SubscribeIf You’re Fat, You’re Not Allowed to Eat
Check out the audacity of the state of Mississippi: Bill would make it illegal to feed the obese
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.
That’s right…if this bill passes, obese people in Mississippi will only be allowed to eat at home apparently. Restaurants that repeatedly break this law could have their permits pulled. Frankly, I think this is appalling. There was a comment that I thought made a good point, though I can’t find it now. It was basically “What if I open a healthful restaurant and the obese people decide to come there to turn their lives around?” This reeks of nanny state.
Anyone have any thoughts on this? Is there something I’m not seeing to denying people their right to do business with any establishment that’ll have them?
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Filed in Obesity and Disease 3 Comments so far
Chris Stroud on 01 Feb 2008 at 7:04 pm #
Though the intentions to help people who are struggling with their weight is great this is definitely not the way to go. What about people with thyroid issues who cant control their weight? They could have the discipline as a monk but they are denied business because of group of people who don’t have control.
Anna on 02 Feb 2008 at 2:41 pm #
Slamming fat folks (especially if it is phrased as if it is for their own good)seems to be one of the last remaining legally and socially acceptable ways to discriminate against people. I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn’t April Fool’s day yet. This is ludicrous.
LabRat on 02 Feb 2008 at 8:46 pm #
As far as I can tell, no one expects this to pass, the author is basically just using this to make a statement.
Now, what that statement is, on the other hand… is worth mulling. And the representative who brought it up, although he does not believe it will pass either, was very much making a statement. He says that it was to “call attention to the obesity crisis”, the necessity of government intervention, and brought up what it’s “costing Medicare”.
This is the same state that made the sale of sex toys a felony. It’s not at all a long step from legislating that form of “vice” to this one.