Panel hears thoughts on food marketing to kids

Combating the growing obesity problem among children will require stronger action at all levels from food makers to governments and schools, witnesses told U.S. lawmakers Tuesday at a hearing about how foods are marketed to kids. Dr. Julie Gerberding, the head of the CDC, said children can't make healthy food decisions for themselves and they and their parents are being influenced by advertising. She said researchers must understand the relationship between advertising and obesity, and that there should be standards and agreement on what healthy choices are."This is job one for our nation," Gerberding said. "This is our future. We owe it to our children and we've got to do a lot more than we have been doing to get this problem under control."

Steve - for those with children who watch Nickelodeon, Disney, and Cartoon Network, the junk marketed is beyond belief. And for them to tag it as "part of a complete breakfast" is ludicrous. Big Food will fight regulation tooth and nail because they know how important kids' marketing is to branding not just short-term, but long-term. The government will end up letting them "police themselves" which will amount to window dressing. The only recourse we have as parents is to stop buying the junk food. Stop giving in to your children when they clamor for junk. When sales go down, then Big Food will listen.