Food Industry's Ethics Under Scrutiny Over Obesity

This article, from the health editor of The Guardian (United Kingdom - UK) News, discusses obesity and UK planning to counteract it. On the eve of a UK national conference on obesity, the article quotes Professor Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity Taskforce thinktank, who states that the public health response of the food industry has so far been a case of "too little, too late". He recommends calling for a "cabinet overlord to lead the cross-departmental fight, involving changes in education, media, culture, transport, leisure, and the food chain, as well as in health service provisions." He also calls for negotiation with the food industry to establish targets for improvement. Due to predictions quoted in the article for the year 2050 that 60% of men, 50% of women, 20% of primary school girls and half the boys will be obese, the article suggests that there will be a cost to the nation in loss of productivity from obesity-related health problems.


A suggested strategy is to link the national programme of regularly weighing all school children to a prevention, treatment, and referral system that includes health education at school, at home, and on school buses. Plans to place curbs on advertising junk food to children had either not yet begun or had not yet had any impact, according to the article, but were already mandated.