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A Proposed Ban on the Sale to and Possession of Caloric Sweetened Beverages by Minors in Public

Public Health and the Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Extract

Obesity is the definitive epidemic of the modern era in the United States. Its well-documented public health impacts, especially related to children and adolescents, are horrific. Nearly one-third of American minors are overweight; over 50% of them are obese. Already, these kids suffer from multiple adverse physical and mental health conditions. Sadly, absent serious communal and individual interventions, their lives may be cut short compared to their own parents’ life expectancy. While recent surveillance suggests childhood obesity may be trending down slightly in some populations, public health experts remain concerned about the threat obesity poses to the health of America's youth.

The concurrent travesty underlying childhood obesity is the relative societal failure to slow and reverse its spread.

Type
JLME Column
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2014

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