First it was prohibition (subsequently repealed). Later came big tobacco. And big food, with McDonalds, under public pressure, announcing that you won’t be able to supersize your orders anymore.
Now government officials (perhaps with trial lawyers not far behind) are after a new target: Big Joe.
Mike Johanns, governor of Nebraska, isn’t content with overseeing that state’s multi-billion dollar budget and thousands of employees. No, he wants to serve as chief …. uhm, advocate of caffeine awareness, announcing Caffeine Awareness Month.
This is a great illustration of the perils of public health programs. Like any government function, they are prone to mission creep. Eradicating communicable diseases is a great thing, and compared with some third world countries, the U.S. has done a great job. That’s one lesson that Oklahoma’s health commissioner found on his trips to Ghana, Peru, and other countries.
Now he wants the state to encourage “youngsters to eat more fruits and vegetables and consume fewer vending-machine products, such as soda and candy.” More fruits and vegetables? Less soda pop? All good ideas. But the emphasis on the consequences of voluntary, relatively benign choices is a far cry from preventing the spread of viruses by providing a clean water supply.
Says the new commissioner, “Our challenge is to maintain what public health accomplished in the last century — including great strides in infectious disease control, immunizations, and sanitation issues — while tackling the public health challenges of this century, such as new and re-emerging diseases, bioterrorism and emergency preparedness issues, and”– [this is the part where the state nags you about your diet] “behavioral health issues.”