Sin, sickness, and death. It’s an association long fixed in the American mind. At least in the mind of official America. Lately, attention has been on the sins of gluttony and sloth.
In the last few weeks, obesity has gotten considerable attention in the media. Just today, the San Francisco Chronical reported on a study presented at the annual convention of the American Heart Association. The study found that obesity is growing most rapidly among the white middle classes. Still, the poor and people of color are afflicted most.
Some context. Earlier this year, the CDC reported that obesity was almost as deadly as tobacco, the number one cause of preventable death.
The list of these causes in an interesting one. From the top they are tobacco by a wide margin, followed by poor diet and physical inactivity, alcohol consumption, influenza and pneumonia, toxic agents, motor vehicles, firearms, sexual behavior, and illicit drug use.
Note that only one of these is a medical condition (influenza and pneumonia). Of the others, five are morally suspect activities, and three are inanimate objects, although firearms as a category has the strong taint of morally suspect activities.
Does this list bother you as much as it bothers me?
The combined deaths from pharmaceutical and medical mistakes each year is over twice that ascribed to obesity. That would make IT, not gluttony and sloth as the second most important preventable cause of death. Why isn’t that on the list?
Why isn’t poverty a preventable cause of premature death? Or racism? Or lack of health insurance?
I don’t think the CDC was up to anything particularly sinister when they concocted this list. I’d guess there are two things going on. One is the dominant ideology that reduces causes of sickness to what is politely called “health behaviors.” The other is that, once framed that way, doing good means encouraging better behavior: avoid the things on the list. Avoid morally suspect behavior.
Well I say what you need are better alternatives not a better moral compass. And here’s one. State Senator Sheila Kuehl’s single payer health care bill made it out of committee last week. It’s scheduled for a vote before the entire Senate in early June. If it passed, it will go on to the Assembly.
You can count on lots of resistance and a likely veto by the Governor. So it’s important for you to reduce preventable deaths from lack of health insurance by contacting your State Senator and Assembly Representative and urge them to support this legislation. Go our website yourownhealthandfitness.com for more information.
