Jeremy

It’s the same response if they ask: does the FDA assure you that all medications are safe?  Patients are inclined to think, yeah, of course, it’s got to be approved. And patients believe that the FDA must approve all the chemicals that are being sold at the supermarket.

I think the public has a hard time appreciating what is actually happening. There is this interesting space–because of an accompanying explosion. Lifestyle medicine, integrative medicine, and functional medicine are also on the ascendancy. The science has evolved. The space has evolved in part from a disconnect between medical practices and recent scientific discoveries. We’re still working with 1930 science in present-day medicine. Medical practices were codified in the 1930s. Science has evolved. Medicine and the farm bill have not–because those at the trough are going to keep it just like this and kill anybody who tries to interfere.  The question becomes: what would be a social justice, health justice lever that would get enough doctors excited to push on some aspect of the farm bill? That’s an interesting question.

Bill G

Well, that’s where this big Faustian or Orwellian bargain comes in. Because RFK and Dr. Oz have both clearly stated that part of the problem is with the agriculture industry. And RFK specifically has said they need to have changes in the farm bill and the subsidies, as well as the types of products that are produced and the sorts of abuses that occur in big agriculture. The question is: are people who are interested in lifestyle change or fundamental change willing to hold their nose, take a deep breath and get behind some of those advocated reforms? Should we actually hope that RFK and Dr. Oz get confirmed and have the courage to run up against the big industrial conglomerates in terms of ultra food processing and agricultural subsidy? Or do we think that the personalities of RFK and Oz are too flawed and their ideas are so far off that we couldn’t possibly advocate for their confirmation or get behind them if they are confirmed?

Jack

I would like to push that question to the whole group. Bill (G), I was hoping you would bring this back up because you mentioned it early on. I think there is an opportunity in our new administration—an administration with which I’m uncomfortable. There are some weird bits and pieces of which I can’t quite make hide-nor-hair. They don’t seem fully aligned. RFK is one of those who don’t seem to be in full alignment with the new administration. He talks about big pharma, big ag, and big medicine and the profiteering in all three of these. I’m curious from this group’s standpoint. How might healthcare, how might the seven of us, how might the seven people that each of us know work on this issue? How do we collectively try to make the farm bill a health bill at the top level—alongside a potential ally with whom we don’t always agree?