what about my bacteria-infested cubicle!?

These poor kids must be eating french fries that have already passed through the colon

Gee, the WHO worries more about rich developed countries that the third world.
What a shocker that is.

Mmmmm monkey porn

I'm to poor to afford 1st run French Fries.

5500 kids die daily, and it hardly makes the news unless you're looking for it. 3000 people die one day in terrorist attacks and the "world changes".

If people got behind the kids you'd have people complaining that "their parents should work harder" and that "damn liberals want to spend my tax dollars on WHAT?"...it's pretty sick when you think about it...millions to terrorism victims, but 5500 kids who die daily must = "no good parents"

The religious right has been after the U.N. and WHO for years. I remember getting tracts 30 years ago about the evils of UNICEF. "commie front organization", etc. blahblahblah.

Some things never change.

"Assuming for argument's sake that the claim is true and that childhood obesity represents some sort of real down-the-road health threat - two very big assumptions - the problem would seem to be somewhat less important than the thousands of children who will actually die today from largely preventable causes."

Anyone want to doubt that obesity causes health problems? Anyone? As for kids getting fatter, just go to the mall and you'll see it.

Fox is a sad sad place.

Its those useless kids in crap infested countries that have about 20 million people too many already, so who gives a fark??!

Did no-one ever play that Life game? Too many lifeforms in an area without enough resources, or too many in one area, leads to death. The WHO should be offering vasectomies in exchange for food packages to really help those countries out.

Damn... and today my gf was watching the kids in her mom's day care and I fed one of the babies about a dozen fries... sorry Tyler... I'll be at the funeral.

you know where they had alot of problems with french fries? Nazi Germany

I guess there's a lot more money to be made suing fast food than finding a way to provide the meds and resources that could save millions of kids.

Sirzap: You are so going to hell for that. but it was worth it

No wonder all those anarchists were so pissed and rioted at that WHO meeting in Seattle.

Oh wait. Wrong acronym. My bad.

Also, our own government has been seriously clamping down on aid to any country or organization that even talks about family planning (not just abortions mind you). I'm all for spreading the gospel of birth control and vasectomies and condoms, but our fundie government thinks that's worse than millions of dying children apparently...

:: Anyone want to doubt that obesity causes
:: health problems? Anyone?

Nope. Anyone wanna doubt that it's much less of a problem than having no sanitary food or water?

It's a matter of priorities. If the kids dying now live long enough to have obesity-related problems, they're far better off.

Pedantic, I guess it's what you define "less" to be. Either way you can die. The article questions the validity of obesity and health risks. I agree it's the priorities though.

However, why should overnourishment not be addressed? It's a *Health* organization and obesity is a health issue. WHO deals with sanitation issues too.

It's all good. er, bad.

:: I guess it's what you define "less" to be.

I define it this way:

Unlcean food and water, you probably won't get past being a toddler. Obesity problems tend to strike late in life.

Which is a bigger threat? You do the math.

:: It's a *Health* organization

Not from what I've seen. I see more propaganda than health concern.

:: and obesity is a health issue. WHO deals
:: with sanitation issues too.

Then why did they choose not to? They use "the children are dying" to call for more funding, and then let them die.

When your house is on fire, do you put it out, or make sure there are non-slip appliques in the bathtub because you might fall and bump your head?

Its sad this stuff happens, but are the numbers real?? I mean if 5500 kids die each day, that's two million a year. How populous are these countries, I doubt they can breed that fast. Perhaps Fox meant 2 million since some point in time, just it was more punchy to say a day...oops typographical error...sorry readers. Fox news sucks!! Can't say that I agree with WHO, but judging from the article I also won't pass a judgement on them based on the shiat in this article.

Worldwide, 5500 a day (more according to some numbers, I've heard upwards of 30,000). it ain't cool.

RyeDragon:

Is doing a mite of research too hard? I went to Google and checked, and found:

http://www.who.int/home-page/

And down on the first page, found the headline:

5,500 children die daily from pollution-related diseases

So... wanna rethink your ass-ertions?

:: Fox news sucks!!

They're more accurate than you are.

Macaw: HAHAHAHAHAHAH

"racist" but funny!

on another note...
poor sanitation: Cockroaches running around in the kitchen utensil drawer. Ahhhhh just run the fork quickly under running water... now it's clean...

No wonder kids are sick... even in this country.

Considering that the world population is 6,000,000,000, why is it so hard for you to believe that 2,000,000 could die a year?

The asteroid is coming, to sort out our overpopulation problems. Nature kicks serious ass when its pissed.

Hurry up, stupid asteroid.

With all of the little children dying of starvation, malnutrition, war, and poor sanitation, shouldn't the Third World be gone by now?

That just means more french fries for me!

French fries surrender.

Ah, yes! The United Nations is such a lovely organization ... its only true interest is in its own self-preservation!!

Don't you just LOVE your tax money going to them?!

(/no sarcasm, serious)

So why is the WHO worrying about obesity, French fries, cell phones, "economy class syndrome" and - worst of all - augmenting its own bureaucratic sprawl?


Easy - because it's a liberal organization. And with liberalism it's not results that count, it's how you FEEL about what they are (not) doing to impove the situation.

The WHO is stupid, and useless. That is why. God i wish people paid us millions of bucks to answer such questions.

Yawn.Anyhow,I'm trying to lose weight and reduce my blood pressure by eating better and increasing my activity level,so I can join the Navy or something.At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Well, it is true that the WHO tends to base its world wide health policies on the priorities of the rich countries of the world.

Another example of this is the huge amount of money being spent on smoking issues. Representatives from third world countries are (Well, a few particular Africans at least) crying out that they want this money on AIDS campaigns. The logic behind this is that smoking kills old people, who voluntarily took up a hazardous pastime. AIDS kills young people.

A countries economy relies on young people to work. If all the young people are dying, they aren't working, countries economy goes down the tubes, there is no money to spend on basic health/sanitation infrastructure... While old people dying of smoking related diseases is tragic, it isn't quite as bad for the country as a whole.

Having said that, this is a very one sided article. This guy obviously had an agenda he wanted to put forward when writing this, and picked and choose the facts he wanted to put in.

In an epic development, the French do NOT surrender. They seem to have continued making fries. Damn this world!