No food for fatties
You know how some of us keep warning about the slippery slope of stupid activist litigation and legislation meant to "improve" our lives in ways we never wanted, and how it will inevitably lead to absurd results? We warn that presuming people are too stupid to run their own lives will lead to lawsuits against tobacco companies, and Shazam! That's what happens. Then we caution that lawsuits against tobacco companies will lead to lawsuits against fast food companies for "tricking" people into super-sizing their fries and ... crap .. somebody takes the ball and runs with it. Then we raise red flags about outlawing products that people like but are bad for them, because that could easily justify banning ... oh ... margarine. Then some bastard goes and does just that. And I distinctly remember arguing that if you punish bartenders for serving drunks, you might as well fine waiters for putting a plate down in front of fat people. Now ...
Via Hit & Run comes news of proposed Mississippi legislation to ban restaurants from serving meals to fat people. No, I am not kidding, and neither is the author, Representative W.T. Mayhall, Jr. Says Sandy Szwarc of Junkfood Science:
The full text of the bill (available here in PDF) says:
True, this bit of legislation is unlikely to make it into law at this time, but it's absolutely mind-boggling that we've reached the point at which lawmakers find such mandates even conceivable. I'm officially giving up on pointing out where any line of legislative reasoning is likely to lead for fear that I'll give somebody ideas.
Via Hit & Run comes news of proposed Mississippi legislation to ban restaurants from serving meals to fat people. No, I am not kidding, and neither is the author, Representative W.T. Mayhall, Jr. Says Sandy Szwarc of Junkfood Science:
I called lead author, Rep. Mayhall, and asked if this was serious legislation or tongue-in-cheek to make a point. He kindly took a moment to answer my question while the legislature was in session. He said that while, regrettably, he doesn’t believe his bill will pass, this is serious. He wrote it, he said, because of the “urgency of the obesity crisis and need for government action.” He hopes it will “call attention to the serious problem of obesity and what it is costing the Medicare system.”
The full text of the bill (available here in PDF) says:
HOUSE BILL NO. 282
1 AN ACT TO PROHIBIT CERTAIN FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS FROM SERVING
2 FOOD TO ANY PERSON WHO IS OBESE, BASED ON CRITERIA PRESCRIBED BY
3 THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH; TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT TO
4 PREPARE WRITTEN MATERIALS THAT DESCRIBE AND EXPLAIN THE CRITERIA
5 FOR DETERMINING WHETHER A PERSON IS OBESE AND TO PROVIDE THOSE
6 MATERIALS TO THE FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS; TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT TO
7 MONITOR THE FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS
8 OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
9 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
10 SECTION 1. (1) The provisions of this section shall apply
11 to any food establishment that is required to obtain a permit from
12 the State Department of Health under Section 41-3-15(4)(f), that
13 operates primarily in an enclosed facility and that has five (5)
14 or more seats for customers.
15 (2) Any food establishment to which this section applies
16 shall not be allowed to serve food to any person who is obese,
17 based on criteria prescribed by the State Department of Health
18 after consultation with the Mississippi Council on Obesity
19 Prevention and Management established under Section 41-101-1 or
20 its successor. The State Department of Health shall prepare
21 written materials that describe and explain the criteria for
22 determining whether a person is obese, and shall provide those
23 materials to all food establishments to which this section
24 applies. A food establishment shall be entitled to rely on the
25 criteria for obesity in those written materials when determining
26 whether or not it is allowed to serve food to any person.
27 (3) The State Department of Health shall monitor the food
28 establishments to which this section applies for compliance with
29 the provisions of this section, and may revoke the permit of any
30 food establishment that repeatedly violates the provisions of this
31 section.
32 SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from
33 and after July 1, 2008.
True, this bit of legislation is unlikely to make it into law at this time, but it's absolutely mind-boggling that we've reached the point at which lawmakers find such mandates even conceivable. I'm officially giving up on pointing out where any line of legislative reasoning is likely to lead for fear that I'll give somebody ideas.
Labels: nanny state
posted by J.D. Tuccille at
10:12 AM
7 Comments:
Oh, my @#$!ing god.
To cover their own asses and ensure full compliance, would restaurants have to measure and weigh every customer, or would a certain amount of "profiling" be permitted?
Joel,
That's a good question. The bill seems to leave the matter in the hands of the State Department of Health, so the measure could potentially become law without anybody knowing exactly what would be required in terms of compliance.
It has to be asked...
At what point is somebody somewhere going to do a "Howard Roark" kind of deal and stand up and say "I don't recognize your right to regulate this!"
I've seen commentary about this on other sites and no-one says "Tell them to fuck off" !
So when an overweight black person comes into a restaurant to order food and is refused, will that be interpreted as a racial slur or because the person is fat...how do you think the black person will interpret it after the history of them actually being refused service in restaurants???????????
and since this is mississippi where there are still racial tensions, how many white folks who do not like blacks could use this as an excuse to refuse service to overweight black folks. How do you decide what is obese and what is not? to an ultra skinny teen girl, anything with hips is overweight.
Anonymous,
The State Department of Health is supposed to define obesity -- after the bill becomes law of course -- so restaurants will have oh-so-objective standards by which to abide.
As for the racial angle ... Oh I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem, right?
This is a publicity stunt by Pharma. Mayhall is an ex rep for Du Pont/Merc. How many health controversies have they been in? Health suggestions from them have as much credibility as a child protection agency run by Tom Foley!!!!!The whole obesity "crisis" has been exaggerated. How many people know that all the effects of risky weight loss pills get counted under obesity? The real issue is that the government has become an instrument to aid every corporate scam in robbing the public blind. Public crusades are windfalls for private coffers. We need to go back to politicians representing the people, not their own interests!
The female running the Board of Tourism is also clueless. I attempted to point out that this kind of news hurts tourism. Got a response -- she is "proud of her state" and doesn't understand why she is "being blamed for something the legislature is proposing."
I guess we'll just have to contact tourist traps individually and warn them that they're about to have a very bad summer.
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