Government Intervention and The Nation's Diet: The Slippery Slope of Inaction
Government Intervention and The Nation's Diet: The Slippery Slope of Inaction
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政府干预和国家饮食：不作为的滑坡
DOI：
10.1080/15265161003697313
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发表时间：
2010
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
K. Brownell
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
K. Brownell
该国积极开展改善饮食的活动，希望预防肥胖和糖尿病等问题。白宫、国会、各州的立法机构和总检察长以及社区都动员起来参与这项工作，考虑到令人震惊的医疗保健费用（仅肥胖每年就花费 1,470 亿美元）、对国家劳动力的损害、对教育和军事战备的影响以及饮食相关疾病造成的令人沮丧的人员伤亡，这是一个值得欢迎的进展。国家必须采取行动已不再是争议。即使是那些最坚决反对采取行动的人，特别是食品行业及其政治盟友，现在也同意必须采取一些行动。政府应该扮演的角色仍然存在争议，特别是当商业利益受到影响时。在与个人行为（例如饮食、吸烟）相关的健康危机的早期阶段，国家默认采取被动立场，政府充当拉拉队长，在场外恳求参与者（公众）表现得更好，停止吸烟、暴饮暴食或饮酒。当问题超过某个阈值、成本变得过高并且受问题影响的人（尤其是儿童）被视为针对有害影响而采取行动时，这种不作为就会结束。烟草就是一个很好的例子。几十年过去了，行业利益凌驾于公共利益之上，联邦政府除了发布报告和警告以及在教育活动上花费微不足道的资金外，几乎没有做任何事。终于跨过了一个门槛，曾经难以想象的政府行为变成了家常便饭。高烟草税、公共场所禁烟令、对涉及儿童的营销行为的严格限制、警告标签以及对该行业的悲观看法结合在一起，创造了公共卫生的重大胜利。各国政府现在正积极应对饮食和营养问题，可以预见的是，反对者会提出以前听到过的有关烟草、酒精、艾滋病和其他各种问题的论点。常见的是对滑坡的警告，即政府在一种情况下的行动（例如，禁止餐馆中的反式脂肪）预计会产生更多的侵入性行为，从而损害个人自由。可怕的场景
The nation has come alive with activities to improve diet in hopes of preventing problems such as obesity and diabetes. The White House, Congress, legislatures and Attorneys General in the states, and communities have mobilized in this effort, a welcome development in light of alarming health care costs ($147 billion annually for obesity alone), damage to the country’s workforce, impact on educational and military readiness, and the disheartening human toll of diet-related diseases. That the nation must act is no longer in dispute. Even those most steadfast in opposing action, notably the food industry and its political allies, now agree that something must be done. Still disputed is the role government should play, particularly when business interests are affected. In the early stages of health crises related to personal behavior (e.g., eating, drinking, smoking) the nation defaults to a passive stance whereby government acts as cheerleader, imploring from the sidelines for the players (the public) to behave better and stop smoking, eating too much or drinking. Such inaction ends when a problem crosses a threshold, when costs become too high and people affected by the problem, children in particular, are seen as acting in response to harmful influences. Tobacco is a case in point. Decades passed during which industry interests trumped the public good and the federal government did little more than issue reports and warnings and spend trivial amounts on education campaigns. A threshold was finally crossed and once unimaginable government actions became routine. High tobacco taxes, smoking bans in public places, severe restriction on marketing practices involving children, warning labels, and dim views of the industry combined to create a major public health victory. Governments are now activated to confront diet and nutrition issues, and predictably, opponents raise arguments heard before with tobacco, alcohol, AIDS and a variety of others issues. Common are warnings of the slippery slope whereby government action in one case (e.g., banning trans fats in restaurants) is predicted to generate more intrusive acts, thus undermining personal freedoms. Dire scenarios