In a continued effort to advise Boston and Massachusetts parents of trends affecting their children, the Boston Law Office of Neil Burns is posting this article regarding fast-food toys, like those found at McDonald's, being banned in San Francisco. Since 1985, the attorneys at the Law Office of Neil Burns have represented children injured in accidents. We always seek to provide information to help keep children in Boston and throughout Massachusetts safe and healthy.
The Board of Supervisors in Santa Clara County, south of San Francisco, California, recently voted to ban the promotional toys that often accompany children size portions of certain meals if those meals do not meet certain nutritional standards. The criteria used for the nutritional standard is based on federal standards and recommendations from the nonprofit Institute of Medicine.
The law is the first of its kind. It is intended, says Board member Ken Yeager, to level "the playing field by taking away the incentive to choose fatty, sugary foods over healthier options." Now, restaurants can give away toys with meals so long as those meals do not contain excessive calories, sodium, sugar or fat.
The concern is obesity in children. One in four children in Santa Clara is obese. Nationwide, obesity is also a growing problem, with two-thirds of adults 20 years and over overweight or obese, according the National Center for Health Statistics. Numbers for children and adolescents, nationally, are much lower, ranging from 11 to 18 percent. The law is set to take effect this summer, with a final vote in coming later in May.
