Obesity-as-disability in Canada: “Marise Myrand said her condo association discriminated against her by denying her a parking spot closer to her building entrance.” She’s now won a favorable ruling from the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal and a $10,000 settlement. [The Globe and Mail, h/t reader Vicky G.]
Posts Tagged ‘obesity’
“Proposed Changes to Psychiatric Manual Stir Lawsuit Fears”
“The American Psychiatric Association wants binge eating and excess gambling to be considered psychiatric disorders. … Lawyers have plenty to say about the proposed disorders, which, some argue, could open up the door for yet more disability suits in the workplace.” [Tresa Baldas, NLJ]
New federal push to force local schools to ban sweets
The feds apparently expect their newest incursion into local school autonomy to go as easily as taking candy from a baby, which always was a puzzling figure of speech [New York Times]
“More airlines make large passengers buy two seats”
Defying the prospect of lawsuits, more airlines are imposing new rules on “customers of size.” [David Landsel, AirfareWatchdog.com] Earlier here, etc.
Stossel on the food police
Last night’s show.
Health care bill loaded up with goodies
Regulatory goodies, if there are such a thing, including a mandate that mid-size and bigger employers set aside space for employee breastfeeding, and those nutritional labels on vending machines. [USA Today] See also Point of Law, Nov. 20 (goodies for labor unions).
Calorie count labeling for vending machines
It’s in a provision “buried deep in the House health care bill”. [Glenn Thrush, Politico, via Katherine Mangu-Ward, Crispy on the Outside]
U.K.: Children seized from obese parents
A remarkable story of government power from Dundee, Scotland [Daily Mail via Steyn/NRO, earlier]
L.A. city council: no convenience for you
Paternalism under the palms [Future of Capitalism]:
The Los Angeles City Council, having already established “a moratorium on new openings of fast-food restaurants” within a 32-square-mile area of South Los Angeles, is now preparing a crackdown on convenience stores that “would prohibit such small neighborhood markets from being closer than one-half mile from one another unless they sold fresh fruit and vegetables,” reports the Los Angeles Times. Link via the American Council on Science and Health.
New York City cracks down on bake sales in schools
The new regulations have 
drawn considerable negative comment from New York Times readers, and cartoonist/commentator Roz Chast doesn’t seem to hold them in very high regard either.
Only indirectly related — but also pointing up the unlikelihood of getting anything particularly tasty to eat in a Gotham public school environment 
— it seems that raw meat is not allowed in NYC school cafeteria kitchens, because it “poses too much of a food-handling challenge” [NYT again]