Who is to Blame for a Child`s Obesity

Who is to blame. Who is to blame for America's overweight children? The parents? Schools? Society? Senator Tom Harkin a Democrat from Iowa, believes that food companies should shoulder much of the responsibility. In a recent press conference, with an office filled with sugary foods in savvy packaging, He pointed out that 10 billion is being spent each year to target children with unhealthy products. I grew up with Tony the Tiger, urging me to eat Frosted Flakes , and I shook the cereal box at just the right angle to reach the prize before my brother, but a growing number of individuals believe that today's advertising is much more persuasive, and should be federally regulated. Sadly 15 % of children are obese, couple this with invasive marketing tempting kids on 24 hour cartoon channels to play with toy fast food or read books where a certain brand of cookie is subliminally featured, and it's a whole new ball game. Funny, I think we faced effective advertising as baby boomers; maybe one striking difference is in the ability of parents to monitor them. I'm Susan Allen and this is Food Forethought. Source: New York Times 3/17/05