Philadelphia’s soda tax: a win for public health (and the city’s budget)

By Sarah Roache | Leave a Comment

On June 16, despite vehement opposition from the beverage industry, the City of Philadelphia adopted a 1.5 cent per ounce tax on sodas. The tax will be applied to both regular and diet sodas and is predicted to raise over $90 million in the first year. Philadelphia’s tax is widely viewed as an important step […]

Posted in Non-Communicable Diseases ;

05.20.16

Ending tax subsidies for junk food advertising to children

By Sarah Roache | Leave a Comment

The United States is in the midst of an obesity epidemic. This public health crisis demands urgent attention and action, including removing the little-known tax subsidy for junk food advertising to children. Childhood overweight and obesity In the past three decades, obesity has more than doubled among children and quadrupled among adolescents. Today, nearly 13 […]

Posted in Non-Communicable Diseases ;

01.28.16

Ending childhood obesity: the role of laws and regulations

By Sarah Roache | Leave a Comment

Obesity can have serious effects on children’s health, educational achievements, and overall quality of life. In 2014, a UNICEF-WHO-World Bank joint report estimated that 41 million children under 5 were overweight or obese. Globalization and urbanization mean that many children are growing up in obesogenic environments and that the prevalence of childhood obesity is increasing, […]

Posted in Non-Communicable Diseases ;

12.03.15

International Day of Persons with Disabilities: the nexus between disability and NCDs

By Sarah Roache | Leave a Comment

Much of my day-to-day work at the O’Neill Institute involves researching and advising on the use of law as a tool to address non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Today, on the fourteenth International Day of Persons with Disabilities, it’s timely to explore the multiple interconnections between disabilities and NCDs.

Posted in Global Health, Non-Communicable Diseases ;

09.04.15

Protecting our kids from all-pervasive tobacco advertising

By Sarah Roache | Leave a Comment

Tobacco products seem to be pretty much everywhere: pharmacies (except CVS, which stopped selling tobacco products one year ago yesterday), supermarkets, gas stations, and convenience stores. Since the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between U.S. states and the tobacco industry restricted outdoor cigarette advertising, the tobacco industry has turned its focus, and increased its marketing […]

Posted in Tobacco ; Tagged: advertising and promotion, point-of-sale, tobacco control.

07.10.15

How would obesity policy differ if we didn’t blame the individual?

By Sarah Roache | Leave a Comment

This week in the New York Times, Aaron E. Carroll questioned why paying people for quitting smoking and losing weight is unpalatable to many Americans, even though significant evidence shows that financial incentives improve health outcomes. Carroll concludes that financial incentives tend to be least palatable for behaviors we know are harmful to begin with, […]

Posted in uncategorized ; Tagged: NCDs, noncommunicable diseases, obesity.

06.22.15

Trans fat: it’s time for global elimination

By Sarah Roache | Leave a Comment

Last week, US consumers received the good news that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will require manufacturers to remove artificial trans fat from food products within three years. From a domestic perspective, the public health benefits of the FDA’s move are irrefutable. Through a global lens however, the impacts are less clear. Often, transnational […]

Posted in uncategorized ; Tagged: global health equity, trans fat.

05.11.15

In celebration of our mothers: key supporters of our health and wellbeing

By Sarah Roache | Leave a Comment

My mother was fiercely supportive and protective of the people she loved and the causes she believed in. Her strength as a woman, her dedication as a mother, and her death in a car accident when I was a teenager, inspired me to become an advocate for the health and wellbeing of others. Here at […]

Posted in uncategorized ; Tagged: Mother's Day, women's health.

04.17.15

Corporate behavior: an underlying driver of non-communicable diseases

By Sarah Roache | Leave a Comment

We are all increasingly aware of the vast array of tactics employed by the tobacco, alcohol, and junk food industries to encourage us to consume their hazardous products. For decades, Big Tobacco deliberately deceived the public about the dangers of smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke. The alcohol industry targets products and advertising at young […]

Posted in uncategorized ;

03.13.15

Women and noncommunicable diseases in the United States

By Sarah Roache | Leave a Comment

International Women’s Day on March 8 caused me to reflect on the impact of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on the lives of women in the United States. Four principal NCDs – cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic lung disease are largely caused by four shared and modifiable risk factors: tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, poor […]

Posted in uncategorized ; Tagged: global health law, NCDs, non-communicable diseases.

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The views reflected in this blog are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent those of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law or Georgetown University. This blog is solely informational in nature, and not intended as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed and retained attorney in your state or country.

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