Efforts To Cut Funding Of The Cost-Effective Federal SNAP Program Are Ill-Advised

U.S. pediatricians warn that efforts to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) targeted at low-income children and families are a wrongheaded way to deal with persistent budget and economic woes. In fact, doctors from the Boston Medical Center say, the SNAP program, once known as the Food Stamp Program, is one of the country’s most cost-effective and successful public health programs, “a vaccine against food insecurity and hunger” for young children at the most critical stage of development of body and brain. SNAP benefits for pregnant women are associated with decreased rates of low birth weight; for children, SNAP enhances intake of B vitamins, iron, and calcium; lowers the risk of anemia, obesity, poor health, developmental delays, etc.