By Staff Reporter |
With Arizona leaders unifying statewide to back the Trump administration’s effort to make schools healthy, one Maricopa County leader is opposing.
Fountain Hills Town Council initially was unified in its support of HB2164, or the “Arizona Healthy Schools Act”: a bill to clean up the foods offered in the state’s public schools. The town council voted unanimously to issue a letter of support for the bill during its regular meeting on Tuesday. However, after the meeting officially ended, one of the council’s Democrats rescinded her vote.
Even with the rescinded vote from council member Peggy McMahon, the motion still passed.
Vice Mayor Hannah Toth — who led the council effort to file a letter of support — expressed her disappointment with McMahon’s change of heart.
“Welp, that was a short-lived beautiful moment of unity for the health of our children,” posted Toth on X. “Peggy McMahon pulled her support now that the cameras are off, so I guess we’ll edit this tweet to say ‘the council majority.’ What can ya do.”
In her motion to pass the letter of support, Toth pointed out that the U.S. is virtually the only developed country that hasn’t banned the ingredients prohibited in the Arizona Healthy Schools Act.
“[These are all chemicals] that are linked to behavioral issues, cancer, autism, even mental health because it’s chemicals. A lot of it is derived from crude oil,” said Toth. “All cities and towns in my opinion should be coming together in support of this bill – this is something that helps secure our future.”
The motion was celebrated initially as a bipartisan movement to back the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. MAHA is the primary focus of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary nominee and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“[President Trump] asked me to end the chronic disease epidemic in this country,” said Kennedy. “And he said, I want to see results, measurable results, in the diminishment of chronic disease within two years. And I said, Mr. President, I will do that.”
Last month, Texas Republican Congressman Chip Roy published a 47-page report, “The Case for Healthcare Freedom,” detailing America’s health crisis as supplementary guidance for the MAHA movement.
The Arizona Healthy Schools Act, introduced by Republican State Rep. Leo Biasiucci, would restrict public schools from serving or selling “ultraprocessed” food and drink during school hours. The bill defines “ultraprocessed” foods and drinks as those which contain one or more of the following ingredients: potassium bromate, propylparaben, titanium dioxide, brominated vegetable oil, yellow dye 5 or 6, blue dye 1 or 2, green dye 3, or red dye 3 or 40. The bill doesn’t prohibit parents from providing their students with foods or drinks containing these ingredients.
An amendment to the bill also prohibited third parties from selling ultraprocessed food and drink on school campuses. The amendment also directed the Arizona Department of Education to post on its website a standardized form for public schools to certify its compliance with the legislation as well as a list of public schools certified by the department for their compliance with the legislation.
The bill passed out of the House Education Committee recently with unanimous bipartisan support.
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