By Kellie Nelson (J.D. Candidate 2015 – Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University).
As the opening line of James G. Hodge, Jr. et al’s article titled New Frontiers in Obesity Control: Innovative Public Health Legal Interventions, obesity is analogized to global issues like cancer, influenza, HIV/Aids, West Nile Virus, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. The authors, all affiliated with ASU’s Public Health Law and Policy Program, set forth five proposed novel legal interventions to address the rising rate of obesity in America:
1. Obesity Laden Pricing
Beyond being tasty, fast, accessible, and portable, junk foods are also cheap initially. Individuals with lower incomes typically chose food based on taste rather than nutritional value. Although costs of fast food may appear cheaper, in reality, the costs lay dormant until obesity issues arise later in life. Rather than pricing junk foods solely based on costs of production, distribution and sale, pricing should also include the additional costs from future negative impacts from their ingestion, namely the development of obesity later in life. Economically, increases in the price of junk food would reduce consumption.
2. Tax Incentives to Purchase of Healthy Foods
By providing a tax incentive for those that might use price as a deterrent from purchasing healthy food, an increase in consumption of healthier options will likely follow.
3. Tax Incentives for Restaurants that Offer Healthier Menu Items
Beyond tax incentives for individuals, this proposal suggests a tax incentive for restaurants to serve and market healthier options. This may deter any negative industry reactions to sheer price increases and stymie lobbying efforts attempting to persuade restaurants to advertise un-healthy options.
4. Tax Incentives for Weight Loss and Physical Activity
No single weight loss regime works for everyone. Rather than focusing purely on food, the authors push further to provide tax incentives for individuals whose weight is unaffected by diet alone who exhibit healthy behaviors. Individuals with a healthy weight measured by BMI, body fat percentage or waist-to-hop ratio would receive a tax credit. For those that cannot validate a healthy weight during a given year, all qualifying weight-loss related expenditures (such as weight loss programs, gym memberships, organized sports fees and exercise equipment) would qualify for tax credits.
5. A Ban on the Sale and Possession of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) Among Minors
Perhaps the most controversial proposal in the article is a ban on the sale and possession of all SSBs for minors. Currently, many schools are implementing bans on SSBs on school grounds and during events, but this is not curbing child and adolescent obesity rates to any significant degree. A zero tolerance approach concerning SSBs and minors, similar to alcohol and tobacco prohibitions, would be more impactful. All retail outlets would be prohibited from selling SSBs to minors and minors would be unable to possess such beverages in public.
Implementation of these proposals, as laid out in considerable detail in the article, “has the potential to positively change the trajectory of [the obesity] epidemic.”