Restaurants dismayed as healthy kids’ meals bill close to passage in Baltimore (Daily Record)

The Baltimore City Council appears poised to pass a bill requiring restaurants to make children’s meals healthier, drawing ire from the industry.

The bill has attracted the support of the Baltimore City Health Department, which sees it as a way to improve health outcomes for the city’s children.

“Taking out empty calories from sugary drinks is a powerful lifestyle change we can make to help our children to get and stay healthy,” said Dr. Leana Wen, the city’s health commissioner, in a statement. “This bill would help families make the healthy choice the easy choice.”

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When I’ve asked experts about these approaches, it’s not that any of them are bad. It’s that they fall short. For instance, Leana Wen, the former health commissioner of Baltimore (and soon-to-be president of Planned Parenthood), said that the Support for Patients and Communities Act “is simply tinkering around the edges.”

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