Deb Lemire of Queen Bee Productions sent the following letter to the editor of her local newspaper in response to its reporting of the "spread of obesity through a social network" (a.k.a. "obesity is contagious") study. The letter hasn't been printed in the newspaper. Deb has given me permission to share it here. [For an overview of the study and the media response, see my blog post here.]
A recent report (Obesity Contagious, Study Finds, Beacon, July 26) on the study that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine draws the conclusion that “obesity appears to spread through social ties.” NEJM Volume 357:370-379, July 26, 2007, Number 4. Recommended remedy is to avoid having fat friends.
Up until now as a collective community we have ignored the fact that over the recent decades the average increase in weight has only been about 6-11 pounds. Hardly epidemic proportions.
We have ignored the fact that according to the World Health Organization, the U.S. is not even in the top 10 fattest populations in the world (U.S. ranks 20th).
We have ignored the fact that overweight people live as long as “normal” weight people and some studies suggest longer than thinner people.
We have ignored the fact that the majority of those that diet regain the lost weight and often more.
We have ignored the fact that science has never shown that losing weight prolongs life, although some studies show intentional weight loss increases risk of dying early from certain diseases-not to mention high risk surgeries.
We have ignored the fact that health indicators, such as insulin sensitivity and cholesterol levels can be improved through changing health behaviors regardless of whether weight changes.
We have ignored the fact that if we truly cared about the health of fat people we would make sure they had equal access to health coverage so they could obtain affordable, appropriate health care instead of denying them based on their weight.
But we can NO LONGER IGNORE that the escalation of obesity hysteria now infringes on the human rights that all people can and should expect according to The International Bill of Human Rights. People are being denied healthcare, housing, employment, personal safety and dignity, and now, apparently, the right to personal relationships based on their BMI.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states (parenthesis and emphasis are added):
Article 1: All human beings (including fat human beings) are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2: Everyone (including fat ones) is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Article 3: All people (including fat people) have the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 5: No one (including fat patients and fat children) shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 12: No one (including fat public figures) shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation.
Article 17: (1) Everyone (every fat one) has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (2) No one (fat person) shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 23: Everyone (including fat employees) has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. Everyone (including fat employees) without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
Maybe you are not a fat person or you don’t have any fat people in your life you care about, so you figure you don’t need to do anything about this. But according to the most recent pseudo science, it is only a matter of time before your human rights are in jeopardy too.
Deb Lemire
Member of the Association for Size Diversity and Health
www.sizediversityandhealth.org
Queen Bee Productions
www.queenbeeprod.com
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