"Researchers calculated the body mass index - a standard measurement of size.... There is growing debate about the accuracy of the standard method of calculating whether someone is overweight.... the system would put nearly half of NBA players in the overweight category"
Of course, this is ALL ABOUT a BIOTECH DRUG!!!!
FLASHBACK:
Arena Pharmaceuticals said yesterday that its experimental drug to treat obesity had succeeded in its first late-stage clinical trial, producing results it said would be good enough for regulatory approval. But some analysts said the results were unimpressive because patients on the drug for a year lost an average of only 5.8 percent of their body weight....
I just heard a cash register click.
The company, based in San Diego, is one of three small California drug makers in the final stages of developing obesity treatments. The other two companies, Orexigen Therapeutics and Vivus, have already presented data from late-stage clinical trials, but all three companies have other trials in progress.
Start here:
"Every table was set with a single fresh rose (from the rose gardens outside, I was told) and a full complement of three forks, two knives, and two spoons in silver plate..... The buffet tables could have graced a high-end ocean liner. I watched a gentleman in colorful African garb pile his plate with slices of roast sirloin and potatoes mashed with feta cheese. A post-retirement-age couple from the East Side scarfed up most of the egg rolls, though more came out quickly....
I made for the roast leg of lamb with rosemary sauce after I filled my salad plate with chilled asparagus and slices of a duck and pork terrine.... fresh tomato soup and bowls of pasta primavera.... The dessert buffet table practically groaned under a spread of apple and pumpkin pies, cheesecakes, tarts, half a dozen cheeses, sliced fruits, bowls of berries, and, off to one side, three urns of ice cream"
And that was just for LUNCH!
Also see: Globalist Gluttons Gorge Themselves
Gee, WEIGHT ISN'T A PROBLEM when it comes to RICHER'S GIRTH, does it?
With two-thirds of Americans said to be obese or overweight, a successful obesity drug could have huge sales.
So WHO SAID you are FAT, America?
Gonna get the KIDS HOOKED on ANOTHER DRUG so the RICHERS can EAT MORE, huh? Because THAT'S WHAT THIS IS: making dough off of starvation!
And experts say there is a need for better drugs because the existing ones are hampered by side effects.
Ever notice the side effects are worse than the illness?
Because of safety concerns, though, developing a successful obesity drug can be treacherous.
Here we go: Yup, a billion-eight taken out of taxpayer's pockets so the state can throw money away to lying biotechs even though "it's never been easy to turn a profit."
Flush all that money away, too, taxpayer.
Need insult to injury?
See: The Money Pipeline From Massachusetts to Israel
Are you you surprised?
Sanofi-Aventis, Merck, and Pfizer all discontinued work on experimental drugs last year because of concerns that the drugs, which all worked by similar mechanisms, could contribute to depression and suicidal thoughts.
How come ALL their POISONS do this, readers?
Arena said its drug, called lorcaserin, which works by a different mechanism, did not show psychiatric side effects. Even more importantly, the company said, there was no sign the drug damaged heart valves.
Pffft!
Heart effects are relevant because lorcaserin works in a way similar to Wyeth's drug fenfluramine, which was part of the fen-phen combination before it was pulled from the market after being linked to heart valve damage.
So that crap is back on the market, huh? Pffft!
Arena says lorcaserin can stimulate a receptor in the brain that is thought to regulate food intake without binding to somewhat similar receptors that cause the heart problems. But the effectiveness data left analysts debating the drug's value....
--more--"
Now listen to the EXTREME RUBBISH from the state:
"We don't want 12-year-olds having heart attack"
So GET 'EM on a DRUG!!!
Pffft! These people are as bad as the enviro-fart-misters with their OUTRAGEOUS ALARMISM!'
"Public schools to send home weight reports; State board targets childhood obesity" by Stephen Smith, Globe Staff | April 9, 2009
Starting in the fall, public schools across Massachusetts will send reports home to parents alerting them if their child weighs too much or too little - the centerpiece of a campaign to shrink bulging waistlines and halt obesity-related diseases once rare in children.
