Following up on Tony’s post the other day…

Remember the politically insensitive Vaudeville lines where the first comedian says, “You’re fat,” and the second comedian responds, “Yes, but you’re ugly, and I can lose weight . . . “   Well, the truth came out a few weeks ago when the President’s Panel on Cancer very strongly pointed out in a politically insensitive manner that we have done nothing of substance to alter the obesity and smoking problems in the United States.

In the past I have written about the incredible insensitivity that  this administration has demonstrated toward children’s health care needs in this country.  President Bush has been quoted as saying that he would never support a major increase in the tax on cigarettes . . . even if it was to provide additional care for our children.  He also continues to dig in against any legislation that Congress is proposing to further regulate tobacco.

In a recent Op/Ed by Todd Sloane in Newsweek, he discusses figures that create a gripping picture of decimation.  Cancer cases in the next fifteen years are projected to go from about 12 million to nearly 18 million and obesity is seen to be one of the significant contributors to these figures.  Sloane goes on to quote that nearly half of the two thirds of American adults who are overweight are obese and that obesity contributed to about 112,000 deaths.  At the same time, about 440,000 Americans die from tobacco related illnesses.

The most startling figure presented was that, since 1950, lung cancer deaths among women have increased by 600%.

The report went on to delineate the fact that there is a “lack of political will” to fight either of these horrendous trends.

So, if preventative medicine is not rewarded, fruits and vegetables are not subsidized (remember Reagan ketchup in school lunches), and tobacco taxes are ignored, life as we know it will continue to end prematurely for tens of thousands of us .  Vending machines are still stocked with junk, schools are not changing menus and physical education continues to be missing in action.

Come on.  Someone needs to stand up and be counted here.