Commentary—

What Should We Do About Fat?

By William A. Collins

Fat has brought me,

Endless shame;

Wonder if,

There’s folks to blame.

Very few of our family’s personal friends are fat. Probably yours aren’t either. Readers of this column and similar do-gooders tend to believe in personal responsibility, take health warnings seriously, and benefit from education, money, and parental admonitions. We share those traits with conservatives who have been similarly blessed. Aside from Rush, George W., and Bill Bennett, we also tend to have resisted our innate thirst for drugs, drink, smoking, gambling, and gluttony.

Thus it’s other folks, not us, who are the fatties. They’re the ones who get diabetes, suffer heart attacks, and can’t fit into airline seats. We envision them addictively drawn to soda machines, donut shops, and fast-food counters. All too often that view isn’t far off the mark.

But is this modern-day epidemic of obesity anybody’s fault? You bet it is, just as were the scourges of alcohol, tobacco, and gambling that preceded it. It’s the fault of the usual profiteers who have detected yet another human frailty to exploit. Americans really do love salt, sugar, and fat. But luckily for those of us with willpower and favorable genes, survival of such temptation is not so terribly hard.

For those less favored, however, the deluge of advertising in print, radio, TV, and billboards is a constant siren call to satisfy their addiction. Soda companies, supermarkets, and fast-food chains are remarkably shameless in their appeals to human weakness.

So what should a prudent nation do to defend itself against this affliction, an affliction that seems somehow not to infect Europe? Well, our own Joe Lieberman, in the heat of the campaign, called for sterner labeling of food sold to children, and for keeping junk food out of schools altogether. Yale University’s David Katz proposes the clever scheme of color-coding nutrition labels. Red would be the highest alert, yellow next, and green you could actually eat conscience free. Unlike some plans, the kids might actually be able to understand that one.

Other thinkers have come up with further ideas. A big tax on foods with high sugar and fat content ought to wake up some eaters. So should a hefty excise tax on all soda. Posting the calorie content on restaurant meals would open a few eyes too, though writing the legislation might be tricky. Public education would also be useful, given its remarkable success with smokers and drinkers.

But those two crusades featured tougher elements besides the lectures. In Connecticut, for example, you have to be 21 to buy cigs or booze, and advertising is tightly restricted. Hmmm… Maybe you should have to be 21 to enter McDonalds, or 35 for Krispy Kreme. Just imagine, no more fast food ads in publications or shows frequented by kids. I love it.

And then there’s America’s favorite, the lawsuit. The industry is striving mightily in Washington and state capitols to pass “Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption” bills. These would prohibit the tobacco-style lawsuits now being brought against some food purveyors. Such laws would protect grease merchants from the consequences of their willful and greedy marketing campaigns. With legal protection in hand, these soulless corporations could then still keep aiming to hook Americans, especially the least sophisticated, on salt, sugar and fat.

Since business interests continue to control most legislatures, litigation may indeed remain our best hope for now. A few well-publicized awards, and you never know how corporate behavior might change.

(Columnist William A. Collins is a former state representative and a former mayor of Norwalk.)