Physician's Commitee for Responsible Medicine

Ever wonder why cheeseburgers are so cheap? Or why school cafeterias still serve more meatloaf and hot dogs than fruits and vegetables? The answer may surprise you.

The Farm Bill, America's primary federal food
policy, keeps high-fat, cholesterol-laden pork,
beef, cheese, and other unhealthy animal
products cheap and widely available. That's
why I hope you'll take action today to help
spread the word about the Physician's
Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)'s
new hard-hitting Farm Bill commercial.

The Farm Bill doled out more than $70 billion in
food subsidy payments from 1995 to 2005,
and more than three-quarters of that money
went to producers of meat, sugar, oil, dairy,
alcohol, and feed crops used in meat production.
Fruit and vegetable farmers received less than
1 percent of government subsidies. To make
matters worse, the federal government
purchases Farm Bill surplus foods like cheese, milk, pork, and beef for distribution to food assistance
programs--including the National School Lunch Program.

As you may know, the House of representatives made only minor changes to the subsidy
system when it passed its version of the bill in July. Now that the Senate Agriculture
Committee is expected to begin marking up its version of the Farm Bill in October, PCRM
and other groups are calling for sweeping changes. PCRM has been calling attention to the
problem with a new television ad about the Farm Bill, which directs people to
StopChildhoodObesityNow.org. Our ad has been covered by The Wall Street Journal, The
Huffington Post, MSNBC.com, and many other media outlets. As the bill comes before
the Senate over the next month, I'll need your help to send a strong message about
reform. See how PCRM and other groups are calling sweeping changes.

Here's how you can help:

1.  Watch PCRM's new Farm Bill ad on YouTube.

2.  Support PCRM's efforts to reform the Farm Bill by making a donation now.
Donations from you and other concerned citizens will help PCRM air the Farm Bill ad
in even more media markets across the country and support our other activities to
make the Farm Bill healthier.

3.  Forward this e-mail and let others know why they should care about the Farm Bill, too.

4.  Call and e-mail your senators. Urge them to make healthy changes to the Farm Bill.

I'll be contacting you again in the next few weeks with more updates on the Farm
Bill and more details about how you can help as the bill moves through the Senate.
Thank you so much for your support and help in reforming the Farm Bill. As always,
please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Kyle Ash
Legislative Coordinator
kash@pcrm.org