Fat is declared contagious

---by Micheal

They say there is an "Obesity Pandemic."

The 18th International Congress on Nutrition stated that the world is getting fatter, that obesity is now a "pandemic." They're not the only ones using the word pandemic. Various doctors and experts have been using the term "obesity pandemic" for several years now.

These days the media is abuzz with our latest panic d'jour -- a bird flu pandemic. That's what pandemic means to lay folk -- a worldwide contagion.

The 1918 flu pandemic, which killed over 20 million people around the world, was a real pandemic. That flu was highly contagious. People would feel fine for a couple days after becoming infected, spreading the virus to three or more people, before falling very ill. Many died within days of showing first symptoms.

So when doctors and health officials claim there is an "obesity pandemic", they're playing semantic tricks to grab headlines by implying that fat is a highly contagious disease.

Skinny people get fat because they were exposed to fat people? Give me a break. Obesity is not a virus. It's not catching. Cheeseburgers don't leap off of fat people and force their way down skinny victims' throats. People get fat when they eat too much. Treating obesity like a flu virus is doomed to failure.

If it's not a virus, then what's the cause of this obesity "pandemic"? Professor Nestle, of New York University (one of those health officials) says cheaper farm goods, and western-style prosperity are to blame.

How's that again? People are getting fatter around the world because they are getting more prosperous and food is getting cheaper? Does this mean that the solution to world obesity is to reduce prosperity and make food more expensive? I guess that would work, but it sounds cruel. "Sure, I know you're poor and hungry, but don't complain. At least your'e not fat."

Overeating is not a virus you can catch. It's not the government's fault for making food cheaper, or your boss's fault for giving you a raise. We need to take responsibility for what we push into our mouths, and stop looking for someone or something else to blame.