Michelle Obama urges leaders to fight kids' obesity
February 21, 2010
Robert Benzie
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF
WASHINGTON–Michelle Obama's call to arms to fight childhood obesity is the newest front in a war Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has been waging for years.
The U.S. First Lady made an impassioned plea here Saturday at a meeting of state governors and provincial premiers to improve kids' health.
"Nearly one in three of our children in this country is overweight or obese. One in three kids today will eventually develop diabetes – and in the African-American and Hispanic communities the number is nearly half," she told the National Governors Association conference.
Obama, who on Feb. 9 launched the "Let's Move" initiative to combat childhood obesity, noted the U.S. spends $150 billion a year dealing with related ailments such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.
"(Health-care) premiums have risen three times faster than wages, often bankrupting families and sinking businesses all across this country," she said.
"If we think our health-care costs are high now, just wait until 10 years from now and think about the many billions we're going to be spending then," said Obama.
Using her bully pulpit as wife of President Barack Obama, she urged a four-pronged approach to tackle the problem by educating parents, providing healthier food in schools, promoting physical fitness and making good, affordable meals available throughout a nation where fast food reigns supreme.
"We all know we can't solve our health-care problems unless we solve our childhood obesity problems," said Obama, whose husband is convening a summit with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders on Thursday with hopes of jolting along his health-care reform package.
"The way I see this, there is nothing Democratic or Republican, there is nothing liberal or conservative about wanting our kids to lead active, healthy lives," she said to applause. "There's no place for politics when it comes to fighting childhood obesity – and I know all of you agree."
McGuinty, who has made Ontario a leading jurisdiction in North America on this front in part because it saves the province's publicly funded health-care system money – hailed her message.
"We're delighted. This is going to give the issue still more prominence. When you get the First Lady taking this on, that's considerable clout," the premier said.
"It'll raise the profile of the issue for all of us. We all have a role to play," said McGuinty.
"Our government has done a number of things – we've made physical activity mandatory in elementary schools; we've taken junk food out of our schools; we've banned trans fats from our schools," he said.
"There is always more to do ... and I want to ensure that parents take on their appropriate responsibility when it comes to food choices and activity levels."
While the childhood obesity situation is not as grave in Canada as it is in the U.S., where restaurant portions are larger and subsidized corn sweeteners fuel cheaper fast food, it is still a burden on health care.
A recent study by the Ontario Medical Association found that 25 per cent of children between the ages of 2 and 17 are overweight or obese. Three-quarters of those kids will likely grow up to be obese adults and face heart trouble, diabetes and other related medical conditions.
That was one reason McGuinty banned foods with artery-clogging trans fats from being sold or distributed in schools in 2007.
The premier also created a separate ministry of health promotion in 2005 with the first minister, Jim Watson, famously declaring that "fat is the new tobacco."
"We need to be as aggressive on the obesity file as we have been on the tobacco file," Watson, who has since left provincial politics to run for mayor of Ottawa, said in 2006.
Toronto Star
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