Sir, – Dr Gibney (Opinion, August 18th ) writes that "the problem of obesity is incredibly complex".
There is an elephant in the room which nobody seems prepared to address preferring instead to treat obesity like an illness, complete with specialised doctors and treatments.
Anybody who goes into one of our large supermarkets will witness huge trolleys piled high with processed packaged food. Like it or not this is what large parts of the population are snacking and feasting on in the privacy of their own homes (or on the street!) where nobody shouts stop, oblivious to the deleterious effect on their waistlines and health.
The relatively cheap fast food industry involves everyone from the farmer through to the caterer and consumer and is so powerful and insidious that few can stand up to its impact. A government campaign like that currently being applied to cigarette packaging needs to be applied to food packaging. I imagine that a few skull and crossbones health warnings on food packages might just be a wake up call for some!
– Yours, etc,
ROSE MARY CRAIG
Enniskerry,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – One day most people will realise that the freedom to peddle sugared water is far less important than the duty to protect children from advertising for products designed to make them sick.
At that point the marketing of junk food to children will be banned. Until then, the food industry’s advice on obesity will remain quite simple: Get out more. Stretch those legs. The cynicism of this advice is gobsmacking, but not as shocking as Prof Mike Gibney’s claim (Opinion, August 18th) that concerned citizens drive government policy on obesity.
I have written about this subject for 10 years. The only reason I continue to do so is because concerned citizens are still ignored.
On the other hand, I often hear people in the food industry, the media, academia and Leinster House urging the government to “help people to better manage their lifestyles” through “bottom-up” programmes. How successful has that approach been? It depends on how you define success. A quarter of three-year-olds are now overweight or obese.
In this debate, as in so many others, the voice of concerned citizens is conspicuous only by its absence.
– Yours, etc,
TREVOR WHITE
Dublin 6