Take high fructose corn syrup out of NYC schools

To:  the Office of SchoolFood’s Executive Director David Berkowitz; SchoolFood Chef Jorge Collazo; and Mayor Michael Bloomberg:

We, the parents, teachers, citizens, and taxpayers of New York City appreciate your efforts to improve the quality of school food. We know it is a mammoth task, and that you have made many important changes.

But we are not, as we know you are not, satisfied with the way things are. We are shocked and outraged at the explosion of diet-related diseases that have afflicted our country in the last 30 years, and in particular New York City. And we are troubled that the Office of SchoolFoods may be unwittingly playing a part in this epidemic.

We recognize that:
• 43% of NYC elementary students are overweight or obese.
• 30-40% of babies born in 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime.
• Our children have a lower life expectancy than we adults do, because of diet-related illnesses they are predicted to develop, and that this is the first time this has happened in modern history.
• Even children who don’t suffer from a bad diet or develop these diseases are going to be burdened with this crisis, as their taxes and health care resources will need to support and care for the nation of sick and disabled people we are creating.

We, the people of New York City, the actual buyers of the school lunches that you serve, ask that you take the next step: ban high fructose corn syrup from all foods served in New York City Schools.

We recognize that it remains unclear whether HFCS itself launches its own brand of particularly pernicious assault on the body or whether it is simply a main component in our nation’s overindulgence in processed foods and refined carbohydrates. Either way, we believe HFCS has no place on a child’s lunch tray.

While we as a nation wait for the definitive study that clarifies the nature of HFCS’s role in the current health crises, we find the following facts too troubling to ignore:

• According to a 2004 study published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition, corn syrup was positively associated with the prevalence of type 2 diabetes.
• According to a study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, the consumption of fat is not at the root of the diabetes and obesity epidemics. Rather, the drop in fiber consumption and coinciding rise in HFCS consumption is indicated. In other words, taking the fat out of milk and yogurt only to sweeten it with HFCS (as the Office of SchoolFoods has done) is a suspect and possibly dangerous practice.
• Diabetes is a preventable disease with no cure. It is progressive and often fatal

New York City, with the second largest food service system in the country, has untold amounts of power to influence the food industry. If the NYC Office of SchoolFoods refuses to buy foods and beverages containing HFCS, the vendors and manufacturers will listen, and vendors and school systems across the country will take note.

If the Office of School Foods is serious about fighting the obesity and diabetes epidemics, it must reduce the amount of sweeteners, particularly in the highly suspect form of HFCS.

We demand that you take high fructose corn syrup off our children’s lunch trays.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Take high fructose corn syrup out of NYC schools Petition to the Office of SchoolFood’s Executive Director David Berkowitz; SchoolFood Chef Jorge Collazo; and Mayor Michael Bloomberg: was created by and written by Larissa Phillips (bookerd@earthlink.net).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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