New York Nanny Staters Continue Assault on Fast Food

Never mind that it is ultimately the job of the parents of children to set those kids straight on what and how to eat. Apparently, there are NYC Councilmembers who are vying for Mayor Bloomberg's iron grip on being top nanny stater in the City.

Eric Gioia's legislation would prohibit new fast-food restaurants from opening within one-tenth of a mile of a school. The proposal, said Gioia (D-Queens), is based on a recent University of California at Berkeley/Columbia University study that found kids who attend schools near McDonald's, KFC and other fast-food restaurants had a 5.2 increase in the incidence of obesity.

Maybe if their parents taught their kids to eat healthier, they would make better choices.

The New York Times reported on this story last month, and they claim that without a doubt that reducing the number of fast food restaurants within a particular distance of schools is indicated. The Times notes that it's a working paper written up by economists, not health experts:

The study, a widely circulated working paper of the independent National Bureau of Economic Research, marks an intensive effort by economists to determine whether close geographic proximity to fast food plays a causal role in obesity.

The sample population was large, spanned almost a decade and included such detailed geographic information that researchers were able to observe obesity rates among ninth graders in the same school in the years before and after a new fast food outlet opened nearby.

Did these same researchers take note of whether the parents of these kids cooked dinners or went out to eat? It would seem that parental behavior and attitudes towards food are far more determinative than whether food options are available. The fact is that there's a reason that fast food restaurants are widely visited; it's because people perceive that they do not have time to prepare home-cooked meals. That's a choice that they've made.

It goes without saying that this particular proposal is anti-business and would hurt the local economy at a time when unemployment is rising and government revenues are sagging.