Wed, Jan 26, 2011 | 00:25 GMT
US politician makes another push for game health warning labels
Californian congressman Joe Baca has made a second attempt to mandate warning labels on video games advising parents of an alleged link between gaming and aggressive behaviour.
Gamepolitics reports that the proposed text of the label reads:
“WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent video games and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior.”
Baca has presented a bill titled The Video Game Health Labeling Act of 2011, effective on the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
“Research continues to show a proven link between playing violent games and increased aggression in young people,” the Representative stated, citing “scientific studies from the Pediatrics Journal, University of Indiana, University of Missouri, and Michigan State University” which apparently demonstrate a “neurological link between playing violent video games and aggressive behavior in children and teenagers.”
“I am proud to introduce the Video Game Health Labeling Act, and am hopeful this legislation can work to stop the growing influence of violent media on America’s children and youth,” baca concluded.
The congressman made an almost identical set of statements when introducing a 2009 version of the same act.
Thanks, 1UP.
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Posted in: America, Hot, Legalities, Politics, Violence in games
Tags: joe baca, Video Game Health Labeling Act of 2011
5 comments
#1
Hunam
26/01/11, 12:30 am
Well, considering politicians cause people to shoot each other can they carry warning labels too?
#2
Callum
26/01/11, 12:44 am
I think politicians labels should be along the lines of:
” WARNING: Excessive exposure to politics has been linked to spouting bull shit and citing shite references ”
^^ I would love to see this research he’s banging on about.
#3
Bellisner
26/01/11, 1:08 am
I would be genuinely interested to see a meta analysis on all of the various different studies which try to measure a causal link between video-game violence and increased aggression. Anyone can arbitrarily pick up an isolated study and claim it’s pre-eminence to force through ideological legislation. Any number of things can skew a single study’s findings.Moreover there may be any number of previously unexposed underlying factors which increases said aggression. On the other hand there could be a direct link between Playing Black Ops and manifestations of these abnormal tendencies. The bottom line is until you collate al these myriad papers and publications together and see if you can discover a consensus there’s no point saying “X paper says kid’s get violent because of games” while someone retorts “Yeah? well Y study proves that’s clearly horseshit!” It’s really OK to wait for all the facts to come in before you make any decision one way or the other; anything less is just bad science leading to worse legislation!
#4
albo88
26/01/11, 2:50 am
US politician should control pornography commercial in internet, that’s what is really ruing the American community
#5
IL DUCE
27/01/11, 3:46 am
the link to aggression is because pretty much every teenage male plays violent video games and therefore of course the aggressive ones are going to play violent video games because so do the rest of us normal people…maybe it’s just some people are fucked up, which somehow politicians just don’t understand, maybe because they are so fucked up themselves…