Fri, 04 Aug 2006

Government adding fruits and vegetables to WIC moms' shopping lists

If you ever wondered what a shopping list designed by a political committee would look like, you need seek no more! And surprise! Veggies are good for kids!

Of course, so is canned tuna in oil ...and we have to reduce the amount of milk the little buggers get to insure they get their whole grains!

I don't know whether to be amused, amazed or pissed off at the never ending machinations of USDA lobbyists.

Of course, reporters and PR flacks are right up there with lobbyists: the WIC program is stated in the article to feed more than half the babies in the US, and reach 8 million people. According to the 2000 census there are some 19 million folks under the age of 5 in the population. Even assuming that all 8 million people referenced as being served by WIC are children (and some of them are assuredly women), that still doesn't add up to "half the babies in the US".

I think the correct question the reporter should have asked is "what age children does WIC serve?" Or, "who's a baby?" According to the program page:

The WIC target population are low-income, nutritionally at risk:
  • Pregnant women (through pregnancy and up to 6 weeks after birth or after pregnancy ends).
  • Breastfeeding women (up to infant’s 1st birthday)
  • Nonbreastfeeding postpartum women (up to 6 months after the birth of an infant or after pregnancy ends)
  • Infants (up to 1st birthday). WIC serves 45 percent of all infants born in the United States.
  • Children up to their 5th birthday.

So the program itself only claims to "serve" 45% of infants. I find that number amazing, because WIC is a Federal grant program, not an entitlement, and not all those eligible actually receive anything. I strongly suspect that the 45% may be the percentage of infants that are considered eligible. But anyway you cut the mustard, 45% is not more than half of anything, and 8 million is not more than half of 19 million.

Maybe they should add "Math for Dummies" to their shopping list at the Associated Press.

Fruits, vegetables and whole grains are being added to grocery lists for low-income mothers and children under a federal program that helps feed more than half the babies in the United States.

(link) [CNN]

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