Harvard University Professor Dr. David Ludwig is under attack for his public call this week for some obese children to be taken from their parents to protect their health. Ludwig stated that “[i]n severe instances of childhood obesity, removal from the home may be justifiable, from a legal standpoint, because of imminent health risks and the parents’ chronic failure to address medical problems.” That legal standpoint may need a bit more work.
Ludwig is an obesity expert at Children’s Hospital Boston and associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. His comments came in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
First, in defense of Ludwig, he prefaced his statement by saying that such intervention would only be in severe cases. It is indeed possible for a child to be removed in a severe case where the child is in imminent risk of seriously injury or death due to either acts or omissions by the parents.
However, the statement rightfully raised concerns. There is growing evidence of genetic predispositions for obesity in some people. The parents may not be at fault in the continuing condition. Moreover, removing the child from the home will only increase stress for the child.
Parental rights are protected by the Constitution and, while child services are given a fair degree of discretion in the removal of children from homes to protect them, those decisions are subject to a full legal process. Most such removals are likely to fail under current legal standards absent a showing of imminent harm and a failure of the parents to follow medical advice. As a comparison, courts often express reluctance to order cancer treatments or medical interventions for a child when parents claim religious objections to treatment. The child is often at immediate risk when a court issues an order of removal or arrest.
The problem is that obesity is very common (unfortunately) among children today and they are all at some level of risk. An estimated 12.5 million children and teens (17% of that population) are obese.
Ludwig would need a case where the child is in immediate risk of heart failure of some of medical emergency. Such a status usually required hospitalization, not foster care. Moreover, experts in the article below question whether care would improve in foster care.
This was the case of 3-year-old Anamarie Regino who weighed 90 pounds and was removed from the home for two months. She did not show any improvement in foster care. She is now 14 years old and was raised by her parents.
Source: ABC News
@Elaine, I would miss GeneH’s dopey arguments.
Gene H.,
kderosa might like the fourth planet from the sun. I hear there are no liberals/progressives there.
Then I suggest you move to Mars and start taking lessons, kderosa.
@GeneH, only a martian would understand the nature of your attacks.
kderosa,
Just because you don’t understand the nature of my attacks on your claims doesn’t mean I wasn’t always attacking your claims. For somebody with a discernible bent toward propaganda, you sure don’t seem to grasp the concept that all warfare is based on the use of illusion. However, be aware that “I know you are but what am I” only works if you’re eight and not very bright. The historical facts are that industry has always worked on the “if the cost to litigate is less than than the cost to remediate, then litigate” paradigm and always will unless government compels them to do otherwise. The business of business is not safeguarding civilization. The business of business is profits. It is not in their best interests to do the right thing if it cuts into their profits. It’s an amoral enterprise just as market mechanisms are amoral, no matter how much you want to paint them to be otherwise.
AY,
Oy Vey!
Well, well well. We have a corporatist right here. HFCS made out of GM corn certainly does have genetically modified DNA. It is genetically modified to survive being sprayed with Roundup ™- not modified to increase nutrition or yield in any way.
I am not going to do all the work for you- there have been thousands of studies done and the consensus is only being formed that we do not know enough about the effects science is seeing in animals being fed these crops.
Hungary is testing all crops and destroying any GMO crops they find. Plowing them under. People are waking up to the fact that this sort of industrial agriculture does nothing to feed the masses (why do we still have billions of people starving if that were the case?)
It increases our reliance of fossil fuels and decreases the nutrients available in the soil. And the stuff produced from these GM plants are not as nutritious as the natural plants grown in good soils that have not been exposed to Roundup.
Some of the rates of nutrition degradation are astonishing. Lower rates of ALL vitamins.
People hate this subject because for them food is an emotional issue. Not for me. I grew up on natural food, I grew my own food and ran a farm for 30 years. there is no way I will eat this stuff.
It has not undergone rigorous testing by industry and government is in collusion with big business to let them monopolize the market, regardless of the preliminary studies that show damages and increased rates of disease and infertility in animals.
Mike Spindell
1, July 15, 2011 at 3:18 pm
“Also, fat and sugar are physically addictive”
Gyges,
….Some might see this as self torture, but what should they expect, I’m Jewish.
Not limited to the practicing Jew….I can assure you…..I think being reared in a Episcopal/Jewish nee Catholic/Parochial education….they have plenty of companions….
I had a secretary one time that me in a matter of fact way, that she was raised Methodist and did not do guilt….that was the occupation of the Catholics and Jewish….
@GeneH
I see you backed off your nonsensical claims and are now trying to attack my claims. That was probably smart.
I’ll take the USA Today article and many others on the “spent hens” topic over your lack of proof.
Ford paid out quite a handsome sum of damages to the victims of their flawed design. And they haven’t made another one of those poor decisions again. Also, let’s see what the government regulatory agency accomplished: “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) pressured Ford to recall the Pinto, motivated by public outcry and pressure from groups such as Ralph Nader’s Center for Auto Safety. Initially, the NHTSA did not feel there was sufficient evidence to demand a recall due to incidents of fire. The 27 deaths attributed to Pinto fires is the same number of deaths attributed to a transmission problem in the Pinto, which resulted in 180 total deaths in all Ford vehicles, and in 1974 the NHTSA ruled that the Pinto had no “recallable” problem” That’s right: nothing. Ford eventually went on to redesign the defective design on its own. I guess getting whacked with enough multi-million dollar lawsuits tends to clarify priorities for companies.
