Jun 27

Written by: Steve Erbach
Friday, June 27, 2008 4:37 AM

From the latest newsletter of the Advocates for Self-Government:

Japan's Weird War on Waistlines

We've reported in the past on proposals to create "fat taxes" to penalize the selling or eating of politically-incorrect (i.e., high-fat or high-calorie) foods.

But now busybody bodyweight bureaucrats in Japan have gone way, way beyond that.

A new national law requires all citizens between the ages of 40 and 74 to have their waists regularly measured annually. That's over 56 million waistlines, about 44 percent of the population.

According to U.S. News & World Report: "If a man's waist is more than 33.5 inches or a woman's more than 35.5 inches, they are considered at risk and referred for counseling and close monitoring."

By some estimates more than half of Japan's men in this age group are expected to fail the measuring test.

And this law has sharp teeth. Private companies and local governments will be hit with hefty financial penalties if their employees fail to meet the waistband quotas set by Japan's Ministry of Health.

NEC, Japan's largest maker of personal computers, estimates it faces up to $19 million in penalties should its employees fail to measure up. Or measure down. Or whatever.

In response, some companies have created mandatory diet programs, counseling, and weight-loss boot camps for their employees.

As U.S. News & World Report says, these new laws have "given the government and employers ... places at the dinner table in ordinary Japanese homes." How lovely.

How long before Food Nazis in the U.S. glom onto this idea and demand it be implemented in The Land of The Free?

We'd guess about... three or four weeks?

(Source: U.S. News & World Report)
 

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