A small fishing boat in the night sees the Titanic heading towards an iceberg. The fisherman has a radio connection and thinks that he should warn the ship’s captain. But the ship’s passengers are having such a good time on board so that he doesn’t really want to disturb them. What should he do?
At present the US statistics on weight gain show that 70% of all Americans are overweight (BMI> 25) and of these 35% are obese (BMI>30). If present trends continue, in 2030, 60% of all Americans will be obese. Canada as usual is not far behind in these trends. What should we do?
First of all, let us realize that this is an impending problem of huge significance. Treating that many obese patients will cripple any health system – government run or by private care.
Productivity of a nation will decline and all will feel the effects.
All kinds of services – transportation, education and others will be throttled when trying to meet this disaster.
It is not too extreme to foresee a widespread societal collapse.
Thus we are confronted with a dilemma. Will I speak out and offend some people or will I speak out for the common good? If we decide that obesity is a national health problem, then let it be treated like any other health issue. We will then see that here as in other situations, prevention is far better than a cure.
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