Sweatshop jobs at free trade wages created the slum of Site Soley that 9,000 UN soldiers are now in Haiti to "stabilize." (See: UN troops to remain in crisis-ridden Haiti.) Today's indefinitely warehoused UN prisoners at Haiti's national penitentiary mostly come from Site Soley, practically all of them have never been convicted of any crime. But, in addition to the inhumane conditions in the overcrowded prison, the abuse and the infectious diseases that incubate in crowded prisons, many are dying of Beriberi because of the lack of nutrition in the US rice they are fed.
"Beri-beri appeared to be devastating the overcrowded prison population... Packed together in squalid conditions and provided meager, irregular meals, Haitian prisoners were fed a diet of rice that ...had lost its natural B1 vitamin/thiamin content, leading to the ultimately harmful (Beri-beri) effects. All the Haitian rice production, which Haitians traditionally grew and consumed as a staple, was a healthy, whole-grain, vitamin B-packed, and native crop. But, due to U.S. policies since the early 1980's preferring U.S. rice producers over Haitians' own sustainable agriculture, tariffs were forced to drop, and U.S. rice flooded the Haitian market. (HAITI: Mysterious Prison Ailment Traced to U.S. Rice .)
Sustainable
US health care reform also demands agricultural and farm policy
(subsidy) reform and food system reforms. But so far, food system
reform has not figured in the national conversation about health care
reform. It doesn't make sense for the US to promote and subsidize
universal health care while subsidizing the consumption of
high-fructose corn syrup that causes diabetes and heart diseases or
nitrate-glazed foods and nutrition-free rice that causes beriberi. US
agricultural and food system policies should encourage food whose
nutritional value promotes health rather than disease. US policies
should support wholesome domestic agriculture in the US, in Haiti, and elsewhere. Green food that is produced in an environmentally sound
manner "- that adds nutrients to the soil, that mitigates climate change,
that uses less nonrenewable resources, that gives us better air to
breathe and water to drink -- helps the planet.
In this interconnected world that we live in, US subsidies to US farmers for growing organic foods, fruits and vegetables would reduce health care spending, benefit the environment, and improve people's health, while also benefiting the long term food security interests of both the US and storm-ravaged Haiti.
Ezili Dantà /HLLN
Sept. 2009
We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. " Albert Einstein
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HAITI: Mysterious Prison Ailment Traced to U.S. Rice
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"Our communities are flooded with cheap, unhealthy foods that ultimately are helping drive healthcare costs through the roof, said Dr. David Wallinga, director of the Food and Health Program at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
Seeking Balance in U.S. Farm and Food Policy
Over 300 Doctors, Health Professionals Call For Healthy Farm Bill
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