Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Friday that the Trump administration will be allowing state food aid recipients to spend money on soft drinks.
Mr. Kennedy, W.Va. We have announced changes to the federal supplementary nutrition support program known as SNAP in Martinsburg. There he appeared with Gov. Patrick Morrissey, who recently signed a law banning most artificial food dyes and two preservatives.
The health secretary has spoken with 15 other governors about the same move, according to Calley Means, a health food entrepreneur who recently joined the White House to carry out Kennedy's agenda. Kennedy told an audience in West Virginia that food companies used science to make their products addictive, as cigarette companies had.
“Food is medicine,” Kennedy told a group of teachers, children and parents in the gymnasium at a local school. He added: “It deals with our health. It deals with our mental health.”
With the Republican governor, Kennedy's appearance speaks of the prominent cultural changes in food and health politics as Republicans join the Health Secretary's “American Health” movement. But with a clear Republican twist, Morrisey also announced the new “job, training and education requirements” for SNAP participants.
The governor also announced a new statewide campaign initiative, saying he himself intends to “start a few pounds.”
Morrisey announced that he would seek the necessary exemption to ban soft drink purchases using SNAP, along with other initiatives aimed at promoting exercise and encouraging West Virginians to become healthier. The state has one of the highest obesity rates in the country. He introduced Kennedy as one of the “most talked about, slandered men in America” and “child warriors.”
Kennedy does not have authority over Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs that fall within the Agriculture sector. However, Mr. Mister said Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins agreed to grant the exemption.
