Reports of an "epidemic of childhood obesity" in America recently have been in the news. And with the tobacco industry being taken to court for its alleged responsibility in the deaths of millions from lung cancer and other smoking related illnesses, a similar move is being made to take the snack food industry, or "Big Food" as some have labeled them, to court.
Whether or not the industry is responsible for our nation's increasing average BMI is an interesting topic that I leave for others to discuss -- however, it does raise an interesting question for those who will be providing health care for children in the future.
A lawsuit or the threat of a lawsuit such as the one being discussed against Big Food rests on the idea that childhood obesity is causing long-term mental and physical harms.
If the courts establish that these harms are serious enough to seek damages from those who make products that contribute to obesity, an interesting dilemma could arise for the everyday practitioner.
For example, if a mother comes in with her 11 month old girl and it is discovered that not only does the daughter smoke, but her mother provides the cigarettes and even taught the child how to smoke, there is a good chance that Child Protective Services would become involved.
Imagining this scenario with other substances that allegedly cause harm (drugs, pornography, alcohol) and the result would also most likely be a call to CPS. Now, in light of the current legal activity against "Big Food," imagine the daughter as being consistently, morbidly obese.
Her mother feeds her fast food every night, largely because that is what she (the mother) also enjoys eating.
If such activity leads to morbid obesity, and morbid obesity leads to profound physical and mental health problems, and these problems lead to a markedly-decreased quality of life, what prevents the physician from feeling a moral responsibility to contact CPS in the case of the chronically-obese child?
I don't offer any answers here, but I do think this will become a topic of discussion over the coming years as "Big Food" cases hit the courts for round two.
If people begin to link neglect and childhood obesity, we should keep in mind all the factors that are contributing to the problem. Often our society likes to blame parents, specifically the mother, for problems with children.
Images of the "welfare mother" come to mind, which people used to decry the large number of children born to poor single mothers. Could it have been that they just had no access to healthcare and affordable contraception? Of course not, they're just bad, bad people who don't deserve our help.
I'm concerned that the same tainted thinking might work its way into the obesity/neglect debate as people forget how many mothers are struggling to get by on minimum wage jobs.
No one has taught them how to cook healthy meals, and fast food is everywhere, convenient and less time-consuming, especially when you've been working a 60 hour week to try and pay the bills.
Hopefully, as our nation addresses the problems of childhood obesity, it won't turn into a blame game placing the label of "neglectful" onto undeserving parents. This is a national epidemic and we must approach it from a national perspective.
Patrick Jones is a biweekly columnist.He can be reached at pjones@cavalierdaily.com
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