News Releases
April 27, 2010
Contact: Cinderella Lee
Communications Manager
Public Health Institute
(510) 285-5533
Leading Health Organization Applauds Passage of Nation's First Ordinance Addressing Restaurant Toy Giveaways
OAKLAND, CA -- Santa Clara County's new model ordinance sets healthy nutritional standards for restaurant food that comes with toys or other incentive items, according to a public health expert from the Public Health Institute (PHI), a California nonprofit.
"Santa Clara County has taken a critical step in addressing the unethical marketing that promotes a 24/7 diet of calories, fat, sugar and salt to our kids," said PHI's Carmen Nevarez, MD, MPH, vice president for external relations and preventive medicine advisor at PHI and president of the American Public Health Association.
"We're in the midst of a childhood obesity epidemic that is seriously endangering the long-term health of one in four of our kids," Nevarez said. "We can't afford to turn a blind eye to the egregious promotional efforts that reward our children with a toy for eating unhealthy meals."
At a board meeting today, Santa Clara supervisors, led by Supervisor Ken Yeager, passed the landmark ordinance, which limits toy promotions only to meals that meet minimum nutritional levels. Other large municipalities across the United States are considering similar laws.
"Santa Clara County has set a boundary that protects our children with this action. When marketers are trying to reach our children, there must be limits to the type of aggressive sales approaches that we will tolerate. The health of children is a non-negotiable," said Nevarez.
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