(New York University) In recent years, more than a dozen states have passed laws limiting local governments’ ability to create food and nutrition policies and more than two dozen states previously enacted laws preventing obesity-related lawsuits against food businesses, finds a new analysis led by NYU College of Global Public Health. These laws are examples of preemption, a legal mechanism in which a higher level of government withdraws or limits the ability of a lower level of government to act on an issue.