Pomeranz Jennifer L, Teret Stephen P, Sugarman Stephen D, Rutkow Lainie, Brownell Kelly D
Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, Yale University, 309 Edwards Street, New Haven, CT, USA.
Milbank Q. 2009 Mar;87(1):185-213. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0009.2009.00552.x.
The law is a powerful public health tool with considerable potential to address the obesity issue. Scientific advances, gaps in the current regulatory environment, and new ways of conceptualizing rights and responsibilities offer a foundation for legal innovation.
This article connects developments in public health and nutrition with legal advances to define promising avenues for preventing obesity through the application of the law.
Two sets of approaches are defined: (1) direct application of the law to factors known to contribute to obesity and (2) original and innovative legal solutions that address the weak regulatory stance of government and the ineffectiveness of existing policies used to control obesity. Specific legal strategies are discussed for limiting children's food marketing, confronting the potential addictive properties of food, compelling industry speech, increasing government speech, regulating conduct, using tort litigation, applying nuisance law as a litigation strategy, and considering performance-based regulation as an alternative to typical regulatory actions. Finally, preemption is an overriding issue and can play both a facilitative and a hindering role in obesity policy.
Legal solutions are immediately available to the government to address obesity and should be considered at the federal, state, and local levels. New and innovative legal solutions represent opportunities to take the law in creative directions and to link legal, nutrition, and public health communities in constructive ways.
法律是一种强大的公共卫生工具,在解决肥胖问题方面具有巨大潜力。科学进步、当前监管环境中的差距以及对权利和责任的新的概念化方式为法律创新提供了基础。
本文将公共卫生与营养方面的发展与法律进展联系起来,以确定通过法律应用预防肥胖的可行途径。
确定了两组方法:(1)将法律直接应用于已知导致肥胖的因素;(2)针对政府监管立场薄弱以及用于控制肥胖的现有政策无效的情况,提出原创和创新的法律解决方案。讨论了具体的法律策略,包括限制儿童食品营销、应对食品潜在的成瘾性、迫使行业发声、增加政府发声、规范行为、利用侵权诉讼、将妨害法作为一种诉讼策略以及考虑基于绩效的监管作为典型监管行动的替代方案。最后,优先权是一个首要问题,在肥胖政策中既可以起到促进作用,也可能起到阻碍作用。
政府可以立即采用法律解决方案来应对肥胖问题,并且应该在联邦、州和地方各级加以考虑。新的和创新的法律解决方案代表了将法律朝着创造性方向发展以及以建设性方式将法律、营养和公共卫生领域联系起来的机会。