| Forcing
Healthy Choices: Restrictive, Prescriptive, or Necessary?
A couple of interesting
news items included in December's issue of pelinks4u discussed measures
to combat obesity. In one, health care specialists in Great Britain,
commented that urging people to "pull yourself together, eat
less, and exercise more" didn't work. Overweight people, they
suggested, needed help, advice and sympathy to overcome their addiction
to food. Among their specific recommendations were the following
(summarized):
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Printing advice helpline phone numbers
in all clothing sizes likely to fit the overweight. |
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Banning the placement of
candy and fatty snacks at or near checkout stands and at children's
eye level. |
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Increased taxation on
processed foods high in sugar or saturated fats. |
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Introducing health care
checks for all children as they move between schools and leave
school. |
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Requiring all new urban
roads to have bike lanes. |
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Establishing a central
agency responsible for all aspects of obesity. |
It was noted that:
"As the prevalence
and costs of obesity escalate, the economic argument for giving
high priority to obesity and weight management through a designated
coordinating agency will ultimately become overwhelming. The only
question is, will action be taken before it is too late?"
Critical of many of
these suggestions, US columnist, Jimmie Moore responded that the
people making decisions about our weight and health are "completely
clueless about why obesity exists in the first place and what to
actually do about it," further noting "how ridiculous
and unrealistic most of these ideas actually are."
Specifically, Moore believed:
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Overweight and obese people
know their condition and don't need reminders on clothing. |
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Health advocates
have no right to tell business owners how to run their businesses.
Putting items in locations to attract "impulse" shopping
is in fact a good business marketing strategy. |
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Parents have
control over whether or not they buy candy at the store for
their children. |
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Limiting
sugar content of foods is intrusive because there are no clear
limits as to what is acceptable. |
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Health care
checks would only be useful if something meaningful is done
with the information, otherwise it would be a waste of time
and resources. |
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The reason
overweight individuals don't exercise is not because of a lack
of facilities. Building bike lanes won't solve the problem. |
While Moore agreed that greater coordination
between agencies concerned about obesity might be part of the solution,
he concluded that if we finally get serious about obesity we need
to "allow the public to receive a multiplicity of nutritional
choices to help them make the best decision about what to do about
their own personal situation."
Personally, I have a hard time believing that providing more nutritional
choices, or expecting the public to make better nutritional decisions,
is going to do much to solve the obesity crisis. Moore himself pointed
out that we already have the freedom to choose or not choose unhealthy
foods. Giving people more choices is hardly a solution for overweight
people who habitually make unhealthy choices. And giving children
the choice to make unhealthy decisions is downright irresponsible.
A century ago, distinguished sociologist William Graham Sumner
attracted notoriety when he suggested that, "Stateways don't
change folkways." Sumner proposed that the way to change behavior
was not to legislate but to first change attitudes.
Since then, history has proven repeatedly that contrary to Sumner's
suggestion, legislation can effectively change public behavior.
Why should solving the obesity crisis be any different from changing
attitudes towards slavery, civil rights, women's rights, handicapped
rights, seatbelt use and so on? We've learned that raising the price
of cigarettes through higher taxation reduces smoking. Limiting
children's access to cigarettes surely does the same thing. Historical
evidence supports a belief that policy changes limiting children's
access to unhealthy foods and beverages will change their eating
behaviors.
Perhaps we need to distinguish between measures taken that are
directed toward adults, and those directed toward children and young
people. I have much less of an issue with choice proponents when
discussing adult behavior. But raising healthy children necessitates
good nutritional and activity choices. Hoping that parents will
take responsibility for raising healthy children clearly isn't working.
And complaining about poor parenting won't solve the problem.
Of course, what to do about already overweight children and adults
is only one, albeit important side of the obesity issue. Preventing
overweight in today's infants, children, and young people is equally
important and requires early intervention to be successful. As the
British health care specialists noted, at some time legislation
will be needed because of the social and economic impact that obesity
threatens. We should all be worried about the inevitable threat
to our domestic and national security when we find ourselves without
a healthy population capable of serving in the police or armed forces.
No one wants to shut down businesses on the way to solving obesity.
No one wants to offend overweight people. But as a society we do
need to come together to realize the predictable consequences of
allowing children to become less and less healthy. As adults we
have a moral responsibility to protect children from harm. If it
means restricting their access to unhealthy food and beverage choices
so be it! To my mind it sure beats the alternative.
Steve Jefferies, pelinks4u publisher
Please post comments to this editorial in the forum.
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