David Paterson, the governor of New York, has proposed that his state tax the weight right off its residents, specifically overweight children. He plans to accomplish this by imposing a tax on sugared beverages such as Coca-Cola and other soda, the consumption of which has been directly linked to childhood obesity.
To some this is undoubtedly one more example of the government attempting to regulate our lives in an area where it has no business poking its head. To others it's probably a logical if not much needed step in the war against childhood obesity. To me, it sounds like Paterson's plan, though it seems to have been conceived with the best of intentions, will not make a significant impact, because losing weight and living healthy is not something you can govern, tax or regulate people into doing, be they young or old.
As someone who's recently lost a significant amount of weight, I can attest to nothing if not how hard it is to do. It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change. Contrary to what the commercials would have you believe, there is no quick fix to weight loss. You cannot have it now, now, now and with no work. It's hard to say to yourself: "I'm not going to have a soda today, because even though I want it, I'd prefer to be healthy." It's hard enough as an adult. It's surely even harder for a kid.
As Paterson notes, the surgeon general estimates that obesity is associated with 112,000 deaths every year. New York spends almost $6.1bn on healthcare related to adult obesity – something that undoubtedly gives Paterson a good reason to want to stop obesity early on.
President Bill Clinton called childhood obesity "the single greatest tragedy facing our society today". Harsh words, but appropriate when you consider the fact that more than 30% of children and teenagers in the US are overweight, and it's estimated that 50% will be overweight by 2010, according to the Centres for Disease Control.
But is Paterson's programme really going to make any kind of impact? And why are our kids so fat anyway?
Organisations dedicated to stopping obesity in children find different ways to skirt around the issue by citing "changing lifestyles", cuts in physical education programmes, an over-abundance of fattening foods such as sodas, fast foods, french fries, etc. In the end it's really easy to blame all of these different factors when the simple truth of the matter is we have no one but ourselves to blame if we or our kids are overweight. After all, overweight kids are by and large part of overweight families. It's an issue of personal responsibility and of putting the effort into being healthy.
That isn't to say that we all ought to be a size two, and that there aren't people with legitimate health problems that make it difficult for them to lose weight. Curves are good, and it's important that people come in all different shapes and sizes. But obesity can contribute to health problems such as elevated counts of cholesterol, liver disease, diabetes, lowered life expectancy and other issues.
Paterson notes that the cigarette tax has helped to reduce the number of smokers and smoking related deaths, and that a tax on non-nutritional beverages should help reduce the prevalence of obesity. Thankfully, he also notes that taxing soda is only scratching the surface of the problem and that junk food needs to be taken out of schools, children need to be encouraged to exercise more and more healthy food should be made available in underserved communities. Also to his credit, he plans on using the $404m in projected revenue from the tax for public heath programmes, including obesity prevention.
Being taxed into losing weigh is not the answer, especially in an already faltering economy. Instead I would lean toward the concept of well-organised anti-obesity campaigns, similar to anti-smoking campaigns, to raise awareness of how to prevent obesity and the dangers of overweight. I would also support stricter bans on soda and fattening foods in schools, forcing children to learn that sugary drinks are a sometimes snack and not an everyday occurrence.
But in the end, what we as a nation need is to take a good long look at ourselves and say "I made myself overweight, I made myself unhealthy, and I am going to change it." And we need to apply the same standards of personal responsibility to our children.
