Big, mass culture is killing our kids—just like big tobacco has been killing our kids and adults. The evidence is as convincing scientifically as the tobacco problem. Mass culture is owned by big business, and they have big bucks to lobby our elected officials. Kids don’t vote or lobby, but do purchase or demand products (a lesson I learned working with McDonald’s and Sesame Street). If the lobbyists or spokespeople tell you that the research on omega-6 and omega-3 is controversial, don’t believe them. That’s what they said about tobacco, and they were lying and knew it. The same would be true about omega-6 and omega-3. Here are simple things that can be done, even at a local level:

• School districts and local governments can reduce the omega-6 in the school and government programs to world levels. This will lower all manner of health-care costs locally.
• Local governments can require warning labels on products that have omega-6 in them as contributing to excess health and behavior problems in scientific studies.
• Local and state governments can provide omega-3 (fish oil) supplementation to all pregnant mothers, mental-health clients and prisoners with dramatic effects on public health and safety. All this is supported by studies and even major organizations like the American Psychiatric Association.
• Employers can support free omega-3 supplementation as a part of their health-care benefits, to reduce and prevent the most high-cost and prevalent health care problems in our society. The American Heart Association, for example, now recommends that all Americans take at least 1-gram per day of fish oil.