I had a chance run in with Rep. Larry Brown, one of the few Republicans serving on the Task Force on Childhood Obesity, last week at the General Assembly.
I asked him about a bill that would outlaw whole-fat and chocolate milk (and limit juice consumption) in day care centers.
Shouldn?t parents decide what their children eat? I asked.
?Evidently parents just don?t have the time or the desire to give them nutritious meals at home and therefore when they do get fed, we want them to be fed nutritious meals, and we also want to make them more active,? he said.
Is that the government?s job? I asked.
?Evidently the parents are not doing their job,? he said. ?When they work they don?t feel like cooking a lot of meals when they come home and they eat a lot of fast food, which is terrible for you. Really they?re killing their children and they don?t realize it.?
He continued:
?I don?t like to see the government step in and do anything to take away citizens? rights to make their own mistakes ? I don?t like that aspect of it ? but at certain times, if the parent is not going to do it, the government might ought to give a little oversight.?
Brown categorized himself as obese. He said he?d had a stroke, has high blood pressure and is diabetic.He said he?s lost ten pounds since serving on the task force.
