Basic Pursuits

Misdirection is the primary way a magician does his tricks. He deliberately cause us to look away from the set-up of his next trick.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is causing a bit of misdirection. It recently released a database on incidences of food born illnesses. Seems like a good thing, right? It would be except that the CSPI's attitude sucks. It's press release implies that we are in clear and present danger of a food born illness.

"What's Making Us Sick?" the title ominously asks?

"Over the last year, we have seen a real disaster in food safety, and a plunge in consumer’s confidence in the food supply..." screams a Center spokesperson.

But the figures don't back it up. For example, "A search on produce reveals 639 outbreaks and 31,496 associated illnesses." That would be from 1990 to 2004.

That doesn't even qualify as a drop in the bucket of our real food troubles. The food born illness that is really making us sick is obesity!

According to the American Obesity Association, "Approximately 127 million adults in the U.S. are overweight, 60 million obese, and 9 million severely obese." That's not over a 14 year period. That's right now!

And it's getting worse every second.

The effect on health?

• Obesity increases the risk of illness from about 30 serious medical conditions.
• Obesity is associated with increases in deaths from all-causes.
• Earlier onset of obesity-related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, are being reported in children and adolescents with obesity.
• Individuals with obesity are at higher risk for impaired mobility.
• Overweight or obese individuals experience social stigmatization and discrimination in employment and academic situations.

If the Center for Science in the Public Interest really wanted to serve the public interest with respect to food, it would cease misdirection and properly direct attention on what's really making us sick. Rather than nagging the government for more meat inspectors, how about helping find ways to get people to use our incredible abundance to nourish rather than poison? Many, many millions more could benefit.

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