Ethical Agreement and Disagreement about Obesity Prevention Policy in the United States

Barnhill, Anne; King, Katherine F.

doi:10.15171/ijhpm.2013.21

Cited by 18 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(21 reference statements)

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“…A major ethical issue raised for the fat taxation is the autonomy of people to have daily access to food at a reasonable cost that is affordable for all as well as the decision to choose either healthy or favorable food items. 27 Now, an ethical question may arise that if restricting particular food products from the consumers through taxation is ethically acceptable or not.…”

Section: Ethical Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fat taxation in India: A critical appraisal of need, public health impact, and challenges in nationwide implementation

Krishnamoorthy

Ganesh

Sakthivel

2020

Health Promot Perspect

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National Nutritional Monitoring Bureau survey (2017) has found that more than half of the adults in India were overweight and obese. To halt this rising epidemic, development of various policy measures has been suggested in National action plan for prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases. One such measure is the introduction of fat tax which is a surcharge or tax placed on food and beverages containing high amounts of fat. Government of India has made various direct budgetary initiatives for boosting the sectors related to the production of items rich in fat, sugars and salt without realizing the potential public health consequences. Hence, increasing the taxes for unhealthy junk foods should encourage the people to take healthier food options which in turn lead to positive impact on health. However, fat taxation faced several challenges during implementation in countries like Denmark, Hungary, France and United States. Major challenges were the taxation debate, setting tax limit and encroaching into the autonomy rights of people. Evidences have shown that taxation alone cannot bring down the burden of non-communicable diseases but should be combined with measures like subsidies and access to healthy food items, public health education campaigns and programmes.

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Section: Ethical Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fat taxation in India: A critical appraisal of need, public health impact, and challenges in nationwide implementation

Krishnamoorthy

Ganesh

Sakthivel

2020

Health Promot Perspect

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“…Some authors have made significant progress in unraveling the complicated relationship between freedom and autonomy in the debate on taxation of unhealthy products. For example, Anne Barnhill and Katherine Francis King argue that there are multiple “dimensions of autonomy”: freedom from external constraints, psychological capacity to make choices, and understanding available options . They contend that the value of autonomy motivates both normative reasons against taxation policies, when those policies compromise autonomy along one dimension, and normative reasons for such policies, when those policies strengthen autonomy along another dimension.…”

Section: Negative Liberty Freedom Of Options and Autonomymentioning

confidence: 99%

Sugar, Taxes, & Choice

Véliz¹,

Maslen²,

Essman³

et al. 2019

Hastings Center Report

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Population obesity and associated morbidities pose significant public health and economic burdens in the United Kingdom, United States, and globally. As a response, public health initiatives often seek to change individuals’ unhealthy behavior, with the dual aims of improving their health and conserving health care resources. One such initiative—taxes on sugar‐sweetened beverages—has sparked considerable ethical debate. Prominent in the debate are arguments seeking to demonstrate the supposed impermissibility of SSB taxes and similar policies on the grounds that they interfere with individuals’ freedom and autonomy. Commentators have often assumed that a policy intended to restrict or change private individuals’ consumption behavior will necessarily curtail freedom and, as a corollary, will undermine individuals’ autonomy with respect to their consumption choices. Yet this assumption involves a conceptual mistake. To address the misunderstanding, it’s necessary to attend to the differences between negative liberty, freedom of options, and autonomy. Ultimately, concerns about negative liberty, freedom, and autonomy do not provide strong grounds for opposing SSB taxes.

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“…Here is a representative example. According to Mary Cheh, a Washington DC councillor, ‘The soda tax would help low-income residents by encouraging them to choose healthier beverages and by creating more grocery stores and jobs in low-income neighborhoods’ (quoted p. 118 12). It is the part of this statement about stores and jobs that is about increasing choice; the part about choosing healthier beverages looks as if it speaks more to problems with choosing.…”

Section: Preventive Regulations and Choice Setsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Just health: meeting health needs fairly : Cambridge University Press. ; of obesity, Barnhill A and King KF 12. Ethical agreement and disagreement about obesity prevention policy in the United States.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Obesity, equity and choice

Wilkinson

2018

J Med Ethics

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Obesity is often considered a public health crisis in rich countries that might be alleviated by preventive regulations such as a sugar tax or limiting the density of fast food outlets. This paper evaluates these regulations from the point of view of equity. Obesity is in many countries correlated with socioeconomic status and some believe that preventive regulations would reduce inequity. The puzzle is this: how could policies that reduce the options of the badly off be more equitable? Suppose we distinguish: (1) the badly off have poor options from (2) the badly off are poor at choosing between their options (ie, have a choosing problem). If obesity is due to a poverty of options, it would be perverse to reduce them further. Some people in public health say that preventive regulations do not reduce options but, I shall argue, they are largely wrong. So the equity case for regulations depends on the worst off having a choosing problem. It also depends on their having a choosing problem that makes their choices against their interests. Perhaps they do. I ask, briefly, what the evidence has to say about whether the badly off choose against their interests. The evidence is thin but implies that introducing preventive regulations for the sake of equity would be at least premature.

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Ethical Agreement and Disagreement about Obesity Prevention Policy in the United States

Cited by 18 publications

References 22 publications

Fat taxation in India: A critical appraisal of need, public health impact, and challenges in nationwide implementation

Fat taxation in India: A critical appraisal of need, public health impact, and challenges in nationwide implementation

Sugar, Taxes, & Choice

Obesity, equity and choice

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