White House Seeks Controls on Food Marketing

[DavidS]

White House Task Force Seeks Fight on Childhood Obesity - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

A White House report warns, "The childhood obesity epidemic in America is a national health crisis." The review by the Task Force on Childhood Obesity says one out of every three children is overweight or obese. The task force is a key part of First Lady Michelle Obama's campaign to solve the problem of obesity within a generation. President Obama ordered the comprehensive review of the issue. The report includes familiar themes, emphasizing the importance of improved nutrition and physical activity. It also calls for some new and dramatic controls on the marketing of unhealthy foods.

I can hear the Hannity talking points on this already. The Liberals don't trust Americans to make personal decisions for themselves, so they are taking away personal responsibility and making us depend more on the government.


He has a valid point to be honest.



However, so does the White House. If we keep marketing Fruity Pebbles to kids and parents keep buying sugary cereals for their kids, then childhood obesity is going to keep rising and rising and our children are going to get the same health problems a 60 year old would have. Diabetes is already affecting our children much more than it ever has and we're looking at the first generation of Americans that will live SHORTER lives than the previous generation. A lot of Americans are uneducated as to what proper nutrition is and don't know that these sugary cereals are far worse than cigarettes.



If the government can control the marketing of cigarettes, can't it then control the marketing of sugary cereals? Then what's to stop the government from controlling how we market our products to consumers at all? What is the limit? Is the government going to tell McDonalds that Ronald McDonald is illegal and they can't market fast food to children? Is the government going to tell me how I can and cannot market my magazine? Or Bob's Shoe Company? Where will government regulation stop? Are we becoming socialist?



But if the government doesn't step in, then healthcare costs are going to continue to rise. Americans cannot be trusted to make the right decisions food-wise because look at how obese America has become and it's getting worse. You want to talk about terrorists killing 3,000 Americans on 9/11 and spend billions of dollars on that, but what about obesity which kills millions of Americans each year? Why do 10 year olds have diabetes? If parents can't be trusted to help their children and make the right food choices for them, shouldn't someone step in and do something?

 

[xsited1]

Obama = Control

Resistance is futile.

 

[Dr Gregg]

This is just horseshit IMO. It's the parents fault for being shitty parents and caving in to every demand their kid has. Sure ads for junk foods target kids, but ultimately its the parents responsibility, not the government.

And this is nothing more than proposed things, not "take control of marketing" yet another USMB dishonest title

 

[acu-man]

I ate sugar cereals as a kid and I never got fat. This is all BS and as the previous poster just said it is all about control. Wait until Obamacare kicks in in full. Our food intake will be meticulously regulated by the government under the guise of saving money on healthcare expenditures.

 

[Stephanie]

All HAIL the Obama and his comrades in Arms.

This is the change we can and will believe in.

thanks to you folks who voted for all this.

 

[masquerade]

This is just horseshit IMO. It's the parents fault for being shitty parents and caving in to every demand their kid has. Sure ads for junk foods target kids, but ultimately its the parents responsibility, not the government.

Gasp! A Dr. Gregg post I agree with!

 

[GHook93]

I think Hannity would be RIGHT! Don't control marketing. That is a BAD slippery slope. What I think they should do and should have been doing for a while is require ALL restaurants to put nutritional values on their meals, just like the food in the grocery store.

That is what they should require, dictating how people can market. Hannity would be right to critize this.

Where do kids eat the most? School, maybe school lunches should be more nutritional.

ALSO, where is the epidemic the worst? Amongst Latinos and Blacks. Maybe look into that also, but the would be racist no?

 

[DavidS]

This is just horseshit IMO. It's the parents fault for being shitty parents and caving in to every demand their kid has. Sure ads for junk foods target kids, but ultimately its the parents responsibility, not the government.

But if the parents are failing their responsibilities, which they are, who is going to protect the children? Childhood obesity is an epidemic in America and parents are doing nothing.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Is this the beginning of a trend?

Happy Meal toys could be banned in Santa Clara County - Los Angeles Times

Convinced that Happy Meals and other food promotions aimed at children could make kids fat as well as happy, county officials in Silicon Valley are poised to outlaw the little toys that often come with high-calorie offerings.

It's not uncle's responsibility to tell people what they should and shouldn't eat. If the parents don't want to take responsibility and parent their kids and the kids suffer from it . . . it's their problem. Obesity and rising health care costs? Charge obese people a higher premium because they're a higher risk.

 

[DavidS]

Childhood Obesity - DASH/HealthyYouth

Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. The prevalence of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008. The prevalence of obesity among adolescents aged 12 to 19 years increased from 5.0% to 18.1%.1,2
Obesity is the result of caloric imbalance (too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed) and is mediated by genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors.3,4 Childhood obesity has both immediate and long-term health impacts:

• Obese youth are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure. In a population-based sample of 5- to 17-year-olds, 70% of obese youth had at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease.5
• Children and adolescents who are obese are at greater risk for bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem.3,6
• Obese youth are more likely than youth of normal weight to become overweight or obese adults, and therefore more at risk for associated adult health problems, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.6

 

[Sherry]

Another reason for them to want to regulate the internet.

