American journal of public health
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It is increasingly recognized that sugar-sweetened beverage consumption contributes to childhood obesity. Most states have adopted laws that regulate the availability of sugar-sweetened beverages in school settings. However, such policies have encountered resistance from consumer and parent groups, as well as the beverage industry. The beverage industry's recent adoption of voluntary guidelines, which call for the curtailment of sugar-sweetened beverage sales in schools, raises the question, Is further policy intervention in this area needed, and if so, what form should it take? We examine the interplay of public and private regulation of sugar-sweetened beverage sales in schools, by drawing on a 50-state legal and regulatory analysis and a review of industry self-regulation initiatives.
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Historical Article
Chemical warfare and medical response during World War I.
The first large-scale use of a traditional weapon of mass destruction (chemical, biological, or nuclear) involved the successful deployment of chemical weapons during World War I (1914-1918). Historians now refer to the Great War as the chemist's war because of the scientific and engineering mobilization efforts by the major belligerents. The development, production, and deployment of war gases such as chlorine, phosgene, and mustard created a new and complex public health threat that endangered not only soldiers and civilians on the battlefield but also chemical workers on the home front involved in the large-scale manufacturing processes. The story of chemical weapons research and development during that war provides useful insights for current public health practitioners faced with a possible chemical weapons attack against civilian or military populations.