And since the unit of measure has been called into question.... ???????
The childhood screenings, modeled after initiatives in Arkansas and New York City, won unanimous approval yesterday from the state's Public Health Council, an appointed board of doctors, academics, and service providers.
Students in the first, fourth, seventh, and 10th grades will be measured and weighed so school health officials can calculate their body mass index score, a standard measurement used to gauge the appropriateness of someone's weight.
And, MSM?
The initiative will be phased in during the next two school years, with more than 286,000 students expected to undergo evaluation before the end of the 2010-2011 academic year. The letters issued to parents won't just be a scorecard, state authorities promised; they will provide suggestions on where to turn for help.
Nearly one-third of adolescents weigh too much, and the toll of that crisis is evident in school nursing offices, where nurses encounter children with high blood pressure and a form of diabetes that in previous generations struck adults almost exclusively.
Because the government and authorities say so? I'll check that at the door, folks!
"We don't want 12-year-olds having heart attacks, and that's exactly where we're headed as a society if we don't deal with the health and wellness of children and, especially, obesity," said Kathy Hassey, president of the Massachusetts School Nurse Organization.
Still, in the hours after health regulators embraced the screenings, the message board of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees lighted up with concerns. Will this further fray school budgets already sorely stretched, some writers wondered. Is this another example of schools assuming responsibilities that are truly the province of parents, another asked.
Yup!
"Our list-serve has been going off the hook here about this," said Glenn Koocher, executive director of the school committee group, who counted 22 messages in two hours. "Everyone is concerned about obese children, obviously. But the general concern on the list-serve is around cost, around another unfunded mandate."
Earlier, when the state Department of Public Health sought comments about the childhood weight screening, the responses from medical associations and physicians were almost entirely supportive. But a representative of an eating-disorders group expressed grave doubts.
Yeah, I was wondering about that myself. Let's make some more anorexics and bulimics out of the young impressionables, huh?!
Rebecca Manley, founder of the Multiservice Eating Disorders Association in Newton, questioned the reliability of body mass index screenings, known commonly as BMI. And she also challenged the wisdom of sending those reports to parents.
"Mandatory BMI reporting laws force parents to walk the fine line between encouraging healthy eating and promoting unhealthy weight loss strategies," Manley wrote in a letter to the agency.
C'mon, MSM, NOTHING about it being a S*** INDICATOR? And we are supposed to trust the lying and omiting papers and schools on this?
State health authorities said yesterday that they are familiar with those concerns - and with the worries of school committees - and have attempted to address them. Parents, for example, will not be forced to have their children evaluated.
Then DO NOT, parents!
Still, if the experience in Arkansas holds true, virtually all Massachusetts students will wind up being screened, and when they are, it will be conducted in private, with no mention of the resulting BMI reading made at that time.
Whether you like it or not -- sig heil -- kids!
"Nobody wanted to create an environment in which we are going to induce more unhealthy behaviors rather than healthful behaviors," said Dr. Jewel Mullen, director of the Bureau of Community Health Access and Promotion at the state health agency.
The state's public health commissioner, John Auerbach, said he believes the financial cost to school districts will be nominal, in part because many were already weighing and measuring students annually....
Then WTF?
Okay, even if you still buy the our kids are fat bit, this should set you straight on the ever-intrusive state's motives.
"Nearly 20% of US 4-year-olds are obese, data analysis finds; Rate even higher among children of Native Americans" by Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press | April 7, 2009
Well, THEY SHOULD BE!!!
Do you want to see a THIN, WAN, 4-year-old?!! I don't!!!
Of course, I DO NOT BELIEVE THIS AGENDA-PUSHING, PROFIT-MOTIVE PROPAGANDA ANYMORE, and I hope neither will you, readers.
CHICAGO - A striking new study says almost one in five American 4-year-olds is obese, and the rate is alarmingly higher among American Indian children, with nearly one-third of them obese.
Researchers were surprised to see differences by race at such an early age. Overall, more than 500,000 4-year-olds are obese, the study suggests. Obesity is more common in Hispanic and black youngsters, too, but the disparity is most startling in American Indians, whose rate is almost double that of whites.
