream with sugar and vanilla. It was absolutely delicious, and we devoured most of them right away. I wrapped one in plastic wrap and put it aside, and it was solid green in a week.
We bring this up because obesity has been closely linked to mental illness. Dutch researchers have found that adolescents who perceived their bodies as “too fat” were at greater risk for internalizing problems (e.g., depression, anxiety) and externalizing problems (e.g., aggression, substance abuse). Also, weight-based teasing and discrimination that are often inflicted on obese kids can have devastating effects on their emotional well-being.
The physical hazards of being overweight are already well-known and include an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer, as well as generalized fatigue and weakness.
