Why are we still ONLY focused on sedentary lifestyles and diets when addressing obesity in the US? Why are we not also looking at ways to decrease exposures to those chemicals that may be contributing to the epidemic?
Given the history of environmental health risks in the United States, it's clear that money is one of the driving forces behind our focus on sedentary lifestyles and diets when addressing obesity. It's much easier for us to focus on individuals' lifestyle behaviors and choices that are contributing to obesity than it is to focus on manufacturers' decisions to offer products that are contributing to obesity. Why would manufacturers voluntarily decide to change a product that's already lucrative, as is? Another driving force behind the focus on sedentary lifestyles and diets is the lack of education with regard to environmental health risks. Out of my 19 years of formal education, my only exposure to learning about environmental health risks has been through MPH 632, which is concerning. Public health professionals and environmentalists have an obligation to advocate for a shift in health curricula to include environmental health risks as an essential component. With more awareness and advocacy, we can work our way toward decreasing exposures to chemicals that may be contributing to the epidemic.
Given the history of environmental health risks in the United States, it's clear that money is one of the driving forces behind our focus on sedentary lifestyles and diets when addressing obesity. It's much easier for us to focus on individuals' lifestyle behaviors and choices that are contributing to obesity than it is to focus on manufacturers' decisions to offer products that are contributing to obesity. Why would manufacturers voluntarily decide to change a product that's already lucrative, as is? Another driving force behind the focus on sedentary lifestyles and diets is the lack of education with regard to environmental health risks. Out of my 19 years of formal education, my only exposure to learning about environmental health risks has been through MPH 632, which is concerning. Public health professionals and environmentalists have an obligation to advocate for a shift in health curricula to include environmental health risks as an essential component. With more awareness and advocacy, we can work our way toward decreasing exposures to chemicals that may be contributing to the epidemic.
Great point about how we are not educating our youth and even adults on the harmful effects our own environments can be to our health! I think we should implement a change in education curriculum to include environmental health risks to begin turning the wheels and making changes through the next generation. I feel we are seeing this already, but youth are finding resources and information on their own.
ReplyDeleteI really like your take on putting a lens to formal education. Like I learned about calculus, but I did not learn about the everyday chemicals in my life and the harm that they can bring? It seems like there is a lot of reform that can help to educate the public more effectively on this matter.
ReplyDelete