Legal Strategies in Childhood Obesity Prevention Workshop Summary (2011) / Chapter Skim
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6 Using the Law to Increase Physical Activity
6 Using the Law to Increase Physical Activity
Pages 41-50
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From page 41... ...
• Racial and ethnic disparities in obesity rates raise the possibil ity of using civil rights law to overcome these disparities. • Civil rights arguments have helped create parks and playing fields, expand physical education, and foster more equitable transportation systems.
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From page 42... ...
Already, said Ashe, more than half of children do not meet the national standard of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day, and a growing body of evidence indicates that this lack of physical activity affects cognition and academic performance as well as obesity. Schools have instituted standards for academic performance, but many have dropped recess and provide much less physical education so they can devote more
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From page 43... ...
Finally, they cannot violate state and federal constitutions. Ashe discussed four local strategies based on police power designed to increase physical activity in communities: comprehensive plans, "complete" streets, safe routes to school, and joint-use agreements.
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From page 44... ...
For example, if access to fresh fruits and vegetables is an outcome sought by a local health department, the comprehensive plan can promote this goal by setting standards for commercial retail establishments, community gardens, and farmers' markets in or near residential centers. Ashe emphasized the importance of using specific, quantifiable terms when crafting language for comprehensive plans intended to improve health.
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From page 45... ...
local communities." Safe Routes to Schools The Safe Routes to School program, created in 2005 as part of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act, enables and encourages children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bike to school, thereby promoting an active and healthy lifestyle from an early age. It is a myth, said Ashe, that walking or biking to school is dangerous.
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From page 46... ...
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AS A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its regulations prohibited intentional discrimination and discriminatory impacts based on race, color, or national origin and guaranteed equal access to public resources funded with taxpayers' dollars. Yet the obesity epidemic exhibits clear racial and ethnic disparities, said Robert Garcia, executive director and counsel of The City Project in Los Angeles.
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From page 47... ...
It filed an administrative complaint with the Los Angeles Unified Schools District, a procedure that is not litigation but a way of informing schools that a problem exists and needs to be fixed. The project helped pass a school board resolution requiring the school district to enforce both physical education and civil rights laws because of unfair disparities based on race, color, and national origin.
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From page 48... ...
Representatives of The City Project talked to local members of the Native American community who told them about a 9,000-year-old village, burial ground, and current ceremonial site. The loss of that site is a civil rights issue, Garcia said, and the arguments from the Native American community were decisive in stopping construction of the road.
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From page 49... ...
"If parents want their kids to watch TV rather than jump rope outside, the government doesn't have the wherewithal to regulate that," said Ashe. Shiriki Kumanyika of the IOM Standing Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention observed that civil rights arguments may not work as well for food because many food companies established relationships with communities of color in response to a demand for fair treatment in the marketplace.
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From page 50... ...
In addition, if the federal government were to help enforce physical education standards in the worst schools, there would be a trickle-up effect, Garcia said, as other schools realized that physically fit students do better academically. Kelly Brownell of the Standing Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention, asked whether data exist showing that physical activity increases as people have greater access to open space, which would buttress the civil rights argument.
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