FYI - Good article in this morning's NY Times.
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Derek Cook B.A. M.Sc. RSW
Research Social Planner
City of Calgary
Community Strategies Unit (8116)
Policy and Planning Division
Phone: (403) 268-5157 Fax: (403) 268-3253
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The Fat of the Land
February 2, 2004
One of the hit films at Sundance this year was a documentary called
"Super Size Me," about a healthy man - the film's director - who decided
to see what would happen if he ate nothing but super-sized McDonald's
food for 30 days. His weight ballooned, his cholesterol rose, and his
liver functions began to erode - warning signs of a number of chronic
diseases that, like obesity itself, have reached epidemic proportions in
this country.
According to the World Health Organization, those diseases, including
cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and certain cancers, are now
part of a major shift in the cause of death around the world.
Old-fashioned communicable diseases, like malaria, are being eclipsed by
noncommunicable diseases caused by a dramatic change in diet. Even poor
countries plagued by malnutrition are at risk for what the W.H.O. calls
a malnutrition "of excess." There are 300 million obese adults in the
world, some 750 million more who are overweight and 22 million
overweight or obese children under the age of 5.
In hopes of getting ahead of the problem, the W.H.O. has drafted a
"global strategy on diet, physical activity and health." Meant to be
culturally and regionally responsive, the strategy calls for more
physical activity, a reduction in sugars, fats and salt and an increase
in fresh fruit, whole grains, legumes and nuts. In other words, exactly
what your doctor would recommend if you asked how to lose weight and
improve your health. The plan has provoked an outcry from the American
food industry - especially the Sugar Association - and that,
predictably, has led the Bush administration to request changes. William
Steiger, a special assistant in the Department of Health and Human
Services, sent a 30-page critique to W.H.O. last month, and his boss,
Secretary Tommy Thompson, and members of the Grocery Manufacturers
Association flew to Geneva to ask for more time to comment.
The administration and the sugar industry, which has a long history of
generous giving to both political parties, seem particularly disturbed
at W.H.O.'s proposals that countries be urged to limit advertising,
especially ads directed at children, encouraging unhealthy diets and
that schools should limit "availability of products high in salt, sugar
and fats." Their counterarguments - that no one has proved that
advertising causes obesity, and that W.H.O. does not place enough
emphasis on personal responsibility - seem particularly unrealistic for
a program targeted in part at children.
The administration should be throwing its weight behind the anti-obesity
strategy instead of fighting it. Its current stance has nothing to do
with health and everything to do with the political power of Big Food -
and especially Big Sugar.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/02/opinion/02MON2.html?ex=1076733966&ei=1
&en=3b631b5f6acbcea9
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Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
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