Protecting Children: How Far Do We Go? September 12, 2011 Primary Care, Public Health, San Francisco Medicine, SFMS Member 0 Hot off the presses! The September 2011 issue of San Francisco Medicine is now available and making its way to mailboxes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. This issue marks the first installment in a three-part "Medicine for the Phases of Life" series, focusing on pediatric and adolescent medicine. The journal is also available as an eMagazine and can be viewed here. Scroll down to read an introduction about the theme of this month's SFM from SFMS President George Fouras, MD. Over the years, we as a society have felt that the protection of children from specific items or events is in the best interest of the child. For example, we have legislation that prohibits youth under the age of eighteen from smoking and for youth under the age of twenty-one from drinking alcohol, and minors from having sexual intercourse. In addition, we have, as a society, prohibited advertisements for tobacco products and alcohol over network television. We have done this because we recognized that children are not developmentally ready to deal with such concepts, and to empower parents and caretakers of children to make the decisions they feel are appropriate in the raising of their children. Oddly enough, the depiction of extreme and gratuitous violence, on television and in movies targeted toward the teenage audience, is permitted. Recently, Senator Leland Yee authored legislation designed to protect children from violent video games and to empower families in controlling what media their children are exposed to. As expected, this issue finally reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which, in a seven-to-two decision, struck down this law on free-speech grounds, stating that children have a right to view such media. In a recently published op-ed piece, the gaming industry took this “win” as an affirmation of its position. The piece that was missing is that the basis of the argument was, in my opinion, flawed. These games were compared to Saturday morning cartoons. But the fallacy is that kids do have a capacity to tell fantasy from reality. They know that rabbits cannot speak. But shooting a “hooker” for points is a reflection of life. In another example of irony, the film industry may be compelled to give an R rating to a film that portrays normal, healthy, romantic, and sexual relationships among human beings or portrays violence in a historically accurate manner, yet may give a PG-13 rating to a movie that contains gratuitous violence. Much attention has been raised recently over the nutritional value of foods that are targeted toward children. This has most recently been brought into focus by the First Lady's campaign to raise awareness regarding childhood obesity and the increased incidence of diabetes among children. The medical community has long known of the poor nutritional value of foods targeted toward children, often in the form of high-calorie and high-fat meals with little nutritional value. We have had some wins over the years but are still challenged in trying to change societal norms versus overwhelming corporate influence to maintain the status quo. In the July 25, 2011, issue of American Medical News, the Opinion column noted that the June report of the Institute of Medicine that stated that approximately 10 percent of children from infancy to age two are obese, a figure that rises to 20 percent by age five. Excess weight gained early in life may affect metabolic systems, which may then raise the risk of chronic disease later in life. For another example of corporate influence, we have to look no further than the tobacco industry. After decades of trying to make a difference in how cigarettes and other tobacco products are marketed, and finally winning legislation that can control the tobacco industry, a new development has occurred. The introduction of e-cigarettes, a tobacco-less form of nicotine delivery, is being strongly marketed, especially to children and teenagers, by using fruity flavors and smells that are appealing to younger people and adults alike. E-cigarettes are nothing more than a smokeless nicotine delivery system and have the potential of addicting thousands and millions of people. They completely circumvent all tobacco legislation and present new challenges to efforts to control nicotine addiction. Working with our health department, which recently adopted new policy to bring e-cigs under tobacco regulations, the SFMS will be asking the CMA to look at this on a statewide basis as well. The common thread in all of these examples is that children and teenagers are still growing and developing both mentally and physically. Family members should be the primary people to set rules and boundaries and raise youth to be able to handle more adult choices and situations. Our role as a society is to empower families and to shield them from overwhelming influences that subvert their abilities to raise their children. This is why we must continue to pursue these goals and educate the people who have the political power to help. Click here to view the September 2011 issue of San Francisco Medicine. Comments are closed.