You keep on believing in your Government Regulation Religion if you want, but like all religions it isn’t based on empirical facts or evidence.
Let’s try this again, without the link.
Mike,
“The fact is that if you cook it yourself you can still have the foods you love only prepared without frying, sugar and salt.”
I suggest getting a hold Sally Schneider’s A new Way to Cook. Her other cook book is great too.
@Shano
HCF does not contain any genetically modified DNA.
There is no Purdue study, it’s just an unsupported anecdote from the alarmist Dr. Huber.
And I don’t see any cites for the remaining list of “studies.”
“It’s never too late and obviously, someone has to fill the void now left by Burke’s retirement.”
LK,
I’m glad I could be of service. His last 3 books are great. Though I am in the process of editing a novel I’ve written, I have written something that allows for my limitations in writing skill. Vachhs is a master, I’m not in his class, or the class of any authors I enjoy. Given my limitations I like my book thus far, but I have no pretensions of literary excellence, just having fun and trying to tell an interesting story..
“Also, fat and sugar are physically addictive”
Gyges,
Don’t I know it. Six years ago being a medium framed 6 footer I weighed 236. This was no good for my heart and being the cook in my household I put on a low fat, low salt diet and no sugar. I lost 41 pounds in almost 4 years and went down to 185, while still enjoying the foods I love. As my heart started failing I went down to 178 and at first credited to my diet and its’ extra benefits. when I fell rapidly to 172 it coincided with my heart starting to fail and despite increasing my eating my weight wasn’t affected. Now a year later, with a new heart I’m up to 195 and again want to lose 10 more pounds. The fact is that if you cook it yourself you can still have the foods you love only prepared without frying, sugar and salt.
My other trick is to let myself fantasize about the food I love but can’t eat. I never give into the fantasies, but they help pass the time. Some might see this as self torture, but what should they expect, I’m Jewish.
Gyges: “If you like Vachss, you should give Joe Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard books a try.”
I read some of his SF/Horror work early on but never progress beyond that. I will now though. I knew the name but hadn’t read him until I saw the movie “Bubba Ho Tep” which was an excellent cult fav with some interesting, comedic dialogue. I’ll be sure to get his book list off Wikipedia and give the Hap and Leonard books a read. Thank you for the recommendation.
Mike S., One lives to be of service 🙂
I’m glad you liked the books. I forgot about ever mentioning him on this blawg. One of the joys of senility- you can hide your own Easter eggs. I did not know there was a final book in the series and will have to visit his website and hunt it up. /pause/ Just checked the interwebs and there are three, THREE, Burke books I haven’t read including the last one! Thanks for sending me on that trip, I will enjoy them no doubt.
“I had planned out a novel where when the perpetrator got off on a technicality, I would end the book by throwing him off a tenement roof.”
It’s never too late and obviously, someone has to fill the void now left by Burke’s retirement.
gee kdreosa, a I already gave you the studies:
Princeton Study showing HFCS causes more weight gain than sugar in equal amounts and liver damage.
Purdue study showing a 50% abortion rate in cattle fed GMO wheat. New pathogen tied to GMO grains.
Any search: 19 studies show GMO foods linked to organ disruption.
GMO foods cause long term sterility in mice.
Monsanto workers ban GMO food from their own cafeteria.
Study finds toxin from GMO crops is showing up in human blood.
GM foods more dangerous for children than adults.
Bacteria in your gut can take up DNA from GM food
GMO peas caused lung damage in mice
GM potatoes cause cancer in rats, etc et al.
kderosa,
Do you always talk gibberish when backed into a corner? The USAToday article is repeating what fast food corporations tell them. That is not independent proof that industry has higher food safety standards. As to “rectified by the businesses”? You mean rectified like Ford rectified the Pinto problem by calculating that it cost them less to pay out litigation than to do a recall? Businesses won’t rectify a damn thing unless 1) it profits them to do so or 2) government compels them to do so. You keep on believing in your Unregulated Free Market Religion if you want, but like all religions it isn’t based on empirical facts or evidence.
Mike,
Also, fat and sugar are physically addictive. I still get an occasional craving for the Totino’s party Pizza. Oh, and we should probably also factor in the social and cultural aspects of dining out.
The proof is in the US Today article I already cited. The fast food company’s standards are far more stringent than the USDAs. ANd now that the USDA is a player in the market since they aer offering food for the National Food Service Program, they are not exactly an independent and neutral agency any more.
As your bogus Jungle incident revealed, meat purchases plummeted after publication, and only rebounded after the government ran cover for them again.
And to the extent that there is a long history or businesses trying to sell unsafe products as you claim, many of those products still got buy the incompetent safety inspections and regulations, were discovered by the market, rectified by the businesses, and/or and damages were handled by he courts as a tort action.
“Also, your conclusion re more government inspection seems moot, private industry already has higher standards and their own testing regime. ”
Proof, please. Independent proof too, not just the industry’s say so.
“Businesses already has a big incentive not to kill their own customers or make them sick. It’s bad for repeat business.”
Specious reasoning as everyone who understood Econ 101 knows you can make up lost repeat business through volume. Your statement also contradicts history which has ample examples of companies selling toxic and unsafe products, especially if they decide the cost of litigation is less than their profits.