Obesity Association Says Surgeon General's Report Falls Short

WASHINGTON, December 13, 2001 — The American Obesity Association (AOA) criticized the Surgeon General's National Call to Action on Overweight and Obesity issued today, saying the "Call to Action" does not go far enough to curb the nation's alarming weight problem, particularly among young people.

"The Surgeon General has made excellent recommendations in several areas," said Morgan Downey, AOA's Executive Director, "but there is no federal office with responsibility and resources to see they will be implemented."

"The key," said AOA President Richard L. Atkinson, M.D. "is a major expansion of research on obesity from the National Institutes of Health." He noted that diseases caused by obesity receive far greater funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) than does obesity itself. He also cited a 1999 Senate directive to the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a comprehensive plan for research and prevention. "So far the Department has done nothing," Atkinson said.

"We do applaud the Surgeon General for recognizing obesity and for proposing appropriate and reasonable policies," said Atkinson, "but we have a long way to go."

Downey noted the NIH issued comprehensive guidelines in 1998 on the treatment of adult obesity, but that "The Department of Health and Human Services has not implemented them in a single federal health program, including Medicare and Medicaid.

"The most critical issue today in obesity is the growing tide of childhood and adolescent obesity," Downey said, citing the need for the development of sound programs to deal with obesity among school children. "Yet the educational community is AWOL on this issue. "

The American Obesity Association is a non-profit advocacy organization founded in 1995 whose fundamental mission is to have obesity regarded as a disease of epidemic proportions. AOA is composed of lay persons, professional providers and industry supporters.