The State as Parent: Study Suggests Regulation of Fast Food Ads

Where will it end?  I t will not.  A new study links fast food ads with childhood obesity. 

A ban on such commercials would reduce the number of obese young children by 18 percent, and the number of obese older kids by 14 percent, researchers found.

They also suggested that ending an advertising expense tax deduction for fast-food restaurants could mean a slight reduction in childhood obesity.

Some experts say it’s the first national study to show fast-food TV commercials have such a large effect on childhood obesity. A 2006 Institute of Medicine report suggested a link, but concluded proof was lacking.

“Our study provides evidence of that link,” said study co-author Michael Grossman, an economics professor at City University of New York.

The study has important implications for the effectiveness of regulating TV advertising, said Lisa Powell, a researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Institute for Health Research and Policy. She was not involved in the research but was familiar with it.

Regulating TV advertising.  Why?  Because people can’t take care of themselves and their children, so the government must do it.  Just remember, all you who desire to be coddled by the government:

“Time is running very short for us to realize that personal freedom and personal responsibility have always been, and always will be, inseparable.”

-John Galt, Dreams Come Due

PS:  Of course, a tax break for advertising is also suspect.