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Doctors fighting to save the life of the world's heaviest man are considering calling in an RAF Chinook to move him 150 miles to a specialist centre that will treat him. Paul Mason, who weighs 70 stone, needs the help of weight-loss doctors and possible surgery to lose tens of stones. But the treatment will have to take place in Chichester, West Sussex, a considerable distance from his home in Ipswich. The Health Service has introduced a number of the specialist ambulances designed to transport massively overweight patients but it is not clear if one can be made available to...

Here is video from Fox News' tongue-in-cheek program "Red Eye," discussing news that Brazil has started providing "Obese Chairs" in train stations for those who are overweight. . . . (Watch Video)

Fresno firefighters had to remove a wall and use an improvised pulley system to remove a man believed to weigh more than 800 pounds who was found dead in a downtown residential hotel Tuesday night.

THE rising number of fat people was yesterday blamed for global warming. Scientists warned that the increase in big-eaters means more food production — a major cause of CO2 gas emissions warming the planet. Overweight people are also more likely to drive, adding to environmental damage. Lard help us ... overweight must eat less for planet Dr Phil Edwards, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “Moving about in a heavy body is like driving in a gas guzzler.” Each fat person is said to be responsible for emitting a tonne more of climate-warming carbon dioxide per...

(CNN) -- Here's yet another reason to stay in shape: Thinner people contribute less to global warming, according to a new study. More than 1 billion adults worldwide are overweight, and about 300 million are obese.

Medical experts confirm that a procedure known as gastric bypass surgery can lead to dramatic improvements to weight and overall health. . . . . In the case of government obesity, the bypass would entail the detachment of the fiscal alimentary tract from the endless entrails of superfluous federal agencies, where trillions of taxpayer funds are currently absorbed and excreted in wasteful government programs. Instead, a new incision would be made just below the gullet of the IRS and revenue would be routed exclusively to essential functions -- those that provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and...

FR Rules: link only http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20090327/UPDATES01/90327002

A former Bellevue police officer fired for being overweight could be back patrolling the streets in a few months. Christopher Parent The Nebraska Court of Appeals, in an opinion released Tuesday, reversed the Bellevue Civil Service Commission’s decision upholding the termination of Christopher D. Parent. Parent, 52, had been a member of the Police Department for more than 25 years, mostly as a detective, but had been reassigned to road patrol. His firing stemmed from his performance during an Aug. 28 combat shooting exercise, which prompted fellow officers to report him to the command staff. Parent was fired in 2007,...

"Canada's two largest airlines must give disabled and morbidly obese passengers an extra free seat on domestic flights, beginning in January, after the Supreme Court refused yesterday to consider the carriers' appeal of a federal order."

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Obese people have the right to two seats for the price of one on flights within Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Thursday.

Overweight parents will be paid to walk their children to school under plans to tackle the obesity epidemic. Those who attend keep-fit classes, weight-loss clubs or even go for a run in the park would also be eligible for rewards. They will collect points on supermarket-style loyalty cards which would be redeemed against healthy food, sports equipment or gym sessions. The scheme is part of a £30million drive to improve health which will begin next year in Manchester, one of England's unhealthiest cities. If successful, it could be rolled out nationwide. However, critics believe that the payments are tantamount to...

At least seven children have been placed in care over fears they were too fat, it has been disclosed. Obtained under Freedom of Information laws, reports showed one boy aged six in Derby was taken from his home by social workers because he was dangerously obese. Another boy in London, aged 12, was put into care with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 28 - 60 per cent above the 17.5 average for his age. In Cumbria, social services intervened when one girl aged only eight weighed over 9st and wore size 16 clothes. Dr Colin Waine, former head of...

