Assessing Information on Public Health Law Best Practices for Obesity Prevention and Control

Mississippi House Bill 282 (2008).

Forbes.com, “Mississippi Law Would Ban Serving Obese Diners,” February 4, 2008, available at http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/02/04/afx4612054.html (last visited March 5, 2009).

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Obesity Trends among U.S. Adults between 1985 and 2006,” available at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps (last visited March 5, 2009).

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity: Overweight and Obesity, a Vision for the Future,” available at http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/calltoaction/fact_vision.htm (last visited March 5, 2009); see National Institutes of Health, Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults, September 1998, at 26–27, available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=obesity (last visited March 5, 2009) (hereinafter cited as NIH Guidelines).

Peterson K. E. Fox M. K. , “Addressing the Epidemic of Childhood Obesity through School-Based Interventions: What Has Been Done and Where Do We Go From Here?” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 35, no. 1 (2007): 113–130.

Id., at 118.

Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004, Public Law 108–265 (June 30, 2004).

United States Department of Agriculture, “Healthy Schools: Local Wellness Policy,” available at http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Healthy/wellnesspolicy.html (last visited March 5, 2009).

School Nutrition Association, From Cupcakes to Carrots: Local Wellness Policies One Year Later, September 2007, available at http://www.schoolnutrition.org/uploadedFiles_old/ASFSA/newsroom/pressreleases/From_Cupcakes_to_Carrots.pdf (last visited March 5, 2009).

Schwartz M. B. Brownell K. D. , “Actions Necessary to Prevent Childhood Obesity: Creating the Climate for Change,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 35 no. 1 (2007): 78–89.

Id., at 30.

Id.

National Conference of State Legislatures, “Childhood Obesity — 2005 Update and Overview of Policy Options,” available at http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/ChildhoodObesity-2005.htm (last visited March 5, 2009).

National Conference of State Legislatures, “Vending Machines in Schools,” available at http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/vending.htm (current as of March 1, 2005) (last visited March 5, 2009).

See National Conference of State Legislatures, “Access to Healthy Food,” available at http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/publichealth/foodaccess/index.htm (last visited March 5, 2009).

Such laws could well run afoul of the First Amendment's commercial speech doctrine. A full discussion of that issue is beyond the scope of this article. See Alderman J. Smith J. A. , and Fried E. J. , “Application of Law to the Childhood Obesity Epidemic,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 35 no. 1 (2007): 90–112, especially pages 96–100.

Arkansas Act 1220 (2003).

Scheier L. M. , “School Health Report Cards Attempt to Address the Obesity Epidemic,” American Dietetic Association, 104 no. 3 (2004): 341–344, at 342.

Id.

Ikeda J. P. Crawford P. B. , and Woodward-Lopez G. , “BMI Screening in Schools: Helpful or Harmful,” Health Education Research, 21 no. 6 (2006): 761–769, at 766–767.

National Conference of State Legislatures, “Body Mass Index (BMI) Legislation and Student Fitness Screening,” available at http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/ChildhoodObesity-2006.htm#body (last visited March 5, 2009).

Levi J. Segal L. M. , and Gadola E. , “F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America,” Trust for America's Health, at 17–19, available at http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?id=20314 (hereinafter cited as Trust for America's Health).

Id.

Id.; see also World Health Organization, Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, May 2004, at 8, available at http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/strategy/eb11344/en/index.html (last visited March 5, 2009); National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Issue Brief, “The Obesity Epidemic – How States Can Trim the ‘Fat,’” 2002, at 7, available at http://www.nga.org/cda/files/OBESITYIB.pdf (last visited March 5, 2009).

Kuchler F. Golan E. Variyam J. N. , and Crutchfield S. R. , “Obesity Policy and the Law of Unintended Consequences,” Amber Waves, 3 no. 3 (June 2005): 26–33, at 31–32.

Savage L. C. Johnson R. K. , “Labeling in Restaurants: Will It Make a Difference?” Nutrition Bulletin, 31 no. 4 (2006): 332–338, at 334.

Id.

Id., at 333.

Id.

Id.

Gaudette K. , “Nutrition Data Coming to Restaurant-Chain Menus in King County by Year's End,” Seattle Times, March 18, 2008; Lueck T. J. , “New York City Plans Limits on Restaurants' Use of Trans Fats,” New York Times, September 27, 2006; see National Conference of State Legislatures, “Trans Fat and Menu Labeling Legislation,” available at http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/transfatmenulabelingbills.htm (last visited March 5, 2009); Woo S. , “Push for Calories on Menus Gains,” Wall Street Journal, June 11, 2008.

“New York Begins Citing Restaurants that Lack Calorie Counts on Menus,” Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2008.

Stender S. Dyerberg J. , and Astrup A. , “Fast Food: Unfriendly and Unhealthy,” International Journal of Obesity, 31 no. 6 (2007): 887–890, at 888.

Hayne C. L. Moran P. A. , and Ford M. M. , “Regulating Environments to Reduce Obesity,” Journal of Public Health Policy 25, nos. 3-4 (2004): 391–407, at 399–400.

Id.

Krent H. J. , “Whose Business Is Your Pancreas? Potential Privacy Problems in New York City's Mandatory Diabetes Registry,” Annals of Health Law 17, no. 1 (2008).

See PA H.R. 13 (2003), PA S.B. 1026 (2004).

Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, “Governor Rendell Says Two State Programs Earn National Recognition for Innovations,” available at http://www.newpa.com/newsDetail.aspx?id=955 (last visited April 28, 2008).

The Food Trust, “Fresh Food Financing Initiative,” available at http://www.thefoodtrust.org/php/programs/super.market.campaign.php#1 (last visited March 5, 2009).

Id.

Id. See also Trust for America's Health, supra note 22, at 37–38.

Id. (Trust for America's Health), at 37–38.

Id., at 38.

Id., at 39.

National Conference of State Legislatures, “Childhood Obesity — 2007 Update of Legislative Policy Options,” available at http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/ChildhoodObesity-2007.htm (last visited March 5, 2009); Health States Initiative, “Trends in State Public Health Legislation: July 1, 2007-December 21, 2007, Chapter 2: Obesity,” available at http://www.healthystates.csg.org (last visited March 5, 2009).

See NIH Guidelines, supra note 4.

See Trust for America's Health, supra note 22, at 15.

See NIH Guidelines, supra note 4, at 9.

U.S. Census Bureau, “Facts on the Hispanic or Latino Population,” available at http://www.census.gov/pubinfo/www/NEWhispML1.html (last visited March 5, 2009); U.S. Census Bureau, “Facts on the Black or African American Population,” available at http://www.census.gov/pubinfo/www/NEWa-famML1.html (last visited March 5, 2009).

See, e.g., the suggestions for legal preparedness in Rees C. M. O'Brien D. Jr. Briss P. A. Miles J. Namkung P. , and Libbey P. M. , “Assessing Information and Best Practices for Public Health Emergency Legal Preparedness,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 36 no. 1, Supplement (2008): 42–46.