Nowadays, there are numerous obstacles in the way of a healthy living of children in the United States. Together with other problems and sicknesses, obesity stands as one of the main difficulties in modern societies. Childhood obesity is rather severe, and it looks like as nobody accepts to take accountability for this problem. There has been a sufficient amount of debate over the question of who is responsible for the outburst of the disease among children. Whether it is the administration of the country, fast-food cafeterias, close relatives or even the youngsters themselves, none of these assemblies gives the impression of accounting for the dilemma. In 2002, it has been stated that parents have to be held responsible for their adolescents’ health problems, including obesity (Marcello, 2013).
The job for the closest relatives is to take care of their children and protect them any dangers regarding their wellbeing. The question is why the parents could be legally responsible for anything else that concerns their youngsters, yet not this matter? The insufficient amount of protecting regulations appears to be altering, as several congresspersons are creating acts to safeguard the healthiness of the youngsters (Cunningham, Kramer, & Narayan, 2014). For example, the government in correlation with the nursing community tried to implement the law that regulated the trade of the soda in the fast-food restaurants. The central inquiry that was elevated by the declaration of the Soda ban was “whether the city’s Board of Health (part of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene) had the legal authority to restrict the serving size of such drinks” (Mariner & Annas, 2013, 1764). Nonetheless, on June 26, 2014, it was defined that by executing this regulation, the New York City Board of Health has outstripped its dominion.
To my opinion, the policy of elimination of the large syrupy and sugary snacks and beverages does not seem sensible in the outline of the public health defense. Not only the elimination of the large syrupy and sugary snacks and beverages would not reduce the ingesting of the fast food and harmful nourishments, such restrictions would influence the people with lower earnings due to the taxes and the incapacity to purchase a bottled drink or juice within their economic abilities. In addition, a number of ounces proscribed by the directive are inappropriate and there is not enough methodical indication in provision of the current announcements (Wang, 2013). On the other hand, the application of the Soda Ban obtained a broad endorsement, as it was seen as an authorized exertion of the government to advance the public health not only of the children but of every age group of the population, despite the wrong means of the approach (Bassett & Perl, 2004). This instance aims its attention to signifying that health strategies are frequently raced by the economy, not the development of public health of children.
The close relatives possess an admission to assessment schemes that provide them with an assistance of protecting their youngsters from unsuitable content in the mass media counting the use of alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, viciousness and sexual intercourse. According to the surveys, “parents ranked unhealthy food marketing and unhealthy eating messages just as concerning as alcohol and tobacco use in the media” (Ogden, 2014, p. 807). Nonetheless, there are no gears for helping them classify these damaging systems of mass media.
References
Bassett, M., & Perl, S. (2004). Obesity: The public health challenge of our time. American Public Health Association, 94(9), 1477-1478.
Cunningham, S., Kramer, M., & Narayan, V. (2014). Incidence of childhood obesity in the United States. The New England Journal of Medicine, 370(1), 403-411.
Marcello, K. (2013). The New York City sugar-sweetened beverage portion cap rule: Lawfully regulating public enemy number one in the obesity epidemic. Connecticut Law Review, 46(2), 807-808.
Mariner, W. K., & Annas, G. J. (2013). Limiting “sugary drinks” to reduce obesity — who decides? The New England Journal of Medicine, 368(1), 1763-1765.
Ogden, C. (2014). Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. The Journal of American Medical Association, 311(8), 806-814.
Wang, C. (2013). Caloric effect of a 16-ounce (473-mL) portion-size cap on sugar-sweetened beverages served in restaurants. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 92(8), 1-6.