USA - Abstention is no substitute for clear policy
A week and a half ago, the Senate Health Committee buried a measure to put health warning labels on soda bottles and cans. The weapon of choice was abstention, a backhanded non-move that can derail bills through inaction. Senate Bill 203, sponsored by Sen. Bill Monning, D-Carmel, needed five votes to advance; it received four, with one no vote. Four other committee members, including the chairman, could have moved it along. All had good reason to back a bill offering their constituents good health information. But none stepped up, which seemed mysterious.
All know that sugary sodas aggravate serious public health problems such as obesity, tooth decay and diabetes. One can of regular cola holds the equivalent of about 10 teaspoons of sugar.
And in working-class districts such as the ones represented by Sens. Isadore Hall, D-Compton,and Janet Nguyen, R-Garden Grove, for example, one voting-age adult in 10 suffers from Type 2 diabetes, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
In Sen. Richard Roth’s Riverside district, more than a quarter of the adult population is obese, and nearly half dine twice or more a week at some fast-food outlet.
And the committee chairman, Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-Azusa, knows better than most that we have to start somewhere to curb this obesity epidemic. Diabetic blindness is one of the most common and tragic side effects of obesity-linked Type 2 diabetes, and Hernandez not only represents a district with higher-than-average rates of both conditions, but also is an optometrist who sees the toll in his patients’ damaged eyesight.
All four abstained, wordlessly................
posted by Bill at
9:40 AM
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