By WHAT MEASURE?
The lead author said rate is worrisome among children so young, even in a population at higher risk for obesity because of other health problems and economic disadvantages....
Dr. Glenn Flores, a professor of pediatrics and public health at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, said "the cumulative evidence is alarming." Without intervention, the next generation "will be at very high risk" for heart disease, high blood pressure, cancers, joint diseases, and other problems connected with obesity, said Flores, who was not involved in the new research....
And THAT is what it is ALL ABOUT!
Here is your GLASS of WATER with that PILL, kiddo!
Children were considered obese if their body-mass index, a height-weight ratio, was in the 95th percentile or higher based on government BMI growth charts. For 4-year-olds, that would be a BMI of about 18. For example, a girl who is 4 1/2 years old, 40 inches tall, and 42 pounds would have a BMI of about 18, weighing 4 pounds more than the government's upper limit for that age, height, and gender....
Since when is it GOVERNMENT'S JOB to "weigh in" on OUR BELLIES?!!!!
Have you SEEN some of the FAT-ASSED POLITICIANS?
The HYPOCRITICAL CHUTZPAH never ends!!!!!
--more--"
And get a load of this.... "Study indicates 'good' fat could help in weight loss" by Linda A. Johnson, Associated Press | April 9, 2009
TRENTON, N.J. - Fight fat with fat? A new obesity theory suggests we might one day be able to do just that.
Just like good and bad cholesterol, there apparently are good and bad types of body fat. Scientists had believed good fat, which spurs the body to burn calories to generate body heat, played an important role in keeping infants warm but by adulthood was mostly gone or inactive.
Now three studies - from researchers in Boston, Finland, and the Netherlands - show that some good fat remains in adults, affecting metabolism and potentially offering a target to help people shed pounds. Dr. Francesco Celi, an endocrinology and metabolism researcher at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, said the studies show this fat burns large amounts of energy.
"So it could be used as a target" for a pill....
It ALWAYS COMES BACK to PILL!!!
Oh, and ladies:
Women were more likely to have it, and their deposits were larger.
--more--"What? The PRO-FEMINIST Boston Globe implying that women are FAT?
Ladies, YOU LOOK LOVELY the WAY YOU ARE!!!
Oh, yeah, and for those who don't think these "biotech" drugs aren't dangerous:
"Genentech pulls psoriasis drug from US market" by Associated Press | April 9, 2009
I know it's a skin disorder, not an eating one, but....
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - The Genentech unit of drug maker Roche Holding AG is pulling the psoriasis treatment Raptiva from the US market because of links to an often fatal brain infection.
The move comes only about six months after the company updated the drug's labeling to carry warnings of links to progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, a rare nervous system disorder. Genentech said it made the decision to pull the drug in conjunction with the Food and Drug Administration.
Three cases of PML in Raptiva patients have been confirmed. One other patient on the drug developed similar neurological symptoms and died of an unknown cause, the company said.
Tysabri, a treatment for multiple sclerosis made by Biogen Idec of Cambridge, has also been linked to PML. Tysabri was pulled from the market in February 2005, and the company was allowed to resume selling the drug in July 2006. Since then, four new cases of PML have been reported in Tysabri users.
Related: Marketing and Selling a Death Drug
Genentech estimates about 2,000 people in the United States are taking Raptiva and about 46,000 worldwide have taken it since its introduction in 2003. Raptiva accounted for $108 million in sales in 2008 out of Genentech's total of $13.42 billion.
The drug was approved for chronic moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, a skin condition characterized by red, scaly, inflamed patches of skin. The company said no new prescriptions should be written, and the drug will no longer be available at all after June 8. Genentech says patients should consult their doctors before stopping use of the drug, because an abruptly halt can lead to sudden worsening of the psoriasis.
"Our decision to remove Raptiva from the market reflects Genentech's commitment to patient safety," Hal Barron, a Genetech senior vice president, and chief medical officer, said in a statement....
--more--"Ready to down that obesity pill?
