Tag: children
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FTC Seeks Comment on Self-Regulatory Guidelines to Protect Children’s Online Privacy
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a notice seeking public comments on a proposed set of self-regulatory guidelines submitted by i-SAFE, Inc. under the safe harbor provision of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule. Comments must be submitted by March 1, 2010. The organization that prepared the proposed guidelines is a non-profit that for…
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WHO Board to Discuss Food Marketing Targeting Kids
The 34-member Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) is scheduled to discuss 12 specific recommendations for protecting children from the marketing of unhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverages at the board’s upcoming 126th session slated for January 18-23, 2010, in Geneva. The proposed mechanisms for promoting “responsible” marketing of such fare are contained in…
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House Proposal Would Deny Tax Deduction for Fast Food Ads Targeting Children
Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has introduced a bill (H.R. 4310) that would amend the tax code to deny “any deduction for advertising and marketing directed at children to promote the consumption of food at fast food restaurants or of food of poor nutritional quality.” The proposal defines “food of poor nutritional quality” as food “determined…
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U.S. Agencies Announce Plans to Regulate Food Marketing to Kids
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently hosted a forum titled “Sizing up Food Marketing and Obesity,” which heard proposals from federal agencies, consumer watchdogs and industry representatives for regulating food advertising to children. In addition to addressing new research, First Amendment issues and self-regulatory initiatives, the forum unveiled a set of proposed nutritional standards (SNAC…
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British Researchers Find Genetic Clue to Severe Obesity in Children
British researchers studying 300 Caucasian children with “severe early-onset obesity” (that is, 220 pounds by age 10) discovered that rare chromosome 16 DNA deletions, which remove a gene the brain needs to respond to leptin, an appetite-controlling hormone, gave the children a “very strong drive to eat.” Elena Bochukova, et al., “Large, rare chromosomal deletions…
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CSPI Report Criticizes Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has issued a report alleging that “nearly 80 percent of food ads on the popular children’s network Nickelodeon are for foods of poor nutritional quality.” Titled “Better-For-Who? Revisiting company promises on food marketing to children,” the analysis purportedly revealed that one-fourth of the food and beverage…
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FTC Forum to Address Food Marketing to Children
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced a December 15, 2009, public forum titled “Sizing Up Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity,” which will include panels of industry representatives, federal regulators, consumer groups, scientific researchers, and legal scholars. The forum will address (i) the progress of self-regulatory initiatives, particularly the food and entertainment industries’ responses to…
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Health Canada Announces Recall of Beverages Marketed to “Vulnerable Population”
Health Canada has advised consumers not to purchase Chaotic Beverages sold under the brand names Mind Strike, Fearocity, Elixir of Tenacity, and Power Pulse “because they are unauthorized products marketed to a vulnerable population (children) with ingredients that may pose a health risk.” According to an agency press release, “The drinks are tied to a…