National
State Preemption of Food and Nutrition Policies and Litigation: Undermining Government’s Role in Public Health
By Jennifer L. Pomeranz, Leslie Zellers, Michael Bare, Mark Pertschuk
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, November 2018
Local governments are in a prime position to enact food and nutrition policies and especially those that address such fundamental concerns for public health as health disparities, healthy food access, food prices, and nutrition information. Preemption of this local control is part of a broader effort to reduce government regulation of the food industry. Preemption is thus one of the most important policy topics for public health and should be central to all food policy discussions. Thus, a concerted effort to fight preemption alongside food policy advocacy is necessary to change the culture of preemption in each state across the country.
Sugar-sweetened beverage taxation in the USA, state preemption of local efforts
Letter to the Editor, Jennifer L. Pomeranz and Mark A. Pertschuk
Public Health Nutrition, November 2018
The food and beverage industries successfully lobby state legislatures for preemption and against public health regulations including taxes, and simultaneously engage in public campaigns using front groups that, among other actions, characterize SSB taxes as ‘grocery taxes.’