Along with an essay in the Washington Post, backers of a national food policy are running a petition campaign on the Internet that calls on President Barack Obama to issue an executive order spelling out a policy. The Union of Concerned Scientists, host of a petition site, says a national policy “will transform our food system to ensure healthy, sustainably grown food for all.”
In the first 24 hours the petition was on line, there were 16,000 “actions,” such as signing the petition, said Ricardo Salvador, UCS director of food and environment and one of the four co-signers of the essay. Politico characterized the essay as a food movement initiative.
During an interview, Salvador said the petition is a route for getting onto the administration agenda – “This is the time to do it” – for the final two years of Obama’s tenure. “This is something the president can do,” said Salvador, and it is an area of long-time interest by the White House.
The writers – author Michael Pollan, columnist Mark Bittman, professor Olivier De Schutter and Salvador – envision a White House council, created by executive order, to develop and implement a national food policy and to coordinate USDA, the Health Department and EPA. “By elevating food and farming to a matter of public concern rather than a parochial interest, the president can make it more difficult for the interests of agribusiness to prevail over those of public and environmental health,” said the essay.