Obesity, Public Health, and the Food Supply

This Article proposes a three-part approach to improve the food supply. Specifically, it explores government taxing and spending, two traditional public health tools, and suggests that both of these governmental powers can be used to make healthier foods more readily reasonable prices, while increasing the cost of less healthy alternatives. Finally, it proposes that we promote a true “food democracy” through the creation of an education and awareness campaign. This campaign would not only better educate Americans about proper nutrition but would also focus on how we can change our entire relationship with food. It would encourage consumption of locally grown whole foods and sensitize individuals to the need for sustainable agriculture. It would also address the benefits of taking the time for balanced, sit-down meals rather than eating on the run. Part II of this Article outlines the problem of obesity in America. Part III explores the current state of our food supply. Part IV proposes the implementation of 1) taxing, 2) spending, and 3) educational and awareness modifications to improve the food supply and to begin to shift our consciousness surrounding food

Mainstreaming Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the Face of Uncertainty

Part I of this article provides an overview of the medical necessity test, and examines the decision-making process pursuant to the test, including who makes coverage determinations and what criteria are used in making them. Part I also sets forth examples of conventional treatments that insurers routinely cover despite their questionable efficacy from a medical necessity perspective. Part II explores CAM disciplines and describes how they differ from conventional medicine. Part III discusses the legal challenges CAM faces and explores the limited extent to which CAM is covered by health insurance and the failure of state laws to provide mandates for such coverage. Part III also examines the need for expanded state licensing laws for CAM providers and highlights state laws that are designed to keep CAM dollars in the pockets of conventional medical doctors instead. Part IV analyzes the inability of traditional methods of insurance decision-making to adequately determine whether CAM should also be covered, and sets forth a new paradigm for determining whether CAM should be covered by health insurers. Part IV proposes a shift from the current medical necessity test to a reasonable necessity standard. The term “medical” suggests decisions made solely by medical doctors. The reasonable necessity test, on the other hand, will encompass treatments that are necessary in the opinion of any licensed health care provider, including CAM providers. This would correct two problems. First, it would allow all licensed health care providers to determine what treatments are reasonably necessary. Second, it would acknowledge the limitations on the current state of knowledge and place more power back in the hands of health care providers, both conventional and CAM, rather than insurers, in making coverage determinations

Nature and Nurture: Revisiting the Infant Adoption Process

Adopted children constitute approximately two percent of the United States\u27 childhood population, but are disproportionately represented in mental health settings, where they make up an estimated four to fifteen percent of the population. Science suggests that for those adopted at birth, this discrepancy may be due in part to their abrupt removal from the biological parents. We are now beginning to understand the importance of the bonding that takes place in utero and the infant\u27s awareness at birth. This article suggests three changes to the infant adoption process to align it with scientific knowledge. First, all adults involved in the adoption need to be educated on the unique mental health needs that adopted children may have as a result of their transition from one family to another. Second, the infant adoption placement process should be changed from an event to a process to make the shift from one family to another more gradual. Finally, we need a sea change in the cultural beliefs surrounding adoption to make access to information and contact with biological parents the norm rather than the exception

Rethinking the Childhood-Adult Divide: Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Emerging Adults

Part I of this article describes ADHD and explores the extent of ADHD medication abuse, especially among young adults. Part II discusses the characteristics of emerging adults, who may be more likely than their older counterparts to make unwise decisions about medications and other life choices.34 While we protect minors by requiring parental consent for their medical treatments, emerging adults are effectively able to obtain any drug on the market if they convince the doctor that they have the requisite diagnosis. Part III explores HIPAA, the medical malpractice standard of care and the challenges associated with a society that is overly dependent on prescription drugs. It recommends that we work towards greater mental health parity, enabling those who need them, to affordably obtain mental health services. Part III also recommends that HIPAA be amended to provide for presumed consent for health care providers to share information, including at least an initial meeting, with parents of young emerging adults. It also suggests that mental health care providers\u27 failure to use best efforts to include parental contact in cases of young emerging adults violates the medical malpractice standard of care, especially in cases involving ADHD medications. Finally, this article advocates for an awareness campaign to address the challenges associated with the public health problem of prescription drug overuse and abuse