EDINBURG -- A nearly half-ton woman charged with capital murder in the death of her 2-year-old nephew faces additional charges following a grand jury indictment Thursday. Investigators suspect Mayra Lizbeth Rosales, 27, hit Eliseo Gonzalez Jr. at least two times on March 18, crushing the child's head. The bedridden woman told investigators at the time that she accidentally crushed Eliseo under her own weight while trying to pick him up. In addition to the capital murder charge - which carries a death sentence upon conviction - she was indicted on one count of first-degree murder, a charge punishable by up...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - If the trends of the past three decades continue, it's possible that every American adult could be overweight 40 years from now, a government-funded study projects. The figure might sound alarming, or impossible, but researchers say that even if the actual rate never reaches the 100-percent mark, any upward movement is worrying; two-thirds of the population is already overweight. "Genetically and physiologically, it should be impossible" for all U.S. adults to become overweight, said Dr. Lan Liang of the federal government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, one of the researchers on the study. However,...

Government bans the word 'obese' to describe overweight children Obesity is a growing problem in the UK Parents of primary school children will start getting letters in September telling them how fat their children are. But however much they weigh, no child will ever be described as obese. The Department of Health has found in surveys that the term obese is a turn-off, so instead will use the term “very overweight” for those children whose body mass index exceeds 30, in an attempt to enlist parents’ support. Primary care trusts have been given a detailed set of instructions, and a...

Scientists have made the claim that obese people are more responsible for global warming than thin people. So what's the cure? Uh...ask a fat guy and you may not like the answer! (The author requests that you visit his site and not paste the cartoon within this thread. THANKS!)

Like Owner, Like Dog: One Third Of US Dogs Are Obese, Cats Also SufferDogs and cats that are overweight may be predisposed to develop diabetes mellitus. (Credit: Image courtesy of Virginia Tech) ScienceDaily (Feb. 21, 2008) — Obesity in pets mirrors that of humans, as do the reasons -- decreased physical activity, age, and an increased caloric intake, even genetic predisposition. Like humans, there are also many health problems associated with being obese, such as diabetes mellitus. It's no secret that obesity is a problem in humans. Reality television makes millions of dollars chronicling the efforts of Americans attempting to...

New bill would make it illegal for restaurants to serve the obese FEBRUARY 1--Mississippi legislators this week introduced a bill that would make it illegal for state-licensed restaurants to serve obese patrons. Bill No. 282, a copy of which you'll find below, is the brainchild of three members of the state's House of Representatives, Republicans W. T. Mayhall, Jr. and John Read, and Democrat Bobby Shows. The bill, which is likely dead on arrival, proposes that the state's Department of Health establish weight criteria after consultation with Mississippi's Council on Obesity. It does not detail what penalties an eatery would...

HOUMA, La. (AP) - A 6-foot-3, 265-pound man says a restaurant overcharged him for his trips to the buffet line, then banned him and a relative because they're hearty eaters. A spokesman for the restaurant denies the claim. Ricky Labit, a disabled offshore worker, said he had been a regular for eight months at the Manchuria Restaurant in Houma, eating there as often as three times a week. On his most recent visit, he said, a waitress gave him and his wife's cousin, 44-year-old Michael Borrelli, a bill for $46.40, roughly double the buffet price for two adults. "She says,...

A diet for obese dogs has been developed by veterinary scientists working in the UK and France. Researchers have found that a high protein, high fibre diet is more successful in weight loss programmes for dogs because it helps to create a feeling of fullness. The study, published in the latest issue of the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, was carried out by vets at the University of Liverpool's Small Animal Teaching Hospital, working with the Royal Canine Research Centre in France, and has led to the development of a new diet food for dogs. Most owners who place their...

Parents of 5-year-olds are to be sent official warning letters if their child is found to be obese, as part of a national programme to weigh children in schools. Ministers are bracing themselves for charges that they will stigmatise fat children when they publish proposals next month to tackle rising levels of obesity, The Times has learnt. Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, is understood to have been persuaded that it is in children’s best interest if their weight is brought formally to the attention of their parents. The routine weighing of primary school pupils was reintroduced in England and Wales...

Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson called Wednesday for obese Americans to be brought under the protection of the Americans for Disabilities Act. "This is an issue of basic civil rights," said Richardson. "There are no federal laws that protect obese Americans from discrimination in the workplace, school, or anywhere else. This must change."

