[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5219 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5219

To amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to permit participating households 
   to use food stamp benefits to purchase nutritional supplements of 
             vitamins, minerals, or vitamins and minerals.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 6, 1994

 Mr. Emerson introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to permit participating households 
   to use food stamp benefits to purchase nutritional supplements of 
             vitamins, minerals, or vitamins and minerals.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The dietary patterns of Americans do not result in 
        nutrient intakes that fully meet Recommended Dietary Allowances 
        (RDAs) of vitamins and minerals.
            (2) The elderly often fail to achieve adequate nutrient 
        intakes from diet alone.
            (3) Pregnant women have particularly high nutrient needs, 
        which they often fail to meet through dietary means alone.
            (4) Many scientific studies have shown that nutritional 
        supplements contain folic acid (a B vitamin) can prevent a 
        large proportion (as many as 70 to 80 percent) of neural tube 
        birth defects and the Public Health Service, in September 1992, 
        recommended that ``all women of childbearing age in the United 
        States who are capable of becoming pregnant should consume 0.4 
        mg of folic acid per day for the purpose of reducing their risk 
        of having a pregnancy affected with spina bifida or other 
        neural tube birth defects.''
            (5) Infants who fail to receive adequate intakes of iron 
        may be somewhat impaired in their mental and behavioral 
        development.
            (6) Children in low-income families often fail to achieve 
        nutritional goals from diet alone.
            (7) A massive volume of evidence strongly suggests that 
        increasing intake of specific nutrients over an extended period 
        of time may be helpful in protecting against diseases or 
        conditions such as osteoporosis, cataracts, cancer, and heart 
        disease.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENT.

    Section 3(g)(1) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2012(g)(1)) 
is amended by striking ``or food product'' and inserting ``food 
product, or nutritional supplements of vitamins, minerals, or vitamins 
and minerals.''
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