Daily Headlines: August 30, 2013

* Guatemala: According to new Guatemalan government data at least 62 children under the age of 5 have died thus far this year due to malnutrition while some 9800 kids have been diagnosed with chronic malnutrition.

* Latin America: Latin American and Caribbean members of the U.N. such as Argentina and Brazil are advocating that military intervention in Syria should only occur with approval from the Security Council.

* Brazil: The population in Brazil is expected to pass the 200 million mark for the first time by the end of this year instead of 2015 as was originally estimated.

* Dominican Republic: The country’s first legal non-Catholic marriage took place was held on Wednesday when an evangelical couple tied the knot.

Video Source – YouTube via The Pulitzer Center (Video uploaded in 2009).

Online Sources- Bloomberg; Washington Post; GlobalPost; Miami Herald

“Obesity Law” passed in Argentina

Argentina’s Senate approved a law yesterday that would allow eating disorders to be considered as diseases and, thus, covered under health care plans. Nicknamed as the “Obesity Law”, the proposal was backed unanimously by legislators and mainly is aimed at a population where about one in four are overweight.

Aside from the section on health care, the new law stipulates that:

(…) nutritional education programs are taught in all school levels and… a warning that “overeating is bad for your health” should be included for during advertisements of unhealthy food…

“The publication of diets or weight-loss methods without medical consent is prohibited” (according to the law). [ed. personal translation]

The law had been originally written to include obesity and had been inspired by a television show entailed “An Issue of Weight.” Yet legislators included bulimia and anorexia in the measure such as the banning of “extreme thinness as a symbol of beauty” by advertisers and fashion designers.

The law has had its detractors; one nutritional expert lamented that “the obesity epidemic (in Argentina) is too much for health care plans to support…Actions are needed not a new law.”

Sources (English)- ABC News, Food Standards Agency

Sources (Spanish)- elmundo.es, Pagina12, BBC Mundo, El Universo

Image- BBC News (Soccer legend Diego Maradona before and after his 2005 stomach stapling surgery)