Key Data Reportedly Withheld in Infants Study

House and Senate Democrats said Wednesday that the Reagan Administration deleted favorable summaries from a report on a feeding program for women and infants after trying to eliminate the program.

They said the Agriculture Department then delayed releasing the document.

The $1.5-billion-a-year program for women, infants and children--known as WIC--was credited in the study with reducing premature births and infant mortality, increasing birth weights and improving the nutritional habits of pregnant women and their children.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said the study results mean “we can all feel assured that our tax dollars are being well spent.”

But Harkin and others accused the Agriculture Department of delaying release of the five-year, $5-million study it commissioned and deliberately minimizing favorable conclusions about the WIC program.

“This study has been plagued by repeated delays, culminating in nearly a year’s hiatus between USDA’s receipt of the final report, and printing and delivery,” said California Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), chairman of the House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families.

Miller said executive summaries of the report were deleted by the Agriculture Department when it released the voluminous, technical report on Jan. 10.

“These actions are consistent with the Administration’s efforts to cut WIC by 30% in 1981 . . . and to undermine the program through impoundment and other administrative maneuvers,” Miller said.

The assertions were made at a news conference as a House-Senate conference committee prepared to consider reauthorizing the program.

John W. Bode, deputy assistant secretary of agriculture for food and consumer services, dismissed the assertions Wednesday as “ridiculous” and said participation in the program has increased during the Reagan Administration.

Bode said the summary was deleted because “it was not a balanced presentation of the findings” and overstated the program’s beneficial effects.