A bill that includes a wide range of health-related topics is headed to Governor Kim Reynolds’ desk.
It includes many of her own proposals, like requiring banning certain food dyes and additives in food served in Iowa schools and requiring Iowa medical students to complete 40 hours of coursework on nutrition and how the human body converts food into energy. Legislators added a 60-minute-per-day limt on screentime in elementary gradess and there must be at least 40 minutes of daily physical activity for students in kindergarten through 4th grade.
Republican Senator Kara Warme of Ames said the goal is to inspire healthy habits in kids. “We are leading here because we care about kids in our state,” Warme said, “and not everything that we do to improve health or education comes from throwing more money at it.”
The bill requires state officials to keep applying for federal permission to restrict food assistance to healthy foods. “Mountain Dew and Skittles does not alieviate food insecurity,”Reprsentative Austin Harris, a Republican from Moulton, said.
Senator Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Marion who opposed the bill, said it should have focused on expanding access to health care in rural Iowa. “Instead this bill promotes use of ivermectin and makes it harder for working families to access SNAP,” Donahue said.
The bill would let Iowa pharmacists dispense ivermectin over the counter. Representative Austin Baeth, Democrat from Des Moines, said ivermectin can cause seizures and liver failure and should only be dispensed by a prescription issued by a doctor. “This legislation missed its mark,” Baeth said. “….This was not crafted with science. This was crafted with politics.”
The bill passed the Senate on a 30-16 vote yesterday.. The House approved it last week on a 61-31 vote. Governor Reynolds called it “Iowa’s MAHA (Makes American Heathy Again)” bill and she said “it takes common sense steps to improve healh and well-being for Iowans of all ages.”
