Can Government Control Obesity?

Making News

Money Changers and Police Clash in Iran ()

Economic sanctions against Iran are doing their job: the country's currency has lost 40 percent of its value in just a week and today riot police used tear gas to suppress angry clashes in the streets of Tehran. Thomas Erdbrink is there for the New York Times.

Guests:

• Thomas Erdbrink: New York Times, @ThomasErdbrink

Main Topic

Can Government Control Obesity? ()

The agriculture industry has made food so cheap and so plentiful that one third of Americans are obese and another third overweight.  Twenty six million people have Type 2 Diabetes, with 79 million more on the way. With a major push from First Lady Michelle Obama, the federal school lunch program has been revised to limit the intake of calories, require whole grains and double the serving of fruits and vegetables. New York's Mayor Bloomberg has banned extra-large soft drinks. With predictions that half the country will be obese by 2030, it's all about controlling a spreading pandemic. But there's also a backlash. Students and teachers in Kansas went on YouTube singing, “We are Hungry." A Republican Congressman has introduced the No Hungry Kids Act. Is it necessary for government to police the diets of America's children?  Will it work?  Is the Nanny State just going too far?

Guests:

• Monica Eng: Chicago Tribune, @monicaeng
• Tracy Fox: Food, Nutrition and Policy Consultants, @TracyFoxRD
• Jay Bhattacharya: Stanford University
• Marion Nestle: New York University, @marionnestle
• Baylen Linnekin: Keep Food Legal, @keepfoodlegal

Links:

• Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (2010)
• Center for Consumer Freedom
• Eng on the government's role in 'slimming down the nation'
• Nestle on how regulation changes eating behavior
• Nestle's 'Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health'
• Linnekin on whether government has the authority to dictate food policy
• Keep Food Legal's Opt Out of School Lunch project
• Reuters on California cities' 'soda tax war'

Reporter's Notebook

Senate Report Scornful of Homeland Security 'Fusion Centers' ()

In the aftermath of September 11, the Department of Homeland Security established more than 70 so-called "fusion centers" to coordinate federal, state and local efforts at counterterrorism around the country. But today, the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations reported that the centers "forwarded intelligence of uneven quality — oftentimes shoddy, rarely timely, sometimes endangering citizens' civil liberties and Privacy Act protections" and sometimes used "already public sources… unrelated to terrorism." Ken Dilanian is national security correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.

Guests:

• Ken Dilanian: Los Angeles Times, @KenDilanianLAT