The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) has filed a claim under the amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act against a company that allegedly discharged a morbidly obese man. EEOC v. BAE Sys., Inc., No. 11-03497 (S.D. Tex., filed September 27, 2011). According to the EEOC, “at the time of his discharge, [Ronald] Kratz was qualified to perform the essential function of his job as a material handler II. BAE refused to engage in any discussion with him to determine whether reasonable accommodations were possible that would have allowed him to continue to perform the essential function of his job … The suit asserts that BAE replaced Kratz with someone who was not morbidly obese.” News sources have reported that Kratz, who weighed 450 pounds when the military vehicle manufacturer hired him, gained 200 pounds over the 16 years he was employed. He claims that his weight never interfered with his job…
Tag Archives obesity
A recent study has suggested that non-obese individuals are better able to regulate their cravings to consume fattening foods than those who are obese. Kathleen Page, et al., “Circulating glucose levels modulate neural control of desire for high-calorie foods in humans,” Journal of Clinical Investigation, September 19, 2011. Researchers from Yale University and the University of Southern California apparently studied brain scans of nine thin and five obese subjects as they viewed images of high-calorie foods, low-calorie foods, and non-food items during times when they had normal and low blood sugar levels. Researchers found that non-obese participants shown pictures of high-calorie foods had increased activity in the part of their brains used for impulse control while obese people showed little activity in that part of the brain. According to the study, “higher circulating glucose levels predicted greater medial prefrontal cortex activation, and this response was absent in obese subjects. These…
The Public Health Law Center at William Mitchell College of Law has announced the launch of a series of free webinars that will address issues relating to tobacco control, obesity prevention, worksite wellness, active living, and public health legislation. Scheduled for October 5, 2011, the first webinar will feature staff attorneys presenting on “Drafting Effective Public Health Policies.” A number of the health center’s staff attorneys focus on tobacco-control issues and projects; listed as a consulting attorney is Mark Perstchuk, who is the past president and executive director of Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights.
A recent study has suggested that the rising prevalence of gout, which now reportedly affects 4 percent of Americans, “may be associated” with greater frequency of obesity and hypertension. Yanyan Zhu, et al., “Prevalence of Gout and Hyperuricemia in the US General Population,” Arthritis & Rheumatism, July 28, 2011. Researchers compared data from 5,707 participants in the 2007- 2008 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to NHANES data from 1988-1994. The latest survey also asked participants about their history of gout as diagnosed by a health care professional, with hyperuricemia or elevated uric acid levels defined as a serum urate level greater than 7.0 mg/dL in men and 5.7 mg/dL in women. According to a Boston University Medical Campus press release, when compared to earlier NHANES data, the prevalence of gout and hyperuricemia “was 1% and 3% higher, respectively.” In addition, “further analysis revealed that gout prevalence was higher…
The September 2011 issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s research and policy journal, Preventing Chronic Disease, features a special section dedicated to “Ethical Issues in Interventions for Childhood Obesity,” where contributors with Public Health Law & Policy, Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, and other organizations discuss how best to balance government’s public health role with private rights and interests. In particular, the section includes articles that explore (i) strategies to limit youth food marketing in municipal spaces not already regulated by federal agencies; (ii) an ethical framework for evaluating popular policies, such as menu calorie labeling and soft drink taxes; (iii) perspectives from the Arkansas Act 1220 of 2003, “the first comprehensive legislative initiatives to combat childhood obesity”; (iv) ethical family and school interventions; and (v) the economic rationale for government intervention. “During the past decade, people throughout the country—from rural communities to…
The most recent issue of the Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology includes an article titled “Food Advertising and Childhood Obesity: A Call to Action for Proactive Solutions.” Co-authored by online law instructor Roseann Termini and Widener University School of Law students Thomas Roberto and Shelby Hostetter, the article explores whether food advertising is related to the epidemic of child obesity and what can be done to reduce its purported effects. Contending that government regulation of food advertisements directed at children is necessary because “children lack the cognitive skills to discern actual nutritional information amidst a veil of attention grabbing marketing techniques,” the authors discuss what regulatory options would best police the industry. While they note the constitutional issues raised by bans or limitations on commercial advertising, the authors apparently see no impediments to government overseeing and enforcing “the internal policies of food manufacturers,” aggressive enforcement of established youth…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has rejected New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s (I) plan to prohibit residents from using food stamps to buy sugar-sweetened beverages and soda. In October 2010, Bloomberg and state officials had proposed a two-year experiment that would exclude the drinks from USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in an effort to reduce obesity. In an August 19, 2011, letter to a state official, SNAP’s associate administrator Jessica Shahin wrote that the waiver was denied because of concerns that the “scale and scope” of the plan were “too large and complex” to implement and evaluate. Asserting that it would be too difficult to assess the ban’s effectiveness, Shahin instead suggested that USDA collaborate with the city on “anti-obesity intervention targeting consumption and associated behaviors while encouraging healthy choices.” Expressing disappointment with the decision, Bloomberg said, “We think our innovative pilot would have done more to…
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently issued a summary of an October 21, 2010, workshop titled “Legal Strategies in Childhood Obesity Prevention,” where public policy experts and stakeholders discussed national, state and local health initiatives that employ legal strategies “to bring about change as well as the challenges in implementing these changes.” The workshop summary reflects attendees’ views on various topics, including (i) the potential of legal strategies to address childhood obesity; (ii) how legal strategies have been used in other public health areas, such as firearm injury prevention; (iii) actions by the Federal Trade Commission, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other federal agencies; (iv) food industry perspectives; (v) whether regulations and taxes can prevent obesity; (vi) legal approaches to increase physical activity in communities; (vii) the use of litigation to effect policy changes; and (viii) the role of attorneys general and local public health agencies. More specifically, workshop…
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently released the summary of a November 2-3, 2010, public workshop titled “Leveraging Food Technology for Obesity Prevention and Reduction Effort,” which addressed how the food industry “can continue to leverage modern and innovative food processing technologies to influence energy intake.” According to IOM, “Eating is impacted not only by the biological responses that occur when the presence of food or even the smell of food triggers physiological chain reactions but also by societal norms and values around portion size and other eating behaviors.” Workshop organizers invited behavioral scientists, food scientists and other experts from multiple sectors to discuss “evidence-based associations between various eating behaviors and weight gain and considered the opportunities and challenges of altering the food supply—both at home and outside the home (e.g., in restaurants)—to alleviate overeating and help consumers with long-term weight maintenance.” In particular, the workshop attendees explored four general…
Harvard University obesity experts have reportedly proposed that some parents should lose custody of their extremely overweight children to foster care. In a July 13, 2011, Journal of the American Medical Association opinion piece titled “State Intervention in Life-Threatening Childhood Obesity,” David Ludwig and Lindsey Murtagh suggest that the same legal precedents that protect undernourished children should apply to severely obese kids. According to news sources, Ludwig, an obesity specialist at Harvard-affiliated Children’s Hospital Boston, and Murtagh, a lawyer and Harvard School of Public Health researcher, claim that removing a severely obese child from the home may be legally justifiable because of imminent heath risks such as Type 2 diabetes, liver problems and breathing issues. State intervention “ideally will support not just the child but the whole family, with the goal of reuniting child and family as soon as possible,” after possible parenting instruction, Ludwig reportedly said. The commentary has…