“And the lady stops and says, ‘Sir, you need to have another ticket.’ And I said what for and she said, ‘because of your size.' I hate to admit it but I was in tears.” VIDEO

DALLAS There's new information today on an overweight father going to extreme measures to adopt a child. Gary Stocklaufer says he's still being treated unfairly by a judge in his home state of Missouri. Despite having weight loss surgery in Dallas, he received notice from a judge overruling his motion for a rehearing to adopt his cousin's son. Back in June, the Stocklaufers petitioned to adopt 4-month-old Max, who had lived with them since he was a week old. Gary was denied the adoption because he was overweight. When news of the court denial spread a hospital in Dallas agreed...

(CNN) -- Americans are already among the fattest people in the world and they just keep packing on the pounds. A new report finds that obesity rates have swelled during the last year in 31 states with not one state reporting that its obesity rate shrank. And, for the first time, more than 30 percent of residents in one state -- Mississippi -- are classified as obese. Two-thirds of U.S. adults are obese or overweight, according to the Trust for America's Health. Nationwide, two-thirds of U.S. adults are obese or overweight, according to the fourth annual report from the Trust...

AN EPIDEMIC of obesity could have serious consequences for America's economy and its ability to defend itself, according to a leading politician. Self-confessed "recovering foodaholic" Mike Huckabee, a Republican Party presidential candidate, told a group of governors from the American South that the increasing numbers of people who were either over-weight or obese meant more and more people were having to take time off work for health reasons. And Mr Huckabee, who lost 110lb - nearly 8st - several years ago when he was governor of Arkansas, said he was concerned by reports that nearly two-thirds of American military personnel...

LONDON: Overweight people are often bullied and discriminated against because ancient fears that fat humans may be diseased causes their thinner counterparts to dislike them, say scientists. In a study, reported in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour, the researchers have found that the mere sight of someone who is overweight can trigger feelings of disgust and nausea similar to encountering rotten food. Since bacteria and viruses are invisible, human brains have evolved to react to outward signs of disease like rashes and wounds, and these signs also include excessive body fat, suggests the study. "Antipathy towards obese people is...

Study Shows More Iowans Go Hungry A new study shows more Iowans are going hungry. The study by Drake University found that more than one of every ten households are reporting limited or recurrent lack of access to nutritional and safe food. It also connects a lack of healthy food options to obesity in low-income households. The 2007 Hunger in Iowa Report indicates that more Iowans are skipping meals or eating cheaper and less healthy food because of their inability to get nutritional food in a social acceptable way. Other reports were released in 2001 and 2003. The reports are...

Huntington, WV businesses told to stop selling junk food to fat people The Asssociated Press HUNTINGTON, WV -- Ten Huntington businesses have been put on notice: Do not sell junk food to 19,000 grossly obese Huntington citizens or you could be fined. Attached to the warning letters mailed earlier this month are photos of the 19,000 fat people targeted by city officials. Assistant City Attorney Lora Mayonaise said the Huntington Police Department identified people who have body fat contents of 30% or more. "These people have rights as well, but it's not OK for them to lounge around the downtown...

A US woman weighing 318 kilograms has been rescued from her second-storey bathroom by firefighters, who cut away part of an exterior wall and removed a window before lowering her to the ground.

Junk food and lack of exercise are largely to blame A survey on obesity has shown that the South Pacific is the world's most overweight region. The tiny republic of Nauru is the fattest nation on earth. About 94% of its adult population is overweight. The WHO has warned that poor diet and a lack of exercise increase the risk of illness and premature death. Doctors say obesity can lead to heart disease and arthritis, and fat children are increasingly being condemned to a lifetime of ill health and disability. Junk food In a list of the world's 10...

Until she came to Houston's Renaissance Hospital two weeks ago, Renee Williams hadn't left her bed in three years. It took eight people to get her in and out of the ambulance. At her first weigh-in at the hospital, she tipped 850 pounds. Williams this week became what's thought to be the largest female patient to undergo laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery, the increasingly popular solution to morbid obesity. Her doctor said he's optimistic her weight may drop to as low as 200 pounds in two years.

