Ethics of family-based interventions to prevent childhood obesity

Tim Allen (Monash University)

Abstract: The family or household environment in which children are raised is sometimes considered a target for interventions to prevent childhood obesity. In this paper I consider the degree to which, and the conditions under which, such interventions would be ethically acceptable. I evaluate two hypothetical interventions: a voluntary family-based intervention, and a coercive regulation that penalises parents who do not comply. My analysis of these interventions is guided by an ethics framework consisting of scalar principles formulated throughout previous chapters of my thesis. I argue that the coercive intervention would be highly unjustified, but that the noncoercive intervention may be moderately justified. Ultimately, however, I argue there are morally preferable alternatives that should take priority over family-based interventions