Posted by
Rich on Monday, February 11, 2008 10:14:11 AM
It was great that Mississippi State Representative John Read, a
Republican, helped write a bill that would require restaurants to not
serve people who are obese. What a hoot.
What was even funnier was the response from nutritionists and health experts as pointed out in a local editorial, "Weighing for a table".
According
to the editorial, "The bill drew international attention, but mostly
from health experts condemning his efforts with word[s] like
"offensive" and "insane."
"Are these legislators fighting to get
rid of soft drinks in schools? Are they working to stop the relentless
marketing of unhealthy foods to children? Are they doing anything about
the fact that poor people do not have access to healthy foods?" asked
Kelly Brownell at Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and
Obesity."
The local paper opined, "Banning people from
restaurants obviously isn't part of the answer. Removing unhealthful
items from our personal diets is."
No where in the world is
there more healthy food available to us and our children than in the
United States. Kelly Brown from Yale needs to take me to a place where
"poor people do not have access to healthy food". Even in McDonald's
you can buy a very healthy salad and get a glass of water for free.
Where
ever there are vending machines you can find a choice between regular
Coke or Pepsi, diet sodas, water and juices. Marketing by restaurants,
supermarkets, local health stores and fast food chains is common, we
can listen to these ads or not.
The whole point is government
cannot and should not try to protect us from ourselves. Families are
best suited to promoting positive behavior. Let's make sure we have
strong traditional families and most of our health and social problems
will disappear.