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| One of the country's most senior doctors has warned that obesity will
overtake alcohol as the main cause of liver cirrhosis in the "not too
distant future". Professor Christopher Hawkey's comments come as a new poll shows that more than five out of six people are unaware the disease is linked to excess weight. "Obesity is the biggest health problem we face this century," said Hawkey, president of the British Society of Gastroenterology. "It is almost certainly going to reverse the rise in life expectancy 每 so we start living shorter lives than before. It will increase the risks of a number of cancers; hip and knee surgery requirement is going to be vast; and it is now projected to overtake alcohol as the biggest cause of liver cirrhosis within two decades." Obesity has already become the main cause of less serious forms of liver disease, but cirrhosis is the end stage 每 an irreversible scarring that causes the pearl jewelry organ to deteriorate. A BSG poll of 1,959 people released today found that while the majority understood that obesity could cause diabetes, high blood pressure and infertility, few understood its link to certain cancers or liver problems. New figures from the organisation show a huge spike in the number of people under the age of 65 dying of liver disease, while deaths linked to other problems 每 such as diabetes, cancers and stroke 每 have fallen for that age group. The average age of death from liver disease is 59 compared with between 82 and 84 for heart and lung disease and strokes. It is the fifth largest cause of death in the UK, and in the past 10 years there has been a five-fold increase in cirrhosis for those aged between 35 and 55. Hawkey said today's poll also showed that people don't realise other complications are related to obesity. "People don't know there is an epidemic of cancer of the biwa pearl oesophagus, for example, which is very hard to treat." He said Britain had become a "nation of grazers" seeking instant gratification. The poll, he said, highlights a number of worrying trends. For example, it found that half of those questioned considered themselves overweight, and of these one in five women and more than one in six men admitted to binge-eating. Experts say bingeing is a disorder where suffers can consume 10,000 calories in one go. "It is comfort eating 每 just like comfort drinking," said Hawkey, adding that bingeing could lead to many health risks beyond excess weight. The NHS defines binge- eating as a disorder where the sufferer feels "compelled to overeat". "Binge eaters usually eat large quantities, including when they're not hungry, in a short period of time and in private. They feel they have no control over their overeating," the NHS information sheet says. Symptoms include "feelings of guilt, shame or disgust after overeating". Beat, a charity for those with eating disorders, says it is planning to draw attention to the issue over the next year. Susan Ringwood, its chief executive, said: "Some people experience sadness as an emptiness in their body which they want to fill. It is almost the opposite to anorexia. "Binge-eating is not about people eating large portions 每 it is almost a ritual. They plan it, buy high-fat and sugary foods, find a time they can be alone, and lock the akoya pearl door. It is comfort eating 每 but way beyond having an extra chocolate biscuit because you feel down. "People can take 10,000 calories in one go 每 four times what you would expect to eat in a day. They could, for example, eat a whole pack of butter." Ringwood said treatment includes cognitive behavioural therapy. Hawkey said the healthiest option is for people to eat small portions of foods that release carbohydrates slowly. He also advocates vegetarianism, or "semi-vegetarianism" for those who can't give up meat entirely. | ||
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| One of the country's most senior doctors has warned that obesity will
overtake alcohol as the main cause of liver cirrhosis in the "not too
distant future". Professor Christopher Hawkey's comments come as a new poll shows that more than five out of six people are unaware the disease is linked to excess weight. "Obesity is the biggest health problem we face this century," said Hawkey, president of the British Society of Gastroenterology. "It is almost certainly going to reverse the rise in life expectancy 每 so we start living shorter lives than before. It will increase the risks of a number of cancers; hip and knee surgery requirement is going to be vast; and it is now projected to overtake alcohol as the biggest cause of liver cirrhosis within two decades." Obesity has already become the main cause of less serious forms of liver disease, but cirrhosis is the end stage 每 an irreversible scarring that causes the pearl jewelry organ to deteriorate. A BSG poll of 1,959 people released today found that while the majority understood that obesity could cause diabetes, high blood pressure and infertility, few understood its link to certain cancers or liver problems. New figures from the organisation show a huge spike in the number of people under the age of 65 dying of liver disease, while deaths linked to other problems 每 such as diabetes, cancers and stroke 每 have fallen for that age group. The average age of death from liver disease is 59 compared with between 82 and 84 for heart and lung disease and strokes. It is the fifth largest cause of death in the UK, and in the past 10 years there has been a five-fold increase in cirrhosis for those aged between 35 and 55. Hawkey said today's poll also showed that people don't realise other complications are related to obesity. "People don't know there is an epidemic of biwa pearl cancer of the oesophagus, for example, which is very hard to treat." He said Britain had become a "nation of grazers" seeking instant gratification. The poll, he said, highlights a number of worrying trends. For example, it found that half of those questioned considered themselves overweight, and of these one in five women and more than one in six men admitted to binge-eating. Experts say bingeing is a disorder where suffers can consume 10,000 calories in one go. "It is comfort eating 每 just like comfort drinking," said Hawkey, adding that bingeing could lead to many