Obesity Reduction Legislation In Massachusetts Essay

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Obesity Reduction Legislation in Massachusetts (Bill H.1697)

Introduction A bill was introduced to the House of Representatives by Kay Khan, a Massachusetts state representative. The Bill H.1697 was a petition to tax candy and sweetened soft drinks throughout the state of Massachusetts. These items were at the time exempt from tax, per Title IX, Chapter 64H, which prohibited tax on sales of food products for human consumption.
The bill was introduced as an effort to reduce the ever growing obesity rates. The increasing trend was also observed at the national level, throughout the United States. The rate was especially highest in pre-school children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the rates of obesity in children have tripled in the last 30 years. These high rates have equivalently increased obesity related ailments such as; high risks of high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, (CDC, 2014). …show more content…

She was interviewed in a conservative radio by host Laura Ingraham. Palin told Ingraham that the First Lady’s campaign amounts to a big government takeover to our food choices. She used frames such as: “cannot trust parents to make decisions for their own children, their own families in what we should eat”; government thinking to take over and make decisions for us”; “allow us as individuals to exercise our own God-given rights to make our own decisions.
In January 2011, the bill was referred to the committee, and the hearing was held in May of the same year for the House and Senate to change the wording of the 2008 version of the Massachusetts Law. Various interest groups and news blogs, e.g. the Huffington Post (2012) framed their arguments on both sides of the spectrum, citing issues of health, economy and the general community, in response to this petition.
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