In a January 10, 2005, article in Legal Times, tort law expert Stephen Sugarman proposes a new public policy approach to the alarming incidence of obesity, particularly among children, in the United States. Noting that mandates stemming from lawsuits brought against tobacco manufacturers have not necessarily reduced smoking-related disease, Sugarman suggests fighting obesity through performance-based methods. Assigned childhood obesity reduction goals, the food and beverage industry could take such steps as reducing the size of a standard soda can, building new bike paths or subsidizing physical education classes in schools, he writes.