N.Y. Public Health Law 261 – Legislative intent
§ 261. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds, determines, and declares that obesity is a serious medical problem affecting up to one-third of all Americans. In addition, a nineteen ninety-seven Kaiser Permanente study concluded that there is a significant potential for a reduction in health care expenditures through obesity prevention. In addition:
Terms Used In N.Y. Public Health Law 261
- Obesity: means the condition in which a person's body mass index is at least thirty kilograms per meter squared, or where a person's body mass index is at least twenty-seven kilograms per meter squared and the person suffers from one or more of the following conditions or diseases:
1. See N.Y. Public Health Law 262
1. Obesity is known to cause or exacerbate a number of serious disorders including hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory dysfunction, gout, and osteoarthritis;
2. Nearly eighty percent of patients with diabetes mellitus are obese;
3. Nearly seventy percent of diagnosed cases of cardiovascular disease are related to obesity; and
4. Obesity ranks second only to smoking as a preventable cause of death, with some three hundred thousand deaths annually attributable to obesity.