Obesity Law: Rushing into the Void

Edward P. RichardsDirector, Program in Law, Science, and Public Health

Harvey A. Peltier Professor of LawLSU Law Center

richards@lsu.eduhttp://biotech.law.lsu.edu

Key Policy Questions

Why Obesity? Why Now? Why Pass Laws? What Can We Learn From The Past?

Why Obesity?

Contributes to diabetes, cardio-vascular disease, and cancer

Increasing at a dramatic rate over the past 2 decades

Increasing fastest in children Fatter earlier means sicker earlier, longer, and

more expensively A serious health problem that disproportionately

affects the poor, blacks, and American Indians

The Most Important Reason

COSTS

Costs of Obesity

Direct health care costs for the management of diabetes and other secondary diseases

Cost of SSI disability payments Costs of disability to the economy Medicaid costs to the states

Why Now?

Federal government wants to do something about health care costs Obesity is the “do it yourself” solution Put a little money into regulation and education and

the rest is up to individuals Avoids the hard issues:

Access to care Drug pricing Etc.

Why do Motives Matter?

Reducing obesity will take a very long term Preventing the next generation from being as

fat is the important goal Costs will go up before they go down

The complications of the already obese The cost of obesity treatment

Governmental timeframe

Is Obesity an Unintended Consequence of Past Laws?

Farm Policy

Make food more affordable Make a larger variety of food available Make meat affordable for everyone Make more fresh food available Unintended consequences

Supersizing as marketing edge Larger portions at home The snack culture

Land Use

Separate commercial and residential development to make neighborhoods more healthful

Encourage greenspace development to reduce the cost of housing

Low density housing requires automobiles, so there is no need to walk

Building Regulations

Fire regulations keep stairs closed and at the edge of the building

Security regulations often limit routine access to stairs

ADA and other regulations require easy access for handicapped persons, but non-discrimination regs also prevent this access from being limited to disabled persons

Vending Machines in Schools

Driven by budget cuts Generate important income for many schools Lead to the breakdown of rules against eating in

schools, otherwise no income If you eliminate the vending machines, will you

make up the income? If you put “healthy” snacks, are you missing the

point that unlimited snacks are the problem?

School Lunches – Why Fast Food?

Many schools are overcrowded Lunches are served to many more students than

the kitchens and cafeterias are designed for Fast food, especially when it is supplied by third

parties, is the only way to serve the crowd Will banning fast food result in better lunches or

just encourage schools to let students leave campus to eat?

Physical Activity of Students

Many schools do not require students to have organized physical activity each day PE was cut as budgets were cut PE was cut to make more room for substantive

courses School increased homework so students do not

have time to play after school

What Should We Learn From Past Mistakes?

Think before you legislate - the science does not support a lot of the common sense solutions Look hard at the underlying reasons for current

behavior and address those causes directly Analyze the possible unintended

consequences of new laws Develop a long term strategy, including money

What are Potential Unintended Consequences?