Tag: obesity
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Alice Lichtenstein, David Ludwig, “Bring Back Home Economics Education,” Journal of the American Medical Association, May 11, 2010
Tufts University Professor Alice Lichtenstein and Harvard Medical School Professor David Ludwig team up in this commentary to advocate bringing back home economics to school classrooms as a way to combat the country’s childhood obesity epidemic. “Instruction in basic food preparation and meal planning skills needs to be part of any long-term solution,” they write.…
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Neil Buchanan, “Why New York’s (and Other Jurisdictions’) Food Regulations Do Not Violate Freedom of Choice: The False Notion That Our Tastes Are of Our Own Making,” FindLaw.com, May 20, 2010
Authored by a Cornell Law School visiting scholar with a Ph.D. in economics, this legal commentary suggests that government critics err when they call efforts to address obesity an infringement on their freedom of choice. According to the article, this objection has “no meaning in the context of a modern economy” where “we are being…
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Federal Appeals Court Sends Obesity Disability Litigation Back to Trial Court
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has returned to a federal district court litigation alleging that a karate instructor was fired because he was obese in violation of a New York City law that forbids disability-based workplace discrimination. Spiegel v. Schulmann, No. 06-5914 (2d Cir., decided May 6, 2010). According to the appeals court, no cases…
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White House Child Obesity Task Force Issues Action Plan
While the president’s Task Force on Childhood Obesity released its action plan with 70 specific recommendations to significant praise and fanfare this week, nutrition professor and author Marion Nestle questioned whether the ideas will actually work given their reliance on voluntary collaboration and participation. She said in her blog, “Voluntary, as evidence demonstrates, does not…
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House and Senate Lawmakers Introduce Obesity-Related Legislation
Bipartisan House sponsors of a bill (H.R. 5209) that would establish a comprehensive national approach to addressing obesity in the United States held a press conference to unveil the measure on May 5, 2010. Appearing with Representatives Ron Kind (D-Wis.), Mary Bono Mack (R-Cal.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), and Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) to introduce the Healthy Communities…
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IOM Report Offers Framework for Obesity Prevention Decision Making
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has issued a report titled “Bridging the Evidence Gap in Obesity Prevention: A Framework to Inform Decision Making” to guide the use of relevant evidence about obesity prevention policies and programs. According to the report brief, IOM’s Food and Nutrition Board reviewed “what is considered to be the relevant information…
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Marc Ambinder, “Beating Obesity,” The Atlantic, May 2010
“If we are to solve the many problems that obesity is creating for American society, we must first move beyond the stale ‘willpower versus the food-industrial complex’ debate,” contends politics editor Marc Ambinder in the May 2010 edition of The Atlantic. Examining the powerful interest groups arrayed against each other in this fight, Ambinder claims that…
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Liverpool Weighs Ban on Word “Obesity”
The Liverpool City Council is reportedly considering a ban on the word “obesity” after the Liverpool Schools Parliament, a student body organization, expressed concern that some could find the term offensive. Although some experts have apparently disputed this contention, suggesting that the word adequately reflects the severity of the health condition, students argue that the…