Public health advocates and scientists working on obesity prevention policy face challenges in balancing legal rights, individual freedom, and societal health goals. In particular, the US Constitution and the 50 state constitutions place limits on the ability of government to act, even in the best interests of the public.

This fact sheet answers common questions about NPLAN’s Model Healthy Food Zone Ordinance, which was developed to help communities limit children’s access to the kinds of foods most likely to contribute to childhood obesity.

Mobile vending is loosely defined as selling food out of any portable vehicle, including trucks, carts, trailers, roadside kiosks, and stands. Mobile vendors are common in almost every community, whether as taco trucks in Los Angeles, hot dog carts in New York City, fruit stands on rural roadsides, or ice cream trucks on neighborhood streets.

These fact sheets summarize research linking health outcomes to the built environment: one for health practitioners and advocates, in which the research is categorized according to public health issue (e.g., injury prevention, access to healthy food); and one for planners, in which the research is categorized by land use issue (e.g., density, street connectivity).

The Technical Assistance Legal Center (TALC) has been supporting local tobacco control programs in California for more than a decade. Many other states around the country are considering how to provide similar legal technical assistance as tobacco control policies are developed. This publication answers typical questions about TALC's model, structure, and philosophy.

Advocates promoting smokefree legislation often encounter opponents who argue that such laws interfere with individuals' legal "rights." This publication from the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium debunks that argument, showing how the U.S. Constitution leaves the door wide open for state and local laws limiting smoking.

Laws that limit how and where people may smoke should survive a legal challenge claiming that smoking is protected by the state or federal constitution. Smoking is not mentioned anywhere in either constitution. Nevertheless, some people may claim that there is a fundamental “right to smoke.” These claims are usually made in one of two ways: (1) that the fundamental right to privacy in the state or federal constitution includes the right to smoke, or (2) that clauses in the state and federal constitutions granting “equal protection” provide special protection for smokers.