Friday, April 09, 2004
Overweight crisis overstated
[Sandy Szwarc, "The Emperor's New Crisis," Tech Central Station, 8 April 2004.]
How does news about improving health among Americans get twisted into a new "health crisis" requiring swift government action? Powered by a desire to increase the budget of a bureaucracy and with a little number crunching, apparently just about anything's possible:
On Sept 12, 2002, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson released the health statistics report from the Centers for Disease Control which revealed the average American's health "has changed dramatically for the better over the past 50 years." He announced: "In 2000, Americans enjoyed the longest life expectancy in U.S. history -- almost 77 years."
The report documents that gains haven't been merely in lowered infant mortalities; death rates among adults have dropped 50%, too. Despite aging significantly, the population is healthier than ever. The four leading causes of death continue to see noteworthy improvements: Actual death rates due to heart disease are down 70%, strokes down 80%, cancer and unintentional injury deaths have been dropping for decades. Even children and young adults have enjoyed sharp declines in deaths from heart disease and cancer.
In the HHS press release, Sec. Thompson said: "As we take better care of ourselves and medical treatments continue to improve, the illnesses and behaviors that once cost us the lives of our grandparents will become even less threatening to the lives of our grandchildren." CDC Director, Julie L. Gerberding, MD added: "Effective public health efforts, greater knowledge among Americans about healthier lifestyles and improved health care all have contributed to these steady gains in the nation's health.
The CDC's records of actual causes of deaths brought good news indeed. But two years later, those very same figures were given a completely different spin....
On March 9, 2004, Sec. Thompson cited "a dangerous increase in deaths" as he launched his new aggressive national advertising campaign and National Institutes of Health plan to combat what he called "an epidemic of obesity and overweight."
"Americans need to understand that overweight and obesity are literally killing us," he said. Between 1990 and 2000, "deaths due to poor diet and inactivity rose by 33%...and may soon overtake tobacco as the leading preventable cause of death." The situation "is both tragic and unacceptable," added Gerberding.
The creation of a new health crisis entailed brazen manipulations of numbers and revisions of the truth by the Department of HHS.
[Now], if you're a 6-foot man weighing 185 pounds or more, or an average 5-4 woman weighing 145 pounds -- the government says you're fat. Should you be hit by lightning while jogging, your death will become part of its "fat-kills" stats. And if you're fat you can never die of old age -- the government won't allow it.
In light of what Public Choice theory tells us about bureaucracy, such actions should not be all that surprising:
It is the behaviour of public sector bureaucrats which is at the heart of public choice theory. While they are supposed to work in the public interest, putting into practice the policies of government as efficiently and effectively as possible, public choice theorists see bureaucrats as self- interested utility-maximizers, motivated by such factors as: "salary, prerequisites of the office, public reputation, power, patronage...and the ease of managing the bureau."
[Sandy Szwarc, "The Emperor's New Crisis," Tech Central Station, 8 April 2004.]
How does news about improving health among Americans get twisted into a new "health crisis" requiring swift government action? Powered by a desire to increase the budget of a bureaucracy and with a little number crunching, apparently just about anything's possible:
On Sept 12, 2002, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson released the health statistics report from the Centers for Disease Control which revealed the average American's health "has changed dramatically for the better over the past 50 years." He announced: "In 2000, Americans enjoyed the longest life expectancy in U.S. history -- almost 77 years."
The report documents that gains haven't been merely in lowered infant mortalities; death rates among adults have dropped 50%, too. Despite aging significantly, the population is healthier than ever. The four leading causes of death continue to see noteworthy improvements: Actual death rates due to heart disease are down 70%, strokes down 80%, cancer and unintentional injury deaths have been dropping for decades. Even children and young adults have enjoyed sharp declines in deaths from heart disease and cancer.
In the HHS press release, Sec. Thompson said: "As we take better care of ourselves and medical treatments continue to improve, the illnesses and behaviors that once cost us the lives of our grandparents will become even less threatening to the lives of our grandchildren." CDC Director, Julie L. Gerberding, MD added: "Effective public health efforts, greater knowledge among Americans about healthier lifestyles and improved health care all have contributed to these steady gains in the nation's health.
The CDC's records of actual causes of deaths brought good news indeed. But two years later, those very same figures were given a completely different spin....
On March 9, 2004, Sec. Thompson cited "a dangerous increase in deaths" as he launched his new aggressive national advertising campaign and National Institutes of Health plan to combat what he called "an epidemic of obesity and overweight."
"Americans need to understand that overweight and obesity are literally killing us," he said. Between 1990 and 2000, "deaths due to poor diet and inactivity rose by 33%...and may soon overtake tobacco as the leading preventable cause of death." The situation "is both tragic and unacceptable," added Gerberding.
The creation of a new health crisis entailed brazen manipulations of numbers and revisions of the truth by the Department of HHS.
[Now], if you're a 6-foot man weighing 185 pounds or more, or an average 5-4 woman weighing 145 pounds -- the government says you're fat. Should you be hit by lightning while jogging, your death will become part of its "fat-kills" stats. And if you're fat you can never die of old age -- the government won't allow it.
In light of what Public Choice theory tells us about bureaucracy, such actions should not be all that surprising:
It is the behaviour of public sector bureaucrats which is at the heart of public choice theory. While they are supposed to work in the public interest, putting into practice the policies of government as efficiently and effectively as possible, public choice theorists see bureaucrats as self- interested utility-maximizers, motivated by such factors as: "salary, prerequisites of the office, public reputation, power, patronage...and the ease of managing the bureau."
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