November 29, 2004
Every time I hear about another study that purportedly claims something is harmful or might cause injury or death I usually take it with a grain of salt (which is also bad for some people).
I am usually wise to wait.
There have been all kinds of scares over the years - from alar on apples, to coffee.
Further study has shown we often have nothing to fear, except the studies, themselves.
Now comes word the centers for disease control and prevention made a mistake when it recently called obesity an epidemic and second only to tobacco in causing needless deaths.
The Wall Street Journal examined the CDC documents that led them to make the claim about obesity.
The newspaper found the math was wrong and the figures inflated.
There's no question that too many of us are overweight and that we have poor dietary habits and don't exercise enough.
But the CDC was wrong when it said obesity and premature death is an epidemic.
Watch out for those studies in the future.
I'm Cal Thomas in Washington.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C. Watch his television show, After Hours with Cal Thomas, on the Fox News Channel, Saturdays at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
