Project Director, Lynn McAfee, (610-970-8166), Lynn@cswd.org
The Council presents the perspective of the large-size
health consumer at meetings of the scientific, medical,
and research communities. We advocate for the principle
that the goal of medical care should be overall health
and well-being, rather than weight loss for its own
sake. We scrutinize medical research, and uncover
cultural anti-fat bias wherever it exists. Our testimony
to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus
panel on Weight Loss Technology in 1992 resulted in
recognition, in the final report, of the effects of
weight discrimination in this country.
In 1985, a consensus panel of the NIH proclaimed obesity
a serious health hazard, and the ensuing media coverage
called obesity a "killer disease". The research behind
this pronouncement was flawed, since it failed to
account for the health damage caused by chronic dieting
and weight regain. Even in 1985, researchers knew that
weight lost by dieting was virtually always regained,
and that many weight loss methods carried their own
serious health risks. Nevertheless, for the last decade
at least, the medical profession has been operating
under the faulty assumption that the correct course of
treatment for a large person is always diet, despite a
long-term failure rate of 92% or more.
As a result of this faulty assumption, regulatory
bodies, such as the FDA, use a skewed standard when
comparing the risks to the benefits of a given
treatment. Even if a drug has known, extremely serious
side effects, the FDA may approve it on the grounds that
these side effects are "acceptable" when compared to the
supposed health risks of obesity.
One example of this was the FDA approval of
dexfenfluramine as a weight-loss drug. Known side
effects of this drug included permanent brain damage and
a fatal condition known as primary pulmonary
hypertension. The FDA considered these acceptable risks
when weighed against the supposed dangers of obesity.
The most alarming aspect of this approval was the fact
that dexfenfluramine was only minimally effective for
weight loss.
In addition to testifying at FDA hearings, the Council
launched a letter-writing campaign against the drug. The
FDA approved it despite our warnings, but did require
strict warning labels on Redux (dexfenfluramine), to be
read by pharmacists, physicians, and consumers. FDA
approval was short-lived, however, and when cases of
critical and sometimes fatal conditions started
surfacing, the FDA asked the manufacturer to withdraw
Redux from the market. The Council continues to monitor
the pharmaceutical situation, and will fight other such
diet drugs which do not meet the commonsense standards
of safety and effectiveness.
We are concerned about the financial relationship
between obesity researchers and the weight-loss
industry, including manufacturers of weight-loss drugs.
This relationship has created an atmosphere which
hinders critical evaluation of new medicines. The focus
on new (and highly profitable) diet drugs is also a
disincentive to those researchers who are seeking new
ways to improve the health of large-size health care
patients.
The Council has developed an outline for a wellness
center specifically designed to treat
larger-than-average patients. Our proposed center would
take into consideration the special needs of large
patients, and would specialize in comprehensive
treatment, with or without weight loss, of those
conditions which are either more common, or more
serious, or more difficult to treat in larger patients.
