EU health commissioner promises action on obsesity
HELENA SPONGENBERG
12.05.2006 @ 17:28 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Obesity is European society's ticking bomb and the most worrying aspect is the trend towards obese children, EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou said at the end of an EU-US conference on obesity on Friday (12 May).
"We need action on all levels and by all actors," Mr Kyprianou said and added "400,000 more children become obese every year in the EU."
Each year 400,00 more children become overweight in the EU, said the EU health commissioner (Photo: European Commission)
The main aim of the conference is for the EU and the US to share their experiences and learn from each other on diet, physical and health issues.
EU studies show that in Europe today, six out of the seven most important risk factors for premature death are related to how a person eats, drinks and moves.
These are blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass index, inadequate fruit and vegetable intake, physical inactivity, excessive alcohol consumption and certain kinds of cancer.
Responsibility and actions
Mr Kyprianou said that the conference had given a new transatlantic perspective to the debate on nutrition and physical activity but added that there was no single solution to the problem.
"There is a need for action at all levels. Obesity is a complex problem, with many causes, and it requires many and different actions to face it," he said.
"Not only public authorities, but also schools and teachers, economic operators, civil society and the broader health community, as well as families and consumers themselves, have a crucial role to play," Mr Kyprianou stated.
But civil society groups do not agree, they say there is still more to be done and called for the two regions to take more responsibility.
"Governments are responsible for safeguarding the health of their populations and should make fundamental changes in the food environment, rather than focusing primarily on education programmes aimed at changing individual behaviour," a joint statement from EU and US citizens groups said.
"No public health epidemic has ever been resolved by attention to individual responsibility alone."
The groups also called for an immediate moratorium on the promotion of junk food to children and a halt to all promotion of breast milk substitutes.
