While the global Food Police are meeting at the United Nations this week, deciding on how they can control each country’s food manufacturing and eliminate consumer choice in the marketplace, last week the Governor of Michigan and the FDA were in a close race for the “title of Nanny of the Week.”

Diane Katz, Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy at Heritage’s Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, writes at The Foundry:

As Friday draws near, two contenders are neck-and-neck for the title of Nanny of the Week. A dark horse may yet emerge, what with so much Big Government on the loose. But leading the pack at present are Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (R) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

First Snyder. The self-styled “nerd” gained nanny status on Wednesday by announcing plans for a state registry of fat kids. Under his proposal, pediatricians will report the height and weight measurements of their patients to the Michigan Department of Community Health for purposes of computing a body mass index (BMI) score. The scores will be tracked in the same manner as immunization records.

According to the governor, this breach of limited government—not to mention doctor–patient privilege—is necessary because obesity is “significantly under-diagnosed in children.”

That’s a stretch, given the near hysteria that currently attends the issue. Moreover, Snyder should have done some homework. BMI is a lousy indicator of obesity. BMI represents an individual’s body weight divided by the square of his/her height. Unlike measuring skin-fold thickness with a caliper or hydrostatic weighing, the BMI does not correspond to any actual bodily proportion of fat. That’s why the BMIs of celebrity hotties Johnny Depp, George Clooney, David Duchovny, and Will Smith rank them as “overweight.”

It is unfortunate that the governor’s goof may well overshadow his recent rational moves, such as implementing a four-year lifetime limit on cash assistance.

In close contention is the FDA, which announced today a new docket “to obtain comments, data, and evidence relevant to the dietary intake of sodium as well as current and emerging approaches designed to promote sodium reduction.”

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