Child obesity not related to a pre-existing medical condition should be considered child abuse

First of all, good luck and thanks for hosting this debate. I am not sure what structure you intend this debate to follow, but since you just delineated a few points with your first round I will do the same for the sake of fairness. I am American and will use America as an example country in which the instigator"s law could be introduced, but the issues I will outline are pervasive across nations. Point A: Impracticality of Enforcement and Economic Onus The enforcement the law proposed by the instigator would be not only exceptionally onerous on the legal system, but also oppressive to the populace. Considering the fact that nearly 32 % of children in America are obese (http://www.childrensdefense.org...), the amount of parents who would have to be arrested is astounding. In addition, the money that would be put into incarcerating all of these adults could be much better spent funding programs to fight obesity. Rather than incarcerating a significant part of the working population, which would stunt the growth of the economy and lead to the loss of millions if not billions of dollars, we could invest in expanding institutions such as physical activity and health education programs which fight obesity directly. Huge sums of money would have to be spent to enforce such a law as the instigator proposes and furthermore huge sums of money would be lost because of its enforcement. Rather than suffer these economic burdens so as to prosecute parents, we should invest the money into helping the children. Better to extend the hand of support than the finger of blame. In addition, the way such a law would have to be carried out is ludicrous. Whatever agency assigned to enforcing it would not simply be able to check the children for obesity and arrest the parents. To determine whether or not the parents are culpable, food consumption among children would have to be monitored. Diet would be mandated by the government. Certain restaurants would fail as their customer bases are diverted by the government and competition in the food industry could be threatened. Point B: Parental Culpability Parents are not always responsible for the obesity of their children. Besides the cases of children predisposed to obesity, which the instigator accounted for, many children resist their parents" encouragement of a healthy diet. Parents cannot constantly monitor what food is consumed by their children. Many children sneak unhealthy food past their parents. As a child even I, despite never having any issues with obesity, used to sneak candy and soda that my parents would not let me have. Punishing the parents for obesity that could have resulted from the actions of their children without parental approval is unacceptable. Point C: Societal Structure Our society has become conducive to obesity. Children are provided with increasingly more stimulating activities that do not require physical activity, to the point that many would rather play a videogame which involves a sport than actually play the sport itself. Many parents cannot force their children into more physical activity without jeopardizing their relationships with their children. Furthermore, the least expensive and most accessible food provided is often unhealthy. Low-income families cannot necessarily afford do provide their children with a healthy, balanced diet. This is especially true when working multiple jobs consumes time that could be spent cooking or a parent does not have the necessary skills to prepare healthy foods and must turn to fast food. Fast food is the most convenient and inexpensive food one can buy premade, and this shows in the high obesity rates of low-income households. In addition, even among store bought food to be prepared at home, unhealthy food is often far less expensive than healthy food. Top Ramen is the paradigm of this societal predisposition to unhealthy food.