health risks beyond excess weight. The NHS defines binge- eating as a disorder where the sufferer feels "compelled to overeat". "Binge eaters usually eat large quantities, including when they're not hungry, in a short period of time and in private. They feel they have no control over their overeating," the NHS information sheet says. Symptoms include "feelings of guilt, shame or disgust after overeating". Beat, a charity for those with eating disorders, says it is planning to draw attention to the issue over the next year. Susan Ringwood, its chief executive, said: "Some people experience sadness as an emptiness in their body which they want to fill. It is almost the opposite to anorexia. "Binge-eating is not about people eating large portions 每 it is almost a ritual. They plan it, buy high-fat and sugary foods, find a time they can be alone, and lock the door. It is comfort eating 每 but way beyond having an extra chocolate biscuit because you feel down. "People can take 10,000 calories in akoya pearl one go 每 four times what you would expect to eat in a day. They could, for example, eat a whole pack of butter." Ringwood said treatment includes cognitive behavioural therapy. Hawkey said the healthiest option is for people to eat small portions of foods that release carbohydrates slowly. He also advocates vegetarianism, or "semi-vegetarianism" for those who can't give up meat entirely. | ||
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| Global warming has brought hard times to Hebei, the dry northern
province of China that envelops Beijing. Rising temperatures and
unpredictable rain patterns have forced farmers and nomads to flee the
land and move to cities. Lakes are drying, crops are withering, deserts
are spreading and food production is declining: all reminders to the
Chinese government that it cannot afford to ignore the danger of
climate change. Yet there is another side to life in this overheating region. At the former agricultural town of Baoding, a hub of low-carbon technology has been created. Hundreds of workers are constructing giant towers and blades for wind turbines. Tianwei, the company that runs the facility, has increased output from 20 units last year to 150 this year. Next year, they aim to build 500. In the deserts and grasslands of northern Hebei, Inner Mongolia and Gansu, a new wind turbine is erected almost every hour. Thanks to these great machines, Baoding alone will reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 35% by 2020. "Human society is moving from industrial civilisation to eco-civilisation," says its young mayor, Yu Qun. It is a remarkable vision. On one hand devastating weather is triggering key changes to the landscape; on the other, glittering low-carbon technology is being set up to tackle the problem. The question 每 not just for China but for the world 每 is simple: can this technological fix of wind turbines, solar plants and other renewable energy generators be assembled quickly enough to prevent rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide from destroying the farmlands of Hebei, and all those other fertile regions of the globe, and so prevent widespread loss of life by the middle of the century? In short, does humanity have the will 每 and the time 每 to pearl jewelry halt global warming? Answers to these questions are now becoming increasingly urgent as politicians enter the final stages of preparations for the Copenhagen climate summit that starts on 7 December. World leaders will then have the chance to hammer out a deal to halt ice caps melting and sea levels from rising catastrophically. Many believe this will be their last chance to save the world. Only "a clear, politically binding treaty" that puts limits on every nation's carbon output and pledges specific sums of money 每 to be spent on renewable technology across the globe 每 will be acceptable as a summit outcome, Britain's chief climate negotiator, Ed Miliband, told the Observer last week. "We have put our cards on the table," said Miliband, the secretary of state for energy and climate change. "We need other nations to do the same." It is an uncompromising stance. Yet the creation of a binding Copenhagen deal now looks increasingly unlikely as the summit looms. Despite the fact that negotiators have had two years to prepare, they now enter the final phase of talks with a real prospect of failure ahead of them. "It is realistic to say that in Copenhagen we will not be able to conclude a treaty," Angela Merkel said on Friday at the end of a two-day meeting of EU leaders. The best that can now be hoped for is the establishment of a framework for future negotiations, warned the German chancellor. This depressing vision flies in the face of Miliband's hopes for the summit. So who is going to be proved right? Will the Copenhagen talks falter, fail and doom the planet? Or will there be sufficient progress to raise hopes that measures can be introduced to biwa pearl limit global warming to a 2C rise by the end of the century? It should be noted that to achieve the latter, each developed nation will have to agree to the introduction of massive limits to its greenhouse gas emissions: by between 20-30% by 2020 and by around 80% by 2050. Only radical changes in the way we power our factories, homes, cars and planes will bring about this goal. Yet it is clear that there is a will to act to save the world. Constant reminders about the world's warming seas, extreme weather events, eroding glaciers and disappearing wild animals have made politicians aware of the dangers of global warming. The construction of those wind turbines across the barren Hebei landscape shows that even the Chinese, once the most difficult of nations to convince about the need for greenhouse gas reductions, have got the message. The same is true of other nations. The problem is agreeing a common strategy. How much aid should rich countries pay developing nations to combat climate change? What assurances should the latter give about the way they spend this money? How can the world halt the clearance of forests which play such a crucial role in absorbing carbon dioxide? The developed world wants pledges, the developing nations want cash. Each expects the other to act first. The result has been stalemate. Nor is there much doubt about the principal cause of this