Tag: obesity
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New York City Launches Ad Campaign Urging Reduced Portion Sizes
The New York City Health Department has launched a “hard-hitting” ad campaign encouraging subway riders to cut their portions of food and sugary drinks to reduce the health risks associated with obesity. One poster, for example, depicts a diabetic man with an amputated leg with the tagline, “Cut Your Portions, Cut Your Risk.” “The portion…
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New Soft Drink Tax Takes Effect in France
The Constitutional Council of France recently approved a tax on sweetened soft drinks to combat the healthcare-related costs of obesity. Effective January 1, 2012, the tax adds 1 euro cent per can and is expected to generate €120 million ($156 million) in state revenue to fund lower Social Security contributions by farm workers. “Obesity is…
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Obese Child Placed in Foster Care Ordered into Uncle’s Custody
A Cleveland judge has reportedly decided that an obese third grader who was removed from his mother’s custody after she was apparently unable to control his weight can now be removed from foster care. County child welfare officials had convinced the court in October 2011 that the 218-pound child was in imminent danger; they had…
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Court Recognizes Severe Obesity as Disability Under ADA
Denying an employer’s motions for summary judgment in an employment discrimination suit, a federal court in Louisiana has determined that severe obesity, regardless of its basis, qualifies as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. EEOC v. Res. for Human Dev., Inc., No. 10-03322 (E.D. La., decided December 7, 2011). The court did not…
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European Policymakers Urged to Adopt Anti-Tobacco Tactics in War on Obesity
During a recent discussion about family and childhood nutrition sponsored by the Brussels-based think-tank Friends of Europe, the World Health Organization’s representative to the European Union reportedly called for imposing steep taxes on salty and sugary foods to address excessive eating. Roberto Bertollini apparently claimed that the campaign against tobacco, including high taxes and government…
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Are Cupcakes as Addictive as Cocaine?
According to Bloomberg reporters Robert Langreth and Duane Stanford, as researchers publish more studies suggesting that processed foods and sugary drinks have drug-like effects on the brain, “the science of addiction could become a game changer for the $1 trillion food and beverage industries.” In their November 2, 2011, article “Fatty Foods Addictive Like Cocaine…
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NIH Funds Global Center of Excellence on Childhood Obesity
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health $16 million “to establish a global center of excellence to address the childhood obesity epidemic.” According to a Johns-Hopkins news release, the initiative will involve more than 40 investigators from 15 U.S. and international institutions to integrate basic science,…
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WSJ Explores Child Obesity in Parental Custody Context
Wall Street Journal reporters Ashby Jones and Shirley Wang consider in “Obesity Fuels Custody Fights” how family courts have increasingly been asked to determine whether nutrition or obesity should be controlling factors in child-custody lawsuits. According to the article, the issue arises in several guises: sometimes the child is obese; other times a junk food…