March 4, 2003
Kamloops Daily News



It’s a threat to our health care system that rivals that of
our aging population but nobody is doing much about it. 
Young people are becoming obese at an alarming rate and they
will require medical attention earlier in life due diabetes,
hypertension and other diseases.  Overweight and obese
Canadians now cost our economy $1.8 billion a year and
that’s just the start.  It’s only going up.

Who cares?  We should care because we all pay for health
care.  More specifically, our governments should care. 
Federal finance minister  John Manley will spend $35 Billion
on health care over the next 5 years but most of that is
catch-up from a decade of underfunding.  Little is going to
fight obesity.

For some activists, it’s a political problem.  Mariko Tamaki
makes a statement through performance art.  She’s tired of
the dictates of the fashion industry and their twiggy
models.   Tamaki is part of a dance group called Pretty,
Porky and Pissed Off.   This is no ordinary dance group. 
They are all big women and their physique is their art. 
It's part performance, part politics.

"I mean if you look any clothing size scale then fat is
anything over 12. But I think that if you look at movies,
fat is anything over a size eight, you know," Tamaki told
CBC television.

For psychologists, it’s a question of mental health.  Many
of us feel inferior when we look in the mirror and compare
ourselves with the slim bodies in advertising and in media. 
The contrast is downright depressing.

The response from the marketplace has been feeble.  Drug
manufacturers have responded with dangerous diet drugs such
as Meridia and Xenical.  Health Canada is taking a closer
look at Meridia after it was linked to several deaths in the
US and Europe.

Toy manufacturers have come up with a new doll, called Emme,
whose a body size is six sizes bigger than Barbie.  It’s a
way of letting little girls get used to a new reality.

Fashion designers have come up with new clothes for bigger
Canadians.   The problem with all this is that it’s
dangerous to make overweight people feel good about
themselves.

"I am a very free market kind of a guy, very pro-capitalism,
very anti-regulation. Having said all of that, it is also
very clear that when you cater to something, you get more of
it.  When you cater more to the obese, whether it's running
ads telling them that big is beautiful or when you're
changing the sizes of clothing to accommodate these people,
whatever you're doing to make it easier to be fat, is making
people fatter," says Michael Fumento author of The Fat of
the Land.

I’m not exactly pro-capitalist but I do agree with Fumento.

Health Minister Anne McLellan will spend $15 million on
research to find out why obesity and obesity-related health
problems are on the rise.  I think I can save McLellan some
money.  There is no mystery why people are getting fatter. 
It’s a matter of inputs and outputs.  We are eating more
calories and exercising less.

We eat more calories is because advertising for fast food
works.  You won’t see tantalizing, snappy ads for fruit,
vegetables and whole grain cereals because there is little
money in it.

I’d like to see an ad for a brisk walk in the fresh air - -
something as convincing as those ads for Sports Utility
Vehicles, where we are encouraged to enjoy nature by driving
through it.

The sad fact is that there is little money to be made in
selling healthy food and exercise - - unless the food is
reduced to a pill and the exercise is on a machine.

We could save on health care costs if everyone were
encouraged eat healthy foods and to exercise.  Not tame
messages, like your mother telling you to eat vegetables,
but powerful advertising campaigns like the ones from the
fast food and automotive industries.

Governments should run these advertising campaigns on our
behalf. After all, its governments (us) who have to pay for
the increased health costs of poor diet and lack of
exercise. 

And in case you think that governments can’t mobilize
resources and opinion in a common cause, consider the war on
terrorism.  Obesity is a greater threat to society than
terrorism.  All it takes is the political will to fight this
clear and present danger.

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