RWJ Foundation Provides Grant to Public Health Law Center; Former Tobacco Focus Expanded to Include Obesity-Related Issues
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded a grant to the Public Health Law Center, located on the campus of William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, “to develop a network of experts and to provide legal technical assistance, analysis, coordination, and training to public health professionals, lawyers, and health advocacy organizations across the country.” The center, which has expanded its tobacco-control focus to include “other health priorities, including healthy eating, obesity prevention, worker wellness, and legal training for nonattorney health professionals,” has launched a new web site. The site includes links to scholarly articles, information about current events and upcoming symposiums, and a public health blog.
Among the publications recently released are “Applying Tobacco Control Lessons to Obesity: Taxes and Other Pricing Strategies to Reduce Consumption,” and “Stumped at the Supermarket: Making Sense of Nutrition Rating Systems.” The first article, which acknowledges the guidance and assistance of anti-tobacco attorney Richard Daynard, concludes that “a significant tax on sugar-sweetened beverages could have the desired public health effect of reducing consumption of high-calorie and low-nutrition beverages. The food and beverage industry is prepared to challenge tax initiatives and many of the same legal policy issues seen in the tobacco control movement, including discounting, are likely to arise.” This article was co-authored by Patricia Davidson, a senior staff attorney for the Public Health Advocacy Institute, which conducted a number of conferences throughout the 2000s to bring public health officials, consumer advocates and litigators together to address obesity issues.
Among those consulting with the center is attorney Mark Pertschuk, who is identified as “the past President and Executive Director of Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights and the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation in Berkeley, California (1986 – 2007). From 1987 to 1990, [he] planned and managed the grassroots campaign to ban smoking on commercial airline flights in the United States.” See William Mitchell College of Law, Law School News, April 8, 2010.
