Food Laws Aren't the Solution to Childhood Obesity

I understand there’s an “obesity crisis,” especially among young people, but are anti-soda, anti-McDonald’s or anti-anything laws and regulations the answer?

Hardly. A lot of people complain about having government intrude into their lives, but seem to embrace these fabulously intrusive federal, state and local regulations. It’s a slippery slope: What’s next  . . . a tax on chocolate, banning orange juice, a penalty for buying salt? 

Isn’t it a parent’s job to steer kids away from those sodas? Not drive through McDonald’s every day, or any other fast-food place, and see that their kids eat better?

Of course it is. But in today’s world, government officials often think they know better, parental responsibilities be damned. Parents need to act like parents and take responsibility for what they feed their children.

While some argue this type of legislation is needed to stem childhood obesity, I disagree. Some states and localities may add taxes onto soda sales and other “bad” foods. These places say they’ll use the income to fund things like healthcare and playgrounds. I doubt it. Once the money starts coming in, politicians will dump it into general funds so they can continue to spend your money how they want.

Remember the billions of dollars states collected from the tobacco industry (about $250 billion over 25 years)? Those dollars were supposed to go into healthcare and smoking cessation programs, but little has . . . less than 2 cents of every dollar.

Trust not a politician, especially when dollar signs are in the air.

There’s a lot more packaged lousy food and fast-food places around today than when I was a kid (ok . . . no saber tooth tiger burger jokes . . .), but the information about packaged food is right there on the label, right there either in the restaurant or on the web, and certainly up front in the media. It takes a little thought and it takes some responsibility, but that’s not the government’s job.

Eating better is an obvious answer to helping to eliminate obesity, but new laws, taxes and penalties aren't. Besides the fact that there no real evidence they work, food penalties are a bad idea and too intrusive.

I have no problem with the government setting guidelines, but let’s not continue to have Big Brother be our legal food guide with misdirected legislation.