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care of the government, perhaps in a prison or a hospital, must be fed adequately.
In fact, the U.S. government does feed people in such situations. It also feeds peo-
ple with low incomes under the Food Stamp and other programs. All these pro-
grams have precise, explicit criteria of eligibility. The United States practice
shows that it does agree that the government should feed some people under
some conditions.
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If there are no accepted national obligations, there is no meaningful right.
Moreover, contrary to the view presented in chapter 5 that all rights represent
goals the U.S. position assumes that characterizing something as a goal or ob-
jective somehow precludes its being viewed as a real right. Apparently, to the U.S.
government, something can be a right only if it is immediately achievable. The
position taken here, and elaborated in chapter 6, is that all human rights are as-
pirational, and most of them require time and e’ort to ensure their realization.
The usda s publication, U.S. Action Plan on Food Security: Solutions to Hunger,
includes dissenting statements from civil society. With regard to the right to food,
the usda s Food Security Advisory Committee explained (emphasis in original):
Endorsing the right to food does not oblige governments to provide every-
one with three meals a day. Rather, governments must respect everyone s
right to have access to adequate food, protect that right from encroachment
by others, facilitate opportunities to enjoy that right, and only in the last in-
stance fulfill the right to food for those unable to do so by themselves. The
Advisory Committee strongly urges the U.S. Government to support global
e’orts, in accordance with Objective 7.4 of the World Food Summit Plan
of Action, to better define the rights related to food . . . and to provide ways
to implement and realize these rights. (U.S. Department of Agriculture
1999, 7)
While the food status of most people in the United States is quite good, the sit-
uation with regard to the right to adequate food is quite bad. There is no general
right to adequate food in U.S. federal law. The U.S. government resists recogni-
tion of the human right to adequate food not only domestically but also interna-
tionally, because it does not want to accept any obligations relating to that right,
either internally or externally. It is not clear how one could hope to end hunger
and malnutrition, whether within the United States or globally, without recog-
nizing and actively working to realize the human right to adequate food.
chapter 11
Feeding Infants
The feeding of infants generally goes smoothly, particularly with the advice of ap-
propriately trained health workers. Lactation counselors can help to overcome
many problems encountered in breast-feeding. However, there are times when
the di~culties are so serious and so extensive that they must be viewed as prob-
lems of society. The most widespread and sustained of these issues to catch the
public consciousness has been the improper marketing of breast milk substi-
tutes. There also have been problems in finding ways to accommodate mothers
doing income-generating work so that they can feed their infants. There have
been controversies over whether breast-feeding in public is permissible. In sev-
eral countries, there have been court cases on the question of whether a mother
diagnosed as hiv-positive should be permitted to breast-feed her infant. All of
these are political issues, issues that can raise serious concerns about human
rights.
The parties to infant feeding are, most obviously, the mother and the child.
But there are many others with some interest and some influence in the situa-
tion. There are the father and siblings. There is the extended family. There are
friends. There is the local community. There are also doctors, nurses, and other
health professionals. Employers are a’ected. The local government may be con-
cerned in some way, possibly the national government, and even some interna-
tional organizations. And there are also a variety of commercial interests.
Each of these parties has some interest in the infant feeding relationship. All
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