The Politics of Hunger: When Science and Ideology Clash

Abstract

In recent years the WIC program, a federal nutrition program for poor mothers and babies, has become a major playing field for ideological forces hoping to shape public opinion and Congressional action on matters of domestic social policy. WIC's highly positive benefits have been distorted, research results from its scientific evaluation altered by high-level federal officials, and its public support undermined by an academic spokesman with ties to the White House and a stated desire to kill the program. While strong bipartisan support on Capitol Hill makes it likely that WIC will survive and even grow, distortion of its record provides insight into how ideological forces contaminate the well of reasoned discourse for their preconceived ends.