International Obesity TaskForce

Press Statement – August 25 2006

URGENT direct action is needed to 'turn down the heat' to reduce the driving forces behind the epidemic of childhood, a top obesity expert warned today.

Responding to a new report from the Department of Health warning of massive increases in both adults and children by 2010, Prof Philip James, chair of the International Obesity TaskForce (part of the International Association for the Study of Obesity), said every government department, all sectors of industry and society in general needed to be mobilised immediately.

"It simply isn't sufficient to tell people they must make sensible choices over how they eat and how much exercise they get. The overwhelming evidence is that the environment in which people live - at home, at work and in school - plays a fundamental role in this.

"It's disappointing that the Department of Health seems only to speak of personal responsibility and the need for physical activity whilst neglecting the whole area of food. They seem to be taking the US approach of ignoring the importance of government leadership in this and we know where that has led to in the USA."

"One of the most surprising and disappointing aspects is how slow the food industry has been to recognize the golden opportunity before them. Instead of resisting change, they should be accelerating their efforts to transform their products so that all the food on offer is a "healthy choice".

"With childhood obesity rising so dramatically it is essential that the food industry accepts it has a social responsibility to help protect all children including the most vulnerable. It is grossly unfair and unacceptable to bombard children with intense marketing of junk food then tell parents it’s their own fault if children eat this stuff."

* Prof James was the author of the Royal College of Physicians report on obesity which first warned that action was needed as long ago as 1983. The International Obesity TaskForce helped the World Health Organization produce the first report on the global epidemic of obesity in 1998. Prof James also chaired the United Nations Millennium Commission which reported on the Nutritional Challenges of the 21st Century.

For further information please contact:
Neville Rigby
Director of Policy and Public Affairs
International Association for the Study of Obesity/International Obesity TaskForce
231 North Gower Street
London
NW1 2NR
tel: +44(0) 2076911902
fax: +44 (0) 8707051233
mobile: +44 (0) 7939250347
www.iotf.org / www.iaso.org / www.preventionalliance.net