 

[SpidermanTuba]

This is just horseshit IMO. It's the parents fault for being shitty parents and caving in to every demand their kid has. Sure ads for junk foods target kids, but ultimately its the parents responsibility, not the government.

And this is nothing more than proposed things, not "take control of marketing" yet another USMB dishonest title

Are parents in the U.S. just shittier parents than parents in other countries?

 

[Nate]

This is just horseshit IMO. It's the parents fault for being shitty parents and caving in to every demand their kid has. Sure ads for junk foods target kids, but ultimately its the parents responsibility, not the government.

And this is nothing more than proposed things, not "take control of marketing" yet another USMB dishonest title

Are parents in the U.S. just shittier parents than parents in other countries?

Nope, this is becoming a global pandemic;

Worldwide Obesity Trends - Globesity
The worldwide incidence of obesity is increasing. In fact a new word - "globesity" has now been coined to reflect the escalation of global obesity and overweight. In 1998, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a report entitled "Obesity: Preventing and Managing the Global Epidemic", which classified obesity as a growing epidemic. According to WHO, if immediate action is not taken, millions will suffer from an array of serious weight-related disorders.

Global Overweight Now Rivals Underweight
For the first time, the number of overweight individuals around the world rivals the number who are underweight. Developing nations have also joined the ranks of countries troubled by obesity. A 1999 United Nations (UN) survey found obesity growing in all developing regions, even in countries beset by hunger. In China, the number of overweight people rose from less than 10 percent to 15 percent in just three years. In Brazil and Colombia, the figure of overweight is about 40 percent - comparable with a number of European countries. Even sub-Saharan Africa, where most of the world's hungry live, is seeing an increase in obesity, especially among urban women. In all regions, obesity appears to escalate as income increases.

Obesity Worldwide - Global Overweight

It seems as a nation expands it's pocketbooks so does the average waist size of it's people.

 

[PoliticalChic]

This is just horseshit IMO. It's the parents fault for being shitty parents and caving in to every demand their kid has. Sure ads for junk foods target kids, but ultimately its the parents responsibility, not the government.

But if the parents are failing their responsibilities, which they are, who is going to protect the children? Childhood obesity is an epidemic in America and parents are doing nothing.

Good thread.

James Madison said "Education is the true foundation of civil liberty."

That is a very different setting for a nation than 'I know what's best, and I'll use force to make you do it."

 

[DiamondDave]

This is just horseshit IMO. It's the parents fault for being shitty parents and caving in to every demand their kid has. Sure ads for junk foods target kids, but ultimately its the parents responsibility, not the government.

But if the parents are failing their responsibilities, which they are, who is going to protect the children? Childhood obesity is an epidemic in America and parents are doing nothing.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh2sWSVRrmo]YouTube - Children[/ame]

Yep... government is not seeing what government wants to see out of parents.. so time for government to become more of the nanny state controller because they know what's best for you

 

[DavidS]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1xNerb4yE8]YouTube - Food Inc Part 1 of 10[/ame]

Watch this movie, it will change your life and how you view food.

 

[DavidS]

This is just horseshit IMO. It's the parents fault for being shitty parents and caving in to every demand their kid has. Sure ads for junk foods target kids, but ultimately its the parents responsibility, not the government.

But if the parents are failing their responsibilities, which they are, who is going to protect the children? Childhood obesity is an epidemic in America and parents are doing nothing.

Good thread.

James Madison said "Education is the true foundation of civil liberty."

That is a very different setting for a nation than 'I know what's best, and I'll use force to make you do it."

Obama admin isn't going to "make you do it." They're just going after the companies that advertise these unhealthy products, much like the gov't went after cigarette companies and forced them to stop advertising to children.

 

[Zoom-boing]

 

[Claudette]

Good thread is right.

Get the kids out from in front of the TV, Computer, Gameboy, X-Box.

Jeeze. When I was a kid we all got home from school, grabbed the ball, mitt and bat and headed out to play ball. We all had chores Mow the lawn etc. Believe me, nobody in my house growing up got fat sitting around watching TV.

I don't think the foods we ate were any different from whats available today. Kids are fat because they eat and don't get any exercise.

No amount of Govt control is going to cure that ailment. Jeeze.

 

[PoliticalChic]

But if the parents are failing their responsibilities, which they are, who is going to protect the children? Childhood obesity is an epidemic in America and parents are doing nothing.

Good thread.

James Madison said "Education is the true foundation of civil liberty."

That is a very different setting for a nation than 'I know what's best, and I'll use force to make you do it."

Obama admin isn't going to "make you do it." They're just going after the companies that advertise these unhealthy products, much like the gov't went after cigarette companies and forced them to stop advertising to children.

I have often found some board members unable to move on to what is known as 'Second Level Thinking," as in following a thought with 'but what if..."

I hope that does not include you.

In the article of the OP, "If voluntary efforts fail to limit marketing of less healthy products to young viewers, the task force suggests the FCC should consider new rules on commercials in children's programming. It also challenges food retailers to stop using in-store displays to sell unhealthy food items to children. "

So, what do you think that means?

And where in the Constitution do you see "Determine what citizens eat"?


Still wedded to "Obama admin isn't going to "make you do it." ?