According to an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report published this week, obesity is not caused by an absence of willpower within the individual, but rather by the vicious food industry and its lack of regulation by the government. If you think that this sounds like a veiled attempt to limit consumer freedom through the promotion of greater government control, you’d be correct! With the publication of this report accompanied by a CDC article stating 42% of adults will be obese by 2030 (mind you, with no scientific premise), the Food Police are in full swing and ready to scare you into submission.

An article from Reuters highlights the misguided thought process of one committee member,

“People have heard the advice to eat less and move more for years, and during that time a large number of Americans have become obese,” IOM committee member Shiriki Kumanyika of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine told Reuters. “That advice will never be out of date. But when you see the increase in obesity you ask, what changed? And the answer is, the environment. The average person cannot maintain a healthy weight in this obesity-promoting environment.”

The idea that a lack of government intervention, not personal irresponsibility, is the major contributor to this nation’s obesity problem is an extremely dangerous road to travel down. By minimizing the power held by the consumer, one will never truly get to the root of the problem. Furthermore, it’s clear the American public does not support any additional tax as a method to shape eating/drinking habits. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds,

“…just 18% of American Adults support sin taxes on soda and junk food, down from 33% in March 2010. Sixty-three percent (63%) are opposed. Nineteen percent (19%) are undecided.”

The decline in public support for these nanny state control measures is of no surprise to us. The American public is tired of the Food Police and their big government cronies using taxes, bans and regulations to shape our consumer habits. It’s obvious that fighting obesity requires a multifaceted approach: one that involves the individual and NOT the government. Disregarding the role of the individual and downplaying our freedom to choose only serves as an means through which the Food Police gains more power over our daily lives.

Continue reading at Reuters, Rasmussen Reports and the Wall Street Journal.

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