Pardon my french (and my anger) on the title of this story but this one hits home. Imagine heading out to dinner with your partner or family, only to be asked to step on a scale and then turned away because you're Body Mass Index or BMI is over 30. That's what eating out in Mississippi might be like if Representative W.T. Mayhall, Jr. gets his bill passed. The bill would require that people who are obese, as defined by the state, be banned from being served in restaurants. It would also require that restaurant owners keep records of customers BMIs. The proposal would allow health inspectors to yank the permit from any restaurant that "repeatedly" feeds extremely overweight customers. This is a law, no matter how much in the "interest of public health" it is, has got to be shot down - big time!
Mayhall authored the bill in all seriousness, although he doesn't believe it will pass. Claiming the "need for government action" in response to the obesity crisis, Mayhall apparently believes that shame and embarrassment will help people take better care of their health. The "Three Stooges" of Mississippi, Mayhall, Read, and Shows, go on to propose in their bill that the Mississippi Department of Health in conjunction with Mississippi's Council on Obesity would set the criteria for establishing what the weight limit will be for patrons wishing to dine at a restaurant anywhere within the state borders (ostensibly using the overused and irrelevant body mass index to determine whether someone is obese or not). Strict compliance with this law will be required of the restaurants or else the state "may revoke the permit of any food establishment that repeatedly violates the provisions of this section." And what is that criteria?I'm not making this crap up. Here is the text of the proposed law in Mississippi. It's apalling!
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2008 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Human Services; Judiciary B
By: Representative Mayhall, Read, Shows
House Bill 282
AN ACT TO PROHIBIT CERTAIN FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS FROM SERVING FOOD TO ANY PERSON WHO IS OBESE, BASED ON CRITERIA PRESCRIBED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH; TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT TO PREPARE WRITTEN MATERIALS THAT DESCRIBE AND EXPLAIN THE CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING WHETHER A PERSON IS OBESE AND TO PROVIDE THOSE MATERIALS TO THE FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS; TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT TO MONITOR THE FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) The provisions of this section shall apply to any food establishment that is required to obtain a permit from the State Department of Health under Section 41-3-15(4)(f), that operates primarily in an enclosed facility and that has five (5) or more seats for customers.
(2) Any food establishment to which this section applies shall not be allowed to serve food to any person who is obese, based on criteria prescribed by the State Department of Health after consultation with the Mississippi Council on Obesity Prevention and Management established under Section 41-101-1 or its successor. The State Department of Health shall prepare written materials that describe and explain the criteria for determining whether a person is obese, and shall provide those materials to all food establishments to which this section applies. A food establishment shall be entitled to rely on the criteria for obesity in those written materials when determining whether or not it is allowed to serve food to any person.
(3) The State Department of Health shall monitor the food establishments to which this section applies for compliance with the provisions of this section, and may revoke the permit of any food establishment that repeatedly violates the provisions of this section.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2008.
Have these state lawmakers completely lost their friggin' minds?! Besides the obvious discrimination against the obese that is explicitly written into this legislation, this would also put restaurant employees in the sticky position of trying to determine if someone is too fat to be served or not. What are they gonna do, put a scale at the front door a la "The Biggest Loser" before you can walk through the dining room area to determine if you qualify to eat there or not?! Has the idiot legislature of Mississippi thought through all of the unintended consequences that such a law would pose on restaurant owners and their employees? Can you say discrimination? Can you say lawsuit? Can you say windfall!
Look, I understand obesity. I was 549 pounds before I had gastric bypass surgery. I did it for health reasons, not vanity! To discriminate against anyone, race, color, creed, ethnicity, handicap or OBESITY, is wrong. And stupid. Sure, there is a problem out there and Mississippi is at the top of the list. But the problem is education and no law is ever going to help that. The costs of legislation such as this would be detrimental. Think of the economic loss if fat people didn't eat. And what if any person, fat or skinny, couldn't get food to survive? And what about the embarrassment factor? There's already enough of that. It's kind of like racism only now it's against fat people! I guess that the world belong to skinny people and that aneroxia is a good thing. Bulemia? Hell, that's even better. I'm sure this bill won't pass, and the purpose was to get some attention to the problem. But to even put it out there is like putting a gun in the hands of some neo-Nazi. Maybe these three stooges need to walk in the shoes of a fat person like Tyra Banks did to realize what it's like out there being fat. Then maybe they'd think twice. What's next? Mandatory executions when you turn 65 because of overpopulation. Probably. Of course, that's just my opinion...and I'm not wrong!
