Thursday, October 18, 2007

Duh!

Yesterday saw the most expensive, "Duh!" moment I've seen in a long time.

Yesterday the UK Government's think tank Foresight published a study that involved over 250 experts that concluded,

"The technological revolution of the 20th century has led to weight gain becoming inevitable for most people, because our bodies and biological make-up are out of step with our surroundings"
Gee, ya think?

You mean people aren't trying to become overweight? It's not just one gigantic social experiment gone awry whereby the entire world, every person in every single country on the planet, has colluded to flummox scientists by willfully trying to gain weight for the past 50 years?

Wanna read the bullet points that summarized the whole of their 2 year long, 250 expert advised, so damn big it crashed my browser trying to download it, work?

  • Most adults in the UK are already overweight. Modern living ensures every generation is heavier than the last – `Passive Obesity’.
  • By 2050 60% of men and 40% of women could be clinically obese. Without action, obesity-related diseases will cost an extra £45.5 billion per year.
  • The obesity epidemic cannot be prevented by individual action alone and demands a societal approach.
  • Tackling obesity requires far greater change than anything tried so far, and at multiple levels: personal, family, community and national.
  • Preventing obesity is a societal challenge, similar to climate change. It requires partnership between government, science, business and civil society.
  • Brilliant! Earth shattering! Ground breaking!

    Anyone want to venture a guess how much this report must have cost?

    If there are other governments out there thinking about putting together experts and spending gajillions of dollars researching this - I'll do it for half price and it'll be on your desk in the morning.