Friday, February 29, 2008

President Elect of the Obesity Society Resigns

Regular readers will remember a post from a few weeks ago detailing how the Dr. David Allison, President Elect of the Obesity Society, in a paid testimony for the New York Restaurant Association, asserted that he felt that posting Calories on menus would be ineffective at combating obesity and potentially even detrimental to the fight.

Shocked members (myself included) were appalled to see Dr. Allison comfortable asserting something was ineffective and potentially detrimental in the absence of evidence suggesting his assertion was true. Furthermore many Society members were furious that he did so under the banner of the Obesity Society.

The Society quickly issued a press release detailing their support for placement of Calories on menus and just a few moments ago I received an email from Dr. Allison containing his resignation from the post of the Society's President-Elect. Dr. Allison noted in his letter that with his testimony he had lost the will of the people who had voted for him and that would have greatly undermined his ability to lead this wonderful organization.

Kudos to Dr. Allison for stepping down. It was certainly the right thing for him to do and I'm sure it was done with a very heavy heart.