Dear Editor of the Toronto Star

Why is it so difficult for Toronto Star reporters to understand the the
main factors that determine health are NOT exercise and health care
funding? It has been known since the 1850's and reiterated in Health Canada
documents since 1974 that the main determinants of health are the economic
and social conditions under which people live. Knowing this, we would
expect your public health reporter  in her story about the health of
Torontonians would have been able to make the important connection between
the deteriorating economic and social indicators of Toronto she wrote about
Saturday with the health outcomes of people in Toronto which your readers
seem to be so concerned about.

Instead we get the usual "blame the victims"  whine about people not
exercising.  It is clearly in many people's interest to continue to extol
the importance of what UK sociologist Sarah Nettleton calls the "holy
trinity of risk:" -- diet, exercise, and tobacco use. Lots of funding is
available for public health units to hire workers to support these
questionably effective activities. Why a reporter for the progressive
Toronto Star would continue to present this limited view of health
determinants and ignore what every health researcher knows are the really
important factors that determine health is beyond me.

Dennis Raphael
School of Health Policy and Management
York University
Toronto Ontario
416-465-7455 home
416-736-2100 x22134 office

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