By Pedro Forte
Obesity kills.
And the medical community in Puerto Rico has taken note and so has the legislature. So much so, that the Government is planning to introduce a new law to address a burgeoning “national crisis” where over 28% of the children are obese compared to 18% on the mainland (USA).
In a controversial law, Senator Gilbert Rodriguez Valle said that parents of “abused children” could possibly face fines and be deemed “child abusers. This is if the law comes into effect and parents are “punished” for the ever-expanding waistlines of their children.
Valles’ view is that parents whose children are obese are abusing their kids.
Valles said that the determination of obesity arising out of parental neglect would be determined with educational officials. He said that the cases would then be referred to the health department. Valles’ raison d’être behind the law is for children to live, long healthy lives by losing weight.
According to reports, the Puerto Rico’s health department will work on plans to help children lose weight. If, however, after six months, there has been no improvement, the Washington Post report says that child-family services would be contacted and parents could face fines of up to $800.
But the controversial law is a nonsense to some in other quarters. In fact, Nutritionists say that the law is impractical and unrealistic in its efforts to achieve weight loss and a healthy lifestyle.
Nutritionist Milly Garcia said the Government has gone too far.
“The fact that these childhood obesity cases are rooted in lifestyle does not give one the right to step into people’s private spaces. This is not abuse, it’s a disease. It would mean entering into a private area where the government does not belong. Obesity is the result of many factors and what we need to do is find solutions,” she said.
Meanwhile, Dr Ricardo Fontanet, president of the Puerto Rico chapter of the American Academy of Paediatrics said that the issue of obesity needed to be addressed but the Senator was not approaching the matter in the right manner.
Not the right way
“He’s saying that if you have an obese child in the house, it’s synonymous with child abuse, and that’s completely wrong,” he told the UK’s Guardian newspaper.
“You have to lose weight, sure, but to have the state coming to your home, looking at how you do things and charging you with child abuse is dangerous…they’re not involving paediatricians, nutritionists, dieticians, the people who prepare the lunches in schools, in any of this,” Fontanet exclaimed.
“Teachers aren’t trained to identify obese children; they don’t have the time, the facilities or the knowledge. They’re asking people with no knowledge of dealing with obesity to identify these patients.”
Dr Fontanet said that he was not convinced that the law would pass.
