DeLauro Announces Reintroduction of the Stop Subsidizing Childhood Obesity Act

MILFORD, CT (March 7, 2016) — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) today visited Calf Pen Meadow School in Milford, Connecticut, to meet with elementary school students and announce the reintroduction of the Stop Subsidizing Childhood Obesity Act.

The United States is currently facing a childhood obesity epidemic, with more than one-third of children and teens overweight or obese. Over the last 30 years, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents. Yet in the face of this public health crisis, budgets for food marketing to children have spiked into the billions of dollars. According to the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, the food industry spends $1.8 billion per year in the U.S. on marketing targeted to young people.

“The U.S. is in the midst of a dual epidemic of obesity and diabetes, and we need to do something to stop it. As they consume excess calories, added sugars, and higher than recommended levels of sodium, fat, and saturated fat, American children are not meeting basic nutritional goals,” said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. “We must do everything we can to ensure that our kids can grow up healthy and we can start with enacting the Stop Subsidizing Childhood Obesity Act to help them make the right nutritional choices.”

Nearly three-quarters of the foods advertised on television shows intended for children are for sweets or fast foods. According to a comprehensive review by the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine, studies show that these advertisements affect children’s food choices and requests. The study also found that marketing high-calorie foods to children is a major contributor to childhood obesity.

The Stop Subsidizing Childhood Obesity Act would amend the IRS Tax Code to eliminate tax deductions for advertising directed at children that promotes food and drink of “poor nutritional quality.” Revenue generated by the elimination of the deduction would fund the USDA’s “Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program,” which provides a fresh fruit or vegetable snack to all students at participating schools.

A two-sided approach not only eliminates an unnecessary and unfair tax deduction, it also reinvests in programs that improve the nutrition and health of our children. A study published in the Journal of Law and Economics, funded by the NIH, found that eliminating this deduction could reduce the rate of childhood obesity by 5 to 7 percent.

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