Obesity Parallels Went Off on the Wrong Track

Re “Money and Politics Fuel the Obesity Gravy Train,” Commentary, July 10: Norah Vincent misses the obvious parallels between tobacco and food. Just like tobacco makers, food and beverage marketers target children -- they give away free samples and claim that advertising has no effect on consumption.

The public shouldn’t be fooled again. A lone individual swimming against the tide of a billion-dollar industry doesn’t stand much of a chance, especially going up against one that has brazenly said it teaches children to pester their parents incessantly in the supermarket. In light of these marketing practices, should we really be surprised that the nation is facing an obesity epidemic? The first thing we should do to reverse this tide is demand that our government regulate marketing to children. Start with schools.

Elena O. Lingas

Berkeley

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Vincent’s commentary likening obesity lawsuits to AIDS activism and “identity politics” was downright silly. First, AIDS isn’t a strictly homosexual problem. If that was the case, then the more than 24 million people living with the disease in Africa must all be gay. Second, obesity isn’t a virus. One can’t contract the cumulative effect of daily Big Macs. Did this key element simply elude her, or was it inconvenient to her argument?

For the record, I’m neither fat nor gay, so I’m not playing identity politics. I’m just a reader amazed that someone as consistently simple-minded as Vincent has been granted a national forum.

Holly Ambler-Jones

Oxnard