New York Consolidated Laws, Public Health Law - PBH § 261. Legislative intent

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.