BMJ  2007;334:66 (13 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.334.7584.66-b

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Using the law to fight obesity

More than 60% of adults in the US are overweight and one quarter are obese. Children are getting fatter every year, and experts estimate that eating too much and exercising too little could shorten the life span of an entire generation by two to five years. The health consequences of being overweight already cost the US taxpayer and US employers about $75bn (£39bn; 58bn) a year in medical expenses alone, without the indirect costs of lost productivity. Is it time to forget individual responsibility and use the force of law to reverse this epidemic?

We should at least consider it, writes one lawyer from Washington DC. Plenty of legislative options are available to governments (federal, state, or local) with the political will to take decisive action, and some already have. The least controversial are those that make it easier for people to be healthy, such as forcing food manufacturers to label their food clearly and honestly, or improving poor neighbourhoods by building parks and limiting fast food chains. Tougher measures—such as taxing snack foods, removing sponsored vending machines from schools, and outright bans of unhealthy ingredients—are less popular politically because of their paternalistic overtones. That hasn't deterred the authorities in New York, however. By July 2007 restaurants in the city will be banned from serving meals containing more than 0.5 g of trans fats.

References

JAMA 2007;297:87-90[Full Text]

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