Title shamelessly stolen from a Morrissey song.
Last month, the highly influential journal "Science" printed a paper titled "Public enemy number one: tobacco or obesity?"
You do not need to look hard for accompanying evidence.
Science, in a February '03 editorial said this:
They also argued that:
In a paper titled "The Ironic Politics of Obesity", Marion Nestle argues that
In Journal Watch ("An update on the obesity problem), Komaroff argues that:
So, what, if anything can be done here? Are people simply free in a free society to literally eat themselves to death, or should the government step in? Is it moral to consume twice the daily caloric need when people elsewhere are starving? Should the government divert funds to battling obesity given that there is an argument put forth in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) saying that 435,000 Americans die per year of obesity, while comparatively speaking, 400,000 people die of tobacco exposure? Why is it that there are anti-smoking ads everywhere, photos of underdeveloped premature babies, rotting teeth and black lungs yet there is a McDonald's on every corner, crap at the grocery store and a Double Big Gulp with 46 tablespoons of sugar at the local 7-11?
Last month, the highly influential journal "Science" printed a paper titled "Public enemy number one: tobacco or obesity?"
You do not need to look hard for accompanying evidence.
Science, in a February '03 editorial said this:
In 1998, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States found that 97 million U.S. adults (55% of the U.S. population) were considered obese or overweight. The Surgeon General issued a "Call to Action" on the obesity problem, but it drew a lackluster response from the responsible federal agencies, and Americans continued to consume an average of 3800 calories per person per day, or about twice the daily requirement. It is now estimated that over two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight.
They also argued that:
U.S. dietary styles and food habits have been exported so widely around the world.
...
Europe...Mayans in Guatemala, South Africans, aboriginal Australians, and Pacific Islanders also show patterns of emerging obesity.
In a paper titled "The Ironic Politics of Obesity", Marion Nestle argues that
Food companies are well aware of the economic implications of reversing the obesity epidemic, as are government agencies. Economists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) calculate that "large adjustments" would occur in the agriculture and processed food industries if people ate more healthfully. That threat is one reason why food producers contribute generously to congressional campaigns, and why federal agencies have failed to take the obvious first step: a national obesity-prevention campaign in response to the Surgeon General's 2001 Call to Action.
In Journal Watch ("An update on the obesity problem), Komaroff argues that:
For now, faced with a biological drive and a marketplace that encourage us to overeat and underexert, the best hope for dealing with the obesity epidemic might be political: restrictions on marketing junk foods, particularly to children; taxes and calorie labels on junk foods; and changes in the farm subsidy laws to encourage production and consumption of grains, fruits, and vegetables. One can assume that resistance to such changes will be enormous.
So, what, if anything can be done here? Are people simply free in a free society to literally eat themselves to death, or should the government step in? Is it moral to consume twice the daily caloric need when people elsewhere are starving? Should the government divert funds to battling obesity given that there is an argument put forth in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) saying that 435,000 Americans die per year of obesity, while comparatively speaking, 400,000 people die of tobacco exposure? Why is it that there are anti-smoking ads everywhere, photos of underdeveloped premature babies, rotting teeth and black lungs yet there is a McDonald's on every corner, crap at the grocery store and a Double Big Gulp with 46 tablespoons of sugar at the local 7-11?