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Health Experts Warn Of Obesity Pandemic
SYDNEY -- An obesity pandemic threatens to overwhelm health systems around the world 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 week-long International Congress on Obesity. "It's as big a threat as global warming and bird flu."
The World Health Organization says more than 1 billion adults are overweight and 300 million of them are obese, putting them at much higher risk of diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure, stroke and some forms of cancer.
Zimmet, a diabetes expert at Australia's Monash University, said there are now more overweight people in the world than the undernourished, who number about 600 million. People in wealthy countries lead in overeating and not doing enough physical activity, but those in the poorer nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America are quickly learning bad habits, experts said.
Among the most serious problems are skyrocketing rates of obesity among children, experts said. The children in this generation may be the first in history to die before their parents because of health problems related to weight, said Kate Steinbeck, an expert at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
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ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
· QUETTA, Pakistan -- A bomb damaged a gas pipeline in southwestern Pakistan, cutting supplies to thousands of homes in a region tense after a rebel tribal leader died in a battle with government forces. Thousands of people rallied across Pakistan's Baluchistan province, condemning the government for not returning the body of slain tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti to his family.
· BRISBANE, Australia -- Steve Irwin, the Australian television personality and environmentalist known as the Crocodile Hunter, was killed Monday by a stingray barb during a diving expedition, Australian media reported. He was 44.
EUROPE
· MARSEILLE, France -- In his presidential bid Sunday, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy rallied actors, rock stars and a rapper to his cause as he courted a generation that traditionally has not supported the ruling Union for a Popular Movement, or UMP, founded by President Jacques Chirac.
· PARIS -- Paris renamed the square in front of Notre Dame cathedral after Pope John Paul II, angering AIDS groups and left-wing sympathizers who protested against the move because of his strict opposition to condoms. Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe attended a ceremony to unveil a sign bearing the square's new name, John Paul II Square.
