States Look To Combat Obesity With Laws

[Guest guest]

States Look To Combat Obesity With Laws

December 23, 2003

NEW YORK (AP) -- Fighting to shed a few pounds and control

that waistline? For the soaring number of Americans who are becoming

dangerously overweight, states and cities across the country want to

help.

With the U.S. Surgeon General calling

obesity an epidemic, legislators nationwide are offering measures to

encourage healthy food choices and ban the worst temptations.

Skeptics say government should stay away

from trying to legislate something as personal as what we eat. But

supporters say they can't ignore a growing public health problem or how

it drives the ever-rising cost of health care.

Few ideas have become law yet. But

states have considered scores of bills this year that would, among other

things: get kids exercising; warn restaurant eaters about fat, sugar and

cholesterol on the menu; and, ban sugary sodas and fattening chips from

school vending machines.

In a Louisiana experiment, the state will pay for a few government

employees' gastric bypass surgery -- or stomach stapling -- to see if it

reduces health care costs.

" As a country, we have to wake up.

We are in an epidemic, " said Nevada state Sen. Wiener, who has had her own

battles with weight but now is a champion weightlifter.

She heads a state committee gathering

data on obesity, and how the legislature, food companies, the health care

system and schools can act. " We're all paying the price, " she

said.

Under the laws that have passed, states

will:

--Test the BMI -- body-mass index, a

ratio of height to weight -- of students in six Arkansas schools, and send results home. Pediatricians say

regular tests like this should be performed nationwide to track children

at risk of becoming obese.

--Ban junk food from vending machines in

California. New York City, in an administrative decision, banned hard candy,

doughnuts, soda and salty chips from its vending machines.

--Require physical education programs in

Louisiana schools, and encourage it in Arkansas and Mississippi. Though once a staple, such daily classes are now

only required by state law in Illinois; other states let local officials decide or require

exercise less often.

Public campaigns aimed at getting people

to change their eating habits also remain popular. Billboards across West Virginia, featuring photos of bulging stomachs and couch

potatoes, exhort people to " Put Down Chips & Trim Those

Hips. " Houston, Philadelphia and San , Texas have started " get fit " drives.

The statistics show the need for such

efforts. The number of obese adults has doubled in 20 years, and is now

up to nearly 59 million people, or almost a third of all American adults.

Childhood obesity has tripled, with one

child in six considered obese.

As the pounds add up, so do the health

care costs, because obesity is linked to diabetes, heart disease, and

deaths from cancer -- among other ailments.

West Virginia found that, for state employees, costs for obesity

have more than doubled since 1995, rising from $37 million to $78

million, now nearly a fifth of the employees' $400 million health plan.

Still, some are critical both of the

statistics and the proposals.

" There's a lot of fear and

hysteria, " said Mike Burita

at the Center for Consumer Freedom, an advocacy group for the restaurant

and food industry. " We're allowing government and these public

health groups to dictate our food choices to us. "

Among his top targets is the Center for

Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group that produces a

steady flow of warnings about unhealthy food, from movie popcorn to

Chinese takeout.

" It's OK to have a cheeseburger and

fries, but it shouldn't be a mainstay of your diet, " Burita said. Exercise and education are the

solutions, he said. " Kids went from playing dodge ball to playing

computer games. "

The skeptics are being heard. A Texas proposal to limit school children's access to snack

and soda vending machines died after the state soft drink association

complained. Most of the 80 or so obesity-related bills around the country

also failed to pass.

" It's difficult to want to tackle

something like this, something as huge as this, " said Weiner, the Nevada lawmaker. She plans to bring together people from

the food industry and the public health community to work with lawmakers.

The federal government is acting, too.

The Bush administration urged insurance companies to offer premium

discounts to people with healthier lifestyles. It has started giving

grants to cities to target unhealthy habits.

More immediate changes are brewing on

the state and local level.

In West Virginia, the state agency that insures public employees has

started offering exercise benefits and diet counseling, in addition to

the state's advertising campaign.

" If we don't get a handle on this,

this generation of kids coming up will have a shorter life span than

their parents, " said Nidia ,

wellness manager at West Virginia's Public Employees Insurance Agency. " That's

scandalous. "

Copyright 2003 The

Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Much

Love,

Deanna

LUPUS

Serenity Prayer...

Lord, grant me the

serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things

I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of doctors I shot when they said,

You're perfectly healthy, it's all in your head "