Setting the Stage for Public Health: The Role of Litigation in Controlling Obesity
13 Pages Posted: 11 Jan 2007
Abstract
Litigation can be a central strategy in improving public health. It was instrumental in initiating a public health response to tobacco and to other chronic problems. Just as litigation was successful in confronting these public health problems, so can it be with obesity. Litigation as a tool to improve public health is effective only when its strategic focus is environmental rather than discrete. It is effective not only when it eliminates one particular risk but when it alters the social context that shapes the behavior of entire populations.
Keywords: law, litigation, public health, obesity, arkansas, tobacco, pelman, mcdonalds
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