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Council Chiefs Alarmed With Increasing Child Obesity Figures

by Savitha C Muppala on Aug 16 2008 5:07 PM

Child obesity in United Kingdom alarms council chiefs

Council chiefs have warned of action over obese children, if precious little is done to contain the growing child obesity figures in UK. According to estimations, close to 1m children will battle obesity by 2012.

The Local Government Association (LGA) may soon view child obesity as parental neglect just like the perception of undernourished children.

David Rogers, LGA spokesperson on public health, said "Councils would step in to deal with an under-nourished and neglected child so should a case with a morbidly obese child be different? Council equipment and infrastructure is having to be modified to deal with a population that is getting larger and larger.If parents consistently place their children at risk through bad diet and lack of exercise is it right that a council should step in to keep the child's health under review?"

Mr Rogers stressed that rate of child obesity can be cut with the combined effort of Parents, councils, primary care trusts and the National Health Service. He said: "There needs to be a national debate about the extent to which it is acceptable for local authorities to take action in cases where the welfare of children is in real jeopardy.”

Source-Medindia
SAV/L


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