Michigan WIC Whacks Organic

Michigan WIC Whacks Organic: Evidently, Women, Infants, and Children in Need Don't Deserve Organic 5-30-08

The Women, Infants, and Children program provides food aid to "low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk," according to the USDA website.

The federal government funds the program through grants to states, which then decide how to allocate the cash. Evidently, in Michigan -- a state undergoing severe economic strain -- some bureaucrats have bought into the whole notion that organic food is a luxury for the elite.

Check out this extraordinary document [PDF]. It lists product after product available to Michigan WIC recipients -- milk, eggs, carrots, tuna, cheese, boxed cereal, dried beans, peanut butter. And following each one, these words: "No organic allowed." (Never mind that organic tuna doesn't exist.)

Mothers using WIC in Michigan have to be especially careful about eggs. Avoiding organic eggs is only the beginning. Other no-nos include ones that are free-range, cage-free, or enhanced with Omega-3-rich feed. And get this: The eggs have to be white!

There's no end to it. Milk sold in reusable glass containers, or that's not homogenized (a process that may cause heart damage)? Forget about it. Milk from the heirloom Guernsey cow breed, said to be richer in calcium, protein, and vitamin A? Put it back, Mom.

If all that weren't enough, there are some weird anomalies. The document lists a few things that apparently can be bought organic, including "46 oz. unsweetened juices" and "frozen concentrate juices." Neither one bears the "no organic" edict.

But scroll down a bit to the "infant juices" category, and there it is again, in all its officious glory: "No organic allowed." Mothers are also forbidden from buying organic infant formula and cereal. (To be be fair, the program does encourage breast-feeding, but that option isn't always viable, as in the case of adoption and foster-parenting.)

Do these people figure that kids need a bit of pesticide residue in their fare to toughen 'em up for what's to come?

The "no organic" policy may not even be saving Michigan's WIC program much money. In a posting appearing on the Community Food Security Coalition's Comfood listserve, Diana Jancek, Market Manager of the Sweetwater Local Foods Market in Montague, Mich., did some price comparison in a supermarket. Here's what she found:

Allowed: Frosted Mini-Wheats (first three ingredients: whole grain wheat, sugar, high fructose corn syrup) Price: $3.63/18 oz.
Not Allowed: Meijer Organic Raisin Brain (all organic, no corn syrup) Price: 17 oz. $2.99

Allowed: Jif peanut butter, 18 oz. $2.18
Not Allowed: Meijer organic peanut butter, 18 oz. $2.59

Allowed: Fresh conventional carrots, 1 lb. $1.30
Not Allowed: Fresh organic carrots, 1 lb. $0.99

Allowed: Conventional white eggs, $1.69
Not Allowed: Conventional brown eggs, $1.89

Allowed: V8 tomato juice, 46 oz. $2.79
Not Allowed: Organic tomato juice, 46 oz. $2.99

Jancek added:

It almost seems punitive on the face of it; these are after all the most at-risk children in our population and we want to restrict their access to foods free of chemicals in their formative years?

It also bears adding that WIC-approved Jif peanut butter includes among its ingredients partially hydrogenated vegetable oil vegetable oil. This so-called "trans fat," designed to add "creaminess," have been shown to cause severe heart damage as well as diabetes.

For those who don't think low-income mothers should be nudged to make such choices, no matter what state they live in, Martha Noble of the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition points out that the USDA's Food & Nutrition Service is currently taking public comments on 2009 reauthorization of several child-nutrition programs, including WIC.

For instructions on how to comment, go here [PDF].

Note: This post has been modified to correct an error pointed out in comments by Katakanadian below. Fully hydrogenated oil, while a highly processed ingredient, is not a trans-fat. I regret the error, and appreciate the correction.

WIC is not intended to help children in anyway with nutrition! (this is why there is no income requirement) It is designed to make sure your kids are getting properly vaccinated! Most WIC programs are hosted by health departments. You are required as part of the program to keep all vaccinations current. You can get them right when you pick up your vouchers! I know this because as a very young parent I had my children on the program in 3 states. (I gave most all of ours WIC supplies to the local food bank except for formula )Also very few children qualify for the tuna, peanut butter or carrots. To receive them your child must be anemic. Also the only brand allowed in most states is Enfamil of course made by a drug company, with way to much iron (often causes constipation) synthetic vitamins, and of no more nutritional value than milk! To get any other Enfamil brand formula you must have a prescription including the reason why. If your baby has allergies this will start you on the track starting with soy (outlawed in most other countries) all the way to corn based! Breast feeding is usually discouraged. There are often posters but no information or support.

WIC is a horrible program and should be done away with! When you have a baby in most hospitals you get all sorts of formula, bottles, diaper bags and more from formula companies competing for your attention. There is no instruction or phone numbers to your local La Leche League and your of to your house. After 2 days you run out of samples and send your sister or Mom to the grocery store and they bring home a can of Enfamil or one of the others you told her to get because you had samples of it. You don't realize one jar of powder only last 2-3 days and then you found out the price and panic. Some helpful friend tells you about WIC and they cycle continues.

Mothers have always made it just fine without WIC. Nurses used to show them how to breastfeed. Mothers didn't have to rush back to work in 4-6 weeks and find most daycares and babysitters prefer to use formula. You can breastfeed in today's modern working world or you can make organic wholesome milk at home (recipes here). You will have less pressure to vaccinate and have less problems with hyperactive, ADHD, Autistic, slow-learning children!