Is Sugar the New Tobacco? How to Regulate Toxic Foods

This article explores the health risks associated with added sugar. It then examines how, if at all, sugar should be regulated, by considering tobacco regulation as a possible model. Part I identifies the health risks of sugar consumption. Part II examines the reasons why sugar is added to so much of our food supply. Part III provides an overview of tobacco regulation, including educational initiatives, warning labels, advertising restrictions, age limitations, and taxes. Finally, Part IV provides a framework for sugar regulation, suggesting that most of the foregoing laws designed to discourage tobacco use should, with the exception of age restrictions and with appropriate modifications, be applied to products with large quantities of added sugar. Part IV also suggests regulatory changes within the FDA to remove sugar\u27s classification as a substance that is “generally recognized as safe (GRAS).In addition to looking solely at sugar, Part IV also takes a broader look at how food policy can shift to improve the overall food supply in ways that enhance consumer choice, and proposes the appointment of an independent National Director of Food, who would have sufficient authority to help neutralize the impact that the food lobby has on food supply

Surrogacy and Adoption: A Case of Incompatibility

This Article explores the public policy doctrine relating to contracts generally and examines specific public policies set forth in state adoption statutes. The Article concludes that surrogate parenting agreements are 1) incompatible with consent provisions of state adoption statutes, 2) inconsistent with state laws prohibiting baby-selling, and 3) inconsistent with state adoption provisions that provide for a thorough investigation of the adoptive parents in order to ensure that the adoption serves the child\u27s best interests. Accordingly, this Article suggests that as state legislatures debate the best means of addressing the issue of surrogate parenting, they should recognize that surrogate parenting agreements must be restructured to avoid violation of adoption statutes. Surrogate parenting agreements that comply with adoption requirements in all respects except for failure to comply with adoption consent provisions should be voidable. Surrogate parenting agreements that violate baby-selling prohibitions or provisions requiring an investigation of the adoptive parents, however, should be void. Part I of this Article examines the public policy doctrine as it applies to traditional contract law. Part II explores the adoption process and the public policies underlying it. Part III examines the incompatibilities between surrogate parenting agreements and the adoption statutes. Part IV describes the modifications required in the surrogate process in order to make surrogate parenting agreements enforceable and concludes by looking at surrogacy in the context of society at large

Products Liability and Preemption: A Judicial Framework

Part I of this article examines the preemption doctrine while Part II explores the development of the law of products liability. Part III analyzes products liability cases in which the preemption defense has been raised—focusing on cases involving cigarettes and automobiles—and examines the approaches taken by the courts. Finally, Part IV articulates a framework for courts to use when the preemption defense is asserted in products liability cases

The Modern Age of Informed Consent

This essay explores the informed consent ramifications of the confluence of these two phenomena: developments in medical technology and emerging adulthood. In particular, it explores consent to medical treatments by emerging adults that are both elective and irreversible. In such cases, policy considerations dictate that additional safeguards be implemented to ensure that the consent given is truly informed. Part II of this essay provides an overview of the informed consent doctrine and outlines a variety of advancements in elective medical technology. Part III explores the concept of emerging adulthood. Part IV suggests that when emerging adults seek medical treatments that are elective, non-emergent, and irreversible, the law should require deliberative consent, a process that mandates counseling by a patient advocate along with a waiting period

The Jurisprudence of Love

Part I of this article explores the concept of Love as an energetic, vibrational, and spiritual force. Part II provides an overview of what Love means in practice. Part III explores two areas of the law--access to health care and global warming--and suggests that significant improvements to those laws would be generated by a Love-based approach to the law

From Public Health to Public Wealth: The Case for Economic Justice

This Article examines how we can overlay the principle of serving the common good, which undergirds public health law, onto financial well-being. It suggests that we apply public health law principles to corporate law and culture. In matters of public health, we view quite broadly states\u27 police power to protect the public good. Government is also empowered to protect the general welfare in matters of financial well-being. Using the “general welfare” as a guidepost, this Article challenges the conventional wisdom that corporations exist solely to maximize profit and shareholder value to the exclusion of virtually everything else. It proposes two areas of change for improving our collective financial well-being. First, it suggests new rules for corporate board composition and accountability, specifically, proposing the elimination of the business judgment rule for executive compensation decisions. Second, it proposes that employees of large corporations elect 40% of the board members. Finally, this Article also highlights the link between financial well-being and democracy and urges that voting rights and campaign finance laws be strengthened. Part I of this Article explores the community-focused mission of public health law. Part II examines the more individualistic nature of corporate law and culture. Part III suggests policy changes that would apply community-focused public health law concepts to the economy, making for a more equitable society