Sens. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, announced today that the joint kids and obesity task force they formed with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin and FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate will report in September instead of next week. The reason: It will be outdated due to upcoming initiatives from food marketers to be unveiled at a Federal Trade Commission/Department of Health and Human Services workshop July 18.The task force was formed in reaction to pressure from legislators after several studies intimated that food and fast food marketing on TV contributes to childhood obesity.
It is bad enough that a task force was formed instead of action being taken by Congress. As it stands, the facts and the recommendations that come from the task force will be predicated on what the marketers lay out.
So, we wait to see what the marketers will do about the effect their advertising has on obesity in children. This is like Congress investigating congressional spending or children supervising themselves.
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