You can imagine my surprise when I checked my RSS feed this morning and found the story below, which purports to be from a news service on the planet Htrae (pronounced huh-trah–aye). I don’t know about you, but I’m guessing this story didn’t really come from outer space at all. On the other hand, the events it describes are definitely very different from anything you’d expect to find in the news on this planet, so who really knows? I’ll let you read the story and decide for yourself whether something like this could ever happen on this planet... Scientists walk out en masse from Interplanetary Conference on the Obesity Epidemic, calling the whole concept a “food industry plot.” Scientists from all 37 worlds represented at the 3rd annual Interplanetary Conference on the Obesity Epidemic walked out this morning in a formal protest against what they termed a “deliberate and cynical attempt on the part of the galactic food industry to mislead people about the true causes of obesity on our home worlds.” Dr. Occams Razor, a spokesperson for the Federation Of Obesity Doctors, Investigators, and Experts (FOODIE), stated that “the real reason why people get fat is that there is too much food around for them to eat.” According to Dr. Razor, “FOODIE has long maintained that all this talk about an ‘obesity epidemic’ is nothing more than a cynical attempt to divert attention away from this core problem, and send people off looking for some cure for a personal medical problem that doesn’t exist. We can’t sit quietly by and let this situation continue.” Professor Darwin Lamarckian, a professor of economics and politics from the NoBologna Starsystem (NoBS), added: “Saying that people overeat and grow fat because their genes make them do it, or because of some defect in their hormones or enzymes, is like saying that people grow noses because they need them to hold up their eyeglasses. People eat because they like food–that’s biology. If you want to understand why obesity has taken on epidemic proportions, ask yourself this: Where does all that extra food people have to eat in order to become obese come from, and who really benefits from having this much food around? This is not a medical problem, and calling it an “obesity epidemic” just obscures the fact that it’s really a junk food epidemic, and that's a social and political problem.” Also attending the conference, but not joining the walkout, was Mr. Phil 'Emup, Executive Director of Food Executives for Attitude Readjustment (FEAR). Mr. 'Emup told this reporter that his organization had been expecting something like this walkout. “We’ve known for some time that FOODIE is dominated by radical extremists and idealists with no sense of what it takes to keep our people fed,” he said. “This is a very competitive industry–nobody’s going to make money selling carrots and edamame. We don’t constantly develop new junk food products and spend millions of dollars advertising them because we want to, we do it because that’s where the big profits are, and without that, we wouldn’t be around to provide what people actually need. Then what would they do? We’re just trying to give people what they want.” Neither Dr. Razor nor Professor Lamarckian indicated what was next on FOODIE’s organizational agenda. However, others were heard discussing plans to lobby for a “luxury tax” on empty calorie junk foods, and a “value reduced tax” on food industry profits from the sale of these items. The proceeds from these taxes would be used to establish a network of community-based organizations charged with providing technical and fundraising resources for existing community groups interested in organizing such projects as bicycle lending libraries, local food co-ops, community gardens and kitchens, and public classes on nutrition and fitness. ***** What do you think? Is this so far out there that it has to be from another planet? Do you think the product development, marketing and advertising practices of companies in the food business have a big influence on what people choose to eat? If so, do these companies have any ethical duty to limit "junk" foods? Is "social engineering" of the food supply through nutrition legislation and tax policy a legitimate approach to a problem like obesity, or is it an infringement on individual freedom and free enterprise? If you'd like to do some more reading on these issues, here are a few resources: Are You Responsible for Your Own Weight? In Defense of Food Food Politics.com |
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