The obesity time bomb

[摘要] Oh no, not another ‘time bomb waiting to go off’ — this was my reaction to the House of Commons Health Select Committee report on obesity.1 Surely not, after all these years, the Chief Medical Officer is resorting to the same tired metaphor that has heralded numerous past health scares. Remember the ‘ticking time bombs’ of HIV/Aids and BSE/CJD, both of which were projected to explode, taking up to the half the population with them, but which have continued to tick away quietly without ever causing the anticipated ‘nightmare scenario’. We can only hope that the new time bomb doesn't hit one of those icebergs from the old Aids adverts; this might precipitate a tidal wave that sweeps over the Thames barrier and engulfs the mother of parliaments, together with its Health Select Committee.

[学科分类] 卫生学