NEWS ITEM:

No More ‘Hungry’ Americans, U.S. Government Says

(see AFP news sty., at bottom) 

Comments Of Sen. Patrick Leahy
On USDA’s Dropping The Word ‘Hunger’
In Describing Hunger In America
Thanksgiving Eve
Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006

“For opponents of hunger relief programs, this change has the convenient effect of defining hunger down.  Hunger is an ongoing problem, people know what it means, and it should be a higher priority than it is.  I am going to continue to call hunger by its name, and I expect that many others who have long worked on this problem will too.

“Calling it something else is not going to bring us closer to solving it.  We need to be watchful to prevent wordplay from becoming a way to minimize the blight that hunger has on millions of Americans’ lives.

“More important than what we call hunger is what we do about it, and we need to watch closely right now as the Bush Administration sets its priorities for the new budget.  Hunger-relief efforts have been in a holding pattern for several years.  A nation as blessed as ours should not tolerate having millions of its families facing hunger day in and day out, year after year.  The Thanksgiving season is an appropriate time to redouble our commitment to ending hunger sooner, rather than later.”

[U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is a senior member and former chairman of the Senate Committee On Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and has long led in Congress on policies to address hunger in America and overseas.]

[News article --]

No More ‘Hungry’ Americans: U.S. Government Says

AFP (Agence France Presse)

Week of Nov. 20, 2006

The U.S. government has tweaked its terminology in referring to the nearly 11 million Americans who face a constant struggle with hunger to refer to them as people with "very low food security."

According to a report released this month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, roughly 35 million Americans had difficulty feeding themselves in 2005 and of those some 10.8 million went hungry.

But unlike last year's report on hunger in America, which labeled families who don't get enough to eat as having "food insecurity with hunger," this year's report referred to them as having "very low food security."

The change in terminology has angered groups that fight hunger who say it is aimed at hiding a stark reality.

"There is very widespread feeling that it was a mistake to water down the language," Jim Weill, director of the Washington-based Food Research and Action Center, a non-profit organization, told AFP.

"There are 35 million people in this country who are struggling with hunger, no matter what you call it," he added. "And there is no way ultimately to obscure the fact that we're an incredibly wealthy country with 35 million people who are struggling with hunger."

U.S. officials have defended the change, saying it is based on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, which advises the government on science and medical issues.

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