The statistics about childhood obesity are well known. About 25 million American children have been labeled overweight and are at greater risk of developing diabetes, high cholesterol and other ailments linked their poor nutrition and sloth. These data, of course, negatively spin reality. The U.S. surgeon general says 82 percent of America's children are in very good or excellent health; infant mortality is at an all-time low; childhood immunization is at an all-time high; children are less likely to smoke cigarettes and less likely to give birth as teens. But that hasn't stopped the food police from demanding the government...

Obese men are more likely to be infertile than their slimmer peers, according to the first study to look at whether a man's weight influences a couple's fertility. Every excess 10 kilograms may cut a man's fertility by 10 per cent, Dr Markku Sallmen of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki and colleagues at National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, write in the September issue of Epidemiology. Sallmen was a post-doc at NIEHS when he conducted the study. The researchers looked at couples

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - An obesity pandemic threatens to overwhelm health systems around the globe with illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, experts at an international conference warned Sunday. "This insidious, creeping pandemic of obesity is now engulfing the entire world," Paul Zimmet, chairman of the meeting of more than 2,500 experts and health officials, said in a speech opening the weeklong International Congress on Obesity. "It's as big a threat as global warming and bird flu."

Very obese women should be denied fertility treatment, experts say. The British Fertility Society is recommending women with a body mass index of 36 and over should not be allowed access to fertility treatment. Underweight women and those classed just as obese (BMI over 29) should be forced to address their weight before starting treatment, the society said. NHS guidelines say overweight women should be warned of the health risks, but do not impose any ban on treatment. Being overweight can put both the health of the mother and child at risk through problems such as gestational diabetes and high...

WASHINGTON - The gravy train — make that the sausage, biscuits and gravy train — just kept on rolling in most of America last year, with 31 states showing an increase in obesity. Mississippi continued to lead the way. An estimated 29.5 percent of adults there are considered obese. That's an increase of 1.1 percentage points when compared with last year's report, which is compiled by Trust for America's Health, an advocacy group that promotes increased funding for public health programs. Meanwhile, Colorado remains the leanest state. About 16.9 percent of its adults are considered obese. That mark was also...

Being a little overweight can kill you, according to new research that leaves little room for denial that a few extra pounds is harmful. Baby boomers who were even just a tad pudgy were more likely to die prematurely than those who were at a healthy weight, U.S. researchers reported Tuesday. While obesity has been known to contribute to early death, the link between being overweight and dying prematurely has been controversial. Some experts have argued that a few extra pounds does no harm. However, this is one of the first major studies to account for the factors of smoking...

Survey: Most Obese Claim to Eat Healthy By MIKE STOBBE , 08.01.2006, 11:59 PM More than three-quarters of obese Americans say they have healthy eating habits, according to a survey of more than 11,000 people. About 40 percent of obese people also said they do "vigorous" exercise at least three times a week, the telephone survey found. "There is, perhaps, some denial going on. Or there is a lack of understanding of what does it mean to be eating healthy, and what is vigorous exercise," said Dr. David Schutt of Thomson Medstat, the Michigan-based health-care research firm that conducted the...

On my way home from work, while listening to my favorite local Christian station, 89.7 WMCU "Spirit" FM... The DJ mentioned that today was Senator Edward Kennedy's birthday...74 years "young", I quote. I nearly hurled.

What started out as a frontpage supermarket tabloid story in the National Enquirer regarding Senator Ted Kennedy's "love child," is slowly but surely gaining some traction in the mainstream news media. After the story of appeared in the Enquirer, the Boston Herald in Kennedy's own backyard ran a similar story. Now the largest circulation newspaper in the Big Apple, the New York Daily News -- a decidedly liberal news organization -- is running a follow-up story. According to a column in the NY Daily News, Ted Kennedy's alleged love child, Christopher Allen, appears to have corroborated The National Enquirer's claim...

(CBS) It's lunchtime at the Scotts Miracle-Gro headquarters near Columbus, Ohio, and the eating is healthy. "I'll have some salmon," a worker said. That's because the company that helps Americans grow their gardens is trying to trim its workers waists — and $24 million pear year in health care costs. So there's a full time doctor and a new clinic, which is free to workers and families enrolled in the company medical plan. There is a drive through pharmacy with generic drugs — and right next door: the new gym. It's also free to those who work out more than twice...

