I support the ongoing efforts by Make America Healthy Again. Here are five items I wish the federal government drive would address.

• Ninety percent of grocery items are priced ending in number 9. Most end in $.99. Why? Psychology. Getting people to buy into a bargain that isn’t one. Honest pricing is the wholesale price plus a fair profit, whatever number it ends in.
• We are muzaked the moment we enter the grocery store, as if food and nutrition were an entertainment opportunity. For those who care about pricing and nutrition more than audio pabulum, there should be Silent Sundays, allowing those who want to hear themselves think and shop in peace can do so.
• Just ask any doctor if all the “just ask your doctor” ads are, in fact, making people sick. What does that American Medical Association say?
• Senior citizens are harassed by the hearing aid industry, while 20% of hearing loss is caused by noise pollution. Noise polluters own the ears of the media and local, state and federal governments — so the problem is ignored.
• If people are guilty of old age and infirmity, they are sentenced to life without parole in a long-term care facility. There, they share room space with someone they have nothing in common with and their personal space may amount to less than a prison cell. Yes, some quality people work in those places, but at the end of the day there’s got to be a better way.

George Hunt
Gardiner