Bill would make it illegal to feed the obese

[Maverick]

Unlikely to pass but these are from your elected officials if you're from Mississippi.


Three legislators want to make it illegal for restaurants to serve obese customers in Mississippi.

House Bill No. 282 (http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2008/pdf/history/HB/HB0282.xml), which was introduced this month, says: Any food establishment to which this section applies shall not be allowed to serve food to any person who is obese, based on criteria prescribed by the State Department of Health after consultation with the Mississippi Council on Obesity Prevention and Management established under Section 41-101-1 or its successor. The State Department of Health shall prepare written materials that describe and explain the criteria for determining whether a person is obese, and shall provide those materials to all food establishments to which this section applies. A food establishment shall be entitled to rely on the criteria for obesity in those written materials when determining whether or not it is allowed to serve food to any person.

The proposal would allow health inspectors to yank the permit from any restaurant that "repeatedly" feeds extremely overweight customers.
The bill, written by GOP Rep. W. T. Mayhall Jr., was referred to the Judiciary and Public Health committees, but The Jackson Free Press (http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=16121_0_4_0_C) doesn't expect it to garner much support in the statehouse.
About two-third of Mississippians are considered overweight or obese, according to a recent analysis (http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparemaptable.jsp?ind=89&cat=2) of federal health data.

[Malcolm Tucker]

What!? That's not smart, it's cruelty. It's cold turkey! Horrid

[Patchy]

What!? That's not smart, it's cruelty. It's cold turkey! Horrid

Exactly, its peoples choice in most cases to be obese if they want to be, they should be allowed to be obese

[Whisper]

I'm sorry but...bahahahahahahahahahaha
Then they should yank the lisence for any store that sells smokes to smokers

[goin to work]

stop smokers not the big ppl

[Whisper]

I was using it more as a ya right example
everyone says its genetics I think thats a bullshit excuse
We had the same genes 100-200yrs ago yet obesity's like tripled

There both a severe problem and they both cost Canada's health care system billions every yr

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

How about we just downsize portions? Is anyone that attached to having a week's worth of leftovers anyway? I read a post in a different topic here, someone mentioned being in Paris and not seeing a single fat French person. That's because in general, European restaurants serve much smaller portions, making it a little harder for them to become obese. Why do we need so much food anyways, when no one really eats it all? I know in my family, we always take home whatever we don't eat, but then most of it just spoils in the fridge. It's silly. So forget starving the obese, make portions smaller so everyone's healthier and the obese can start losing weight in a healthier manner. Some might order two meals to make up for it, but they'll lose money pretty fast doing that.

[serial-thrilla]

whatever, if people want to be unattractive, unhealthy, and live a much shorter life then thats their own decision.

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

A lot of the time it is their own choice, you're right. But not always. Some diseases make it easy to gain a lot of weight on a normal diet, and some people are forced into obesity from childhood. I've seen a lot of obese kids who are that way because the family has veyr little money. They eat what's cheap and easy, often fast food (I suppose you can't beat dollar menu prices), and don't have the money for things like bikes, skateboards, roller blades, etc. so they get less activity than other kids their age. Once they're adults, these eating habits are hard to break. That's no excuse not to try to get healthy, but understand that not everyone who is obese is happy with it, and not everyone had much of a choice in getting there. What we need is to support these people in getting healthier, rather than condemning them and SEGREGATING them. Yes, that's what this bill proposes, legalized segregation. Sounds like a wonderful option to me. Serial, you don't have to like obesity, I don't think anyone can honestly say "obesity is my favorite disease, I love it", but hating those who are obese gets us nowhere.

[Gumleaf]

i think the woed bullcrap sums this up nicely

[thesphinx]

This will do ABSOLUTELY nothing, they could just go and buy food at a grocery store.

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

This will do ABSOLUTELY nothing, they could just go and buy food at a grocery store.

Exactly. It's just unnecessary segregation.

[Zephyr]

The initial idea means well to help people get healthy,
But this is America and that shit isn't going to fly
Even if the south is the most obese in the US.

[Whisper]

they would go to the nearest convince store buy a ton of chips go home sit on the couch and eat because there upset and embarrassed they were thrown out of a restaurant for being overweight
this would cause them to gain more weight
they would ban together and file a class action law suit
and win

[goin to work]

kodie ur a frickin genus

[BlueStar]

That's ridiculous.. I agree with smaller portion's, but refusing the serve someone based on their size is absolutely horrid.
If I go to a restaurant I usually go home and snack on the food I didn't eat there for a couple of days.. smaller portions and lower prices, please!

[redcar]

Interesting but fat unhealthy people are cheaper to countries than healthy people. I read a report this week that says healthy people cost more in health care than obese unhealthy people, simply by the fact they live longer.

[Dante]

see the problem with this besides it being morally wrong, is that what about the people who are obese because of issues unrelated to food?

you might not believe it but people do suffer from things, i.e thyroid problems, that nake them large.

So what are they supposed to do? Question everyone about their weight once entering the restaurant? about their medical history?

Also. The issue with smaller size is that, more than likely prices won't go down with the portions.

Restaurants are businesses. Businesses need to make money. Especially with how the economy is today, lowering their prices would suck, and people would complain that they get so little food, for this price.

[The Batman]

What they should do is make it illegal to sell foods high in fat that way its like eat all you want but your not gonna gain weight as fast or maybe put a high tax on fast food restaurants or ones with all you can eat buffets it'll be like a health tax and that way prices get jacked up healthier foods are being prepared more and maybe hopefully they'll finally shut down Hardies

[redcar]

See doing that though you are heading down further into the nanny-state-Big-Brother is watching type country. As a human living in a free country I enjoy free will. If I want to eat stuff like that I can.