Letters to the Editor
Toronto Star
Toronto, Ontario
November 26, 2003
Dear Editor:
The last ten years has seen an explosion of scholarship on how the health
of Canadians is primarily determined by the economic and social conditions
under which people live. The most recent compilation of this work is
available from the World Health Organization (Social determinants of
health. The solid facts, 2nd edition, on-line at
http://www.euro.who.int/document/e81384.pdf)
At the same time the literature on the health effects of diet and activity
continue to be contested. Findings continue to be contradictory. Recall how
fibre in the diet would prevent colon cancer. When effects are seen, diet
and activity have relatively little influence as compared to income, living
conditions, and employment and working conditions. Why is it then that for
the last
ten years, the Toronto Star -- while better than most papers -- continue to
provide readers with a never-ending series of articles about weight,
obesity, physical activity, and more recently ""Battle of the Fats",
November 26, 2003).
I suggest to my students and audiences that newspaper coverage of health
and illness may reflect the political overarching ideology held by the
publishers and editors (i.e., individualism in economic policy, that is
neo-liberalism, combined with biomedical and lifestyle approaches to
health) . This will no longer to be a suggestion. In the case of the
Toronto Star this is clearly fact. And I thought that the Toronto Star
took pride in its reputation as the most progressive newspaper in Canada.
Dennis Raphael, PhD
Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director
School of Health Policy and Management
Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
tel: 416-736-2100, ext. 22134
fax: 416-736-5227
HOME: 416-465-7455
email: [log in to unmask]
website: http://quartz.atkinson.yorku.ca/QuickPlace/draphael/Main.nsf/
To unsubscribe send one line: unsubscribe click4hp to: [log in to unmask] . To view archives or modify subscription see: http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/click4hp.html
|