failure to act. It is the fact that the United States has not passed legislation that would limit its own colossal emissions of greenhouse gases. Per capita, the US is one of the greatest emitters of carbon dioxide. The average American is responsible for pumping out almost 25 tonnes of the stuff every year. By contrast, a European produces about 10 tonnes, an Indian 2 tonnes and a Chinese person around 6 tonnes. (China, overall, is the biggest national emitter because its population is so vast.) The world needs the US to set an example. However, despite pledges by the Obama administration, it has so far not managed to do so. A bill is being discussed by the Senate but will certainly not be passed in time for Copenhagen thanks mainly to fierce opposition from conservative Democrat politicians as well as Republicans. Polls also indicate that ordinary Americans are becoming less engaged with climate change issues while environmentalists warn that the Senate bill is likely to be weakened during committee negotiations. It is a depressing scenario. If America does not set a lead, the akoya pearl world is unlikely to act effectively. On the other hand, all is not gloom. In the past week or two, signs of a shift in America's attitude have become unmistakable. The prominent Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, has written a column for the New York Times in support of the climate change bill, for example. Similarly, in Senate hearings, critics of the bill have stopped debating the scientific evidence for global warming and shifted to a debate about the economic costs of cutting greenhouse gas emissions. "Eleven academies in industrialised countries say climate change is real; humans have caused most of the recent warming," said Lamar Alexander, a Republican senator from Tennessee. "If fire chiefs of the same reputation told me my house was about to burn down, I'd buy some fire insurance. But I'd buy insurance that worked. I wouldn't buy insurance that's so expensive I couldn't pay my mortgage or my hospital bill." This shift is one of several tangible signs that Barack Obama has helped turn around American thinking on climate change. Last week the White House renewed these concerns when Obama toured a solar facility in Florida and announced some $3.4bn in grants for the development of America's "smart grid". | ||
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| "Europe has put its cards on the table," says Miliband. "Now we want
others to do the same. That is China, Russia, India and the US.
Everyone needs to come forward with specific proposals. They need to
come with ambitious reductions. An agreement without numbers would not
be a satisfactory agreement." The problem is getting the world to agree on those numbers. While Europe may have trumpeted its proposal to up its carbon cuts to 30% provided a global deal is agreed, this is still not enough for developing nations. Virtually all the excess carbon now in the atmosphere has been put there by developed nations, they point out. If the world is overheating it is the west that it is to blame. Hence the demand by the Group of 77 (G77), which represents China, India and the developing nations, that the developed world must cut its emissions by at least 40% by 2020 每 a huge decrease in a very short time. To date, only Norway has agreed to try to pearl jewelry meet this challenge. Few other developed nations 每 and certainly not the US 每 are likely to take this step. The arithmetic of climate change is going to prove to be a tricky business. Some signals are more encouraging, however. At the UN climate summit last month, President Hu Jintao of China said he was prepared to set his country's first carbon targets. This will not involve an overall cut, but an "intensity" reduction relative to the growth of the economy, he added. He was, however, short on specifics and merely pledged that it would be a "notable margin" by 2020. Most analysts suggest that in the absence of rich nations setting ambitious targets for their emissions, China is likely to set a goal of around 20%. This is "not quite enough," as one observed. China says it will also establish national tree planting campaigns and even provide a small amount of support for renewable energy projects for biwa pearl poorer nations. It will also raise its renewable energy target and set a date to start reducing overall emissions. This is promising, admitted Miliband, but still not enough. He is to travel to Barcelona this weekend to take part in the final interim negotiating meeting before Copenhagen and is to hold special talks with his Chinese counterpart. "I will be asking the Chinese minister how he plans to build on President Hu's speech and say exactly what they intend to do," he said. And then there is India. It emits just 5% of the world's carbon compared to China's 23%, but is still preparing to unveil a carbon scheme and a boost in investment for renewable energy. This point is seized on by Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who told the Observer that China and India could make an important contribution by putting their domestic policies into a global plan. "As far as large developing countries are concerned, I hope they come with their national action plans and put them on the table and say this is what we are planning to do. You cannot expect developing nations to reduce emissions. But you can ask them to deviate from business as usual." Such signs suggest all is not lost and that a global climate deal can be hammered out. The only issue is one of timing for it is certainly not clear it will be possible to resolve, in the next few weeks, the issues of setting up methods for financing the developing world to akoya pearl help it survive global warming, of setting ways to ensure these funds go on renewable energy technology and are not diverted illegally, of fixing specific limits for carbon reductions for every country, and for establishing schemes that would halt the continuing deforestation of the planet. Yes, it looks gloomy, but there is still hope, argues Miliband. "The most important commodity that we have is momentum," he said. "Things will go down to the last day at Copenhagen, I know. However, if we have to spend Christmas there, then we will." | ||
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