SocraticGadfly: People willing to swap four years of life for being obese, libertarian author alleges

January 10, 2008

People willing to swap four years of life for being obese, libertarian author alleges

And 2.5 y ears for “just” being overweight, says the author of a book who says we’re making too much a to-do about the obesity crisis.

Finkelstein ignores both the costs of health care for obesity and takes a medically unsupported, libertarian, “obesity is pure choice” tack, also. True, we shouldn’t diminish the choice factor involved in obesity; people do make choices as to how much they eat, what they eat and how little they exercise. But, we shouldn’t do this to the extent of ignoring or dismissing either genetic or uncontrollable prenatal environmental factors.

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