318 THE CHINA STUDYyears prior to her graduate studies. I was her advisor for the nutrition
part of her dissertation research.
The U.s. Department of Agriculture administers the school lunch
program to 28 million children, largely relying on an inventory of gov-
ernment-subsidized foods. The government program, as it now stands,
uses mostly animal-based products and even requires that participating
schools make available cow's milk. At the local level, this usually means
that consumption of milk is mandatory.
Dr. Demas's innovative research on the school lunch program was a
great success; children loved the learning style and were excited to eat
the healthy foods when they went through the lunch line. The children
then convinced their parents to eat the healthy food at home. Dr. Demas's
program won national awards for the "most creative implementation of
the dietary gUidelines" and "excellence in nutrition education." The
program has proven to be of interest to more than 300 school lunch and
behavioral rehabilitation programs around the U.S., including schools
in areas as widely dispersed as Hawaii, Florida, Indiana, New England,
California and New Mexico. In this effort, Dr. Demas has organized a
nonprofit foundation (Food Studies Institute, Trumansburg, New York)
and written a curriculum ("Food is Elementary"). And here's the kicker:
Dr. Demas's program is entirely plant-based.
I had the opportunity to go to Washington and talk with Dr. Eileen
Kennedy, who, at the time, was the director of the Center for Nutrition
Policy and Promotion at the USDA. Dr. Kennedy was deeply involved
both in the school lunch program and the dietary guidelines commit-
tee, on which it was revealed that she had ties to the dairy industry. She
is now the Deputy Undersecretary for the USDA's Research, Education
and Economics division. The topic of our discussion was Dr. Demas's
innovative school lunch program and how it was garnering national
attention. At the end of this discussion, I said to her, "You know, that
program is entirely plant-based." She looked at me, wagged her finger as
if I were being a bad boy, and said, "We can't have that."
I have come to the conclusion that when it comes to health, govern-
ment is not for the people; it IS for the food industry and the pharmaceu-
tical industry at the expense of the people. It is a systemic problem where
industry, academia and government combine to determine the health
of this country. Industry provides funding for public health reports,
and academic leaders with industry ties play key roles in developing
them. A revolving door exists between government jobs and industry