Call for Child Obesity Act
A weight loss campaigner has called for the government to consider sending the parents of obese children to jail.
Steve Miller, health expert and host of TV show Fat Families, has suggested the move, arguing that overfeeding children should be deemed ‘child cruelty’. Miller proposed the Child Obesity Act, a piece of legislation which would see parents of morbidly obese children receive three warnings, followed by formal prosecution. The Act would also involve children being sent to a bootcamp to help them shed weight. The weight loss advocate believes that when children are overweight, it is “almost always” the fault of their parents, and not their own.
The controversial weight loss campaigner continued: “Childhood obesity is spiraling out of control and like it or lump it we need to address the issue head on to protect our future generations”
However, the proposal has been greeted with much controversy. A spokesperson for the Department of Health told The Huffington Post: “We have no plans to jail parents of obese children. We want to help families and support them to lead happier and healthier lives. The Child Obesity Act isn’t what we want to develop. We’re looking at compiling a strategy which will look at different aspects of obesity – there’s lots of things we’re looking at and we’ll be announcing our steps later on in the year.”
