Scientists working on an obesity intervention project were asked questions, via
questionnaire and interviews, relating to ethical and public-policy aspects of
tackling childhood obesity. The main areas of enquiry concerned elements responsible
for the rise in childhood obesity, key ethical areas of obesity interventions,
helpfulness and effectiveness of policy measures, socioeconomic factors, and
media coverage and political debate. Key results from this indicate that: there is
disagreement about the amount of information about the causes of obesity that is
needed before implementing interventions; an improvement in health and nutrition
education of both children and adults through positive messages is seen as
highly desirable; scientists regard environment, rather than genetics, as playing the
major role in rising obesity levels; the level of individual responsibility being
placed on parents and children may be unfair and unhelpful; whole-system,
long-term and sensitive policy actions are needed rather than relying on quick
fixes such as miracle pills; and there are country-specific issues related to rising
obesity levels that need to be considered, though the respondents tended to have
a great deal of faith in EU-wide interventions.