NHS may not treat smokers, drinkers or obese By Celia Hall, Medical Editor (Filed: 09/12/2005) People who are grossly overweight, who smoke heavily or drink excessively could be denied surgery or drugs following a decision by a Government agency yesterday.The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) which advises on the clinical and cost effectiveness of treatments for the NHS, said that in some cases the "self-inflicted" nature of an illness should be taken into account. But the report bars any discrimination against patients on grounds of age alone. Nice stressed that people should not be discriminated against by...

The NHS in east Suffolk has announced that it will no longer perform hip or knee replacements on people classed as “obese”. Never mind that the definition it uses for obesity — a body mass index of 30 or higher — is increasingly discredited, and that a much more reliable way of measuring healthy weight is waist-to-hip ratio. (It should be 0.9 or less in men, and 0.85 or less in women; you can check it on www.healthstatus.com/calculate/whr ). A greater objection to this denial of treatment to fatties on account of their self-inflicted fatness is: where on earth do...

Black Colleges Aiming to Fight ObesityBy DIONNE WALKER, AP NORFOLK, Va. (Oct. 23) - As students talk over the thump of rapper Chingy's "Right Thurr," Tina Carroll stands in a corner of the university dining hall deliberating. At 187 pounds, 22-year-old graduate student Tina Carroll is well above what's recommended for her 5-foot-2 frame. Piled in front of her are sliced carrots, peas and steaming squash chunks. Nearby, breaded chicken patties fan out like meaty playing cards, and french fries glisten in fat-laden glory. Carroll nibbles her manicured fingernails, her eyes darting between each selection. At 187 pounds - well...

THE US obesity problem might be more serious than previously believed and most adults in the United States were at risk of becoming overweight or obese, US researchers said today. In a government study that followed 4000 participants over 30 years, researchers found that 90 per cent of men and 70 per cent of women were overweight or later became overweight. "National surveys and other studies have told us that the United States has a major weight problem, but this study suggests that we could have an even more serious degree of overweight and obesity (cases) over the next few...

By Jeannette Walls MSNBC Updated: 9:30 a.m. ET May 6, 2004 Michael Moore is making headlines with his controversial documentary, but one group is targeting the filmmaker for his waistline. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has selected the gadfly filmmaker as one of its Flab Five; and is treating him to a Veg Eye for the Fat Guy makeover. Looks like the Downsize This author has been doing too much supersizing,notes PETA. We'll be sending him a nice little care package, a makeover kit filled with health and diet tips, PETA's vegetarian starter kit, and suggestions on how...

People surrounded by graffiti, with pavements strewn with litter and broken glass, are more likely to be obese than those living in green and leafy places, said researchers yesterday. The Medical Research Council study, in the British Medical Journal online, drew a strong link between obesity and the environment and said studies showed that neighbourhood "incivilities" such as graffiti, litter, dog dirt and discarded needles were linked to poor health in general. The researchers analysed a World Health Organisation survey on health and housing in eight European countries and looked at people's weight against the areas in which they lived....

New Hampshire Doctor Outraged By Complaint ROCHESTER, N.H. -- The New Hampshire attorney general is investigating a Rochester doctor because a patient complained that he bluntly told her she needed to lose weight. Dr. Terry Bennett said that he's outraged by what he calls a baseless complaint. A patient was apparently insulted when Bennett told her that she was obese and could only get healthier by losing weight. "It's an epidemic in the United States, and it's croaking us," Bennett said. Bennett said that it's a lecture he gives to many of his overweight patients. "It's your weight, ... and...

Slightly more than one in five Wisconsin residents is obese, according to survey results that indicate obesity increased in the state over a recent 10-year period. ADVERTISEMENT The analysis reported in the Wisconsin Medical Journal included county-by-county results that showed the highest obesity rates at 26 percent in Jefferson County and 23 percent in Chippewa, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Portage and Wood counties. Milwaukee County ranked just below the state average at 19 percent. Among the lowest rates were Dane County at 16 percent and Waukesha and La Crosse counties at 17 percent. The study was based on telephone surveys...