News.Scotland.Org

Once again Scotland is making news in the global scenario, this time the issue is very fat, the beautiful and historic place has been declared the second largest most overweight nation after United States. The study conducted points that, out of every four Scottish adult one is victim of obesity.

This fact has raised a serious concern which needs to be addressed or else this obesity will result to a big public health problem in coming days. The statistics released by the Scottish Public Health Observatory (SPHO) suggest that obesity graph is scaling high day by day in Scotland. It points out that since 1995 obesity has rose to 46 percent in the adult population. In case of children every one in five children is said to be obese in the year 2004-05. This problem is also costing Scotland ₤171 million each year. Obesity is also leading people to many other serious health problems.

Scotland population follows an in-active lifestyle, along with that Scots prefer more junk, fatty and high-calorie foods. This eating habit is adding to their woes making them more fat. Even Scotland races first in comparison with other neighboring nations where this problem is rare.

The principal research officer for the SPHO programme, Ian Grant said the ways to tackle this problem is very scant. He further adds, “over the last ten years, the problem has been increasing and there is nothing to suggest from these figures that the problem will reduce in the next few years,” he said. “What we have to do is look at the factors that are responsible and if some of these things don’t improve, then I would imagine the problem of obesity will increase.”

One of the spokeswomen for the British Medical Association suggested that, the best way to tackle this epidemic is to control this problem from its roots. She said its very essential to educate children about healthy eating habits. Another thing is to make nutritious food cheaper so that all can afford that. She added that “This is not just a health problem. It is a problem that has to be tackled as a social issue. If we act now, we can save the next generation.”

The clinical director for the National Obesity forum says the figures are shocking and hints that UK is following the American trends. He said the eating culture has to be transformed to curb this menace. The public health minister, Shona Robinson also states serious concern over the increase in childhood obesity percent and thinks sudden actions is required before the situation becomes adverse.

This study results an alarm for all Scottish gourmets who prefer having junk food and high calorie diet. Now its on the side of the government and people how they cope up with this growing threat in near future before its become an epidemic.

Summary of the report is available at SPHO Scotland
Full Report on Obesity in Scotland (from Scotland.org.uk server)

October, 4

In order to curb the growing wildlife crimes in Scotland, the Inspector of Prosecution in Scotland will look thoroughly all aspects of the cases relating to animal crimes. In an eye-raising statistics released by government about 141 wildlife crimes were reported during 2002-03 compared to sudden high, 275 cases in 2006-07. These figures are a matter of concern for the government which has to be checked soon.

According to the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA), these figures are just one side of this brutal crime. The actual figures are far higher which goes un-noticed. As per the figures of SSPCA about 600 cases of animal cruelty and needless slaughter has been traced. One of the spokeswoman of SSPCA said the scale of such crime is wide and is keeping on expanding with time, so sudden measures is the need of the hour.

Further adding she said the area of such wildlife crimes is vast and it covers every single harm one does to these innocent creatures. It could be deer attack, bird poisoning, frog torture, traps injuring animals, and many other. The rate of such crimes have risen steadily in recent years, the bird crimes, poaching and salmon fishing have gone up immensely.

In the spur of such crimes now some rarest animal crime rates have also marched up, the badger baiting was an alien crime few years back. But now this crime has been reported frequently in last year. Above all that the slaughter of Scotland’s birds of prey is at a high level in past twenty years. Such brutal acts done to animals have triggered an alarm for the authorities to take some steps to combat this injustice done to wildlife.

The main reason for the increase in such crimes at a gradual pace is the poor conviction rate for these crimes. It is noticed that only around 1.4 percent of bird poisonings cases end in a conviction. It is heard that in order to check such crimes the inspectorate is looking to come up with a raft of recommendations to give a push to the conviction rates. Meanwhile the police officials stated that the reason behind lack of such crimes ending in conviction is due to the deficiency of appropriate evidences backing up the conviction.

Taking a step forward to curb these crimes, the Crown office has taken measures to tackle the situation, by introducing prosecutors to upgrade the way these crimes are handled. Even the police have been given extra power to detain any suspect they find in wildlife crimes under the Nature Conservation Act 2004.

The drawback of these cases is the way people are caught, and then released so easily even on serious crimes. This itself point out the fact why only a few gets the actual punishments for such inhuman acts. Ethically for killing birds of prey there is a punishment of six months in jail and a fine of £10,000. But still the crime rates are not slowing down, it seems people have taken these wildlife crimes for granted. Now this issue is taking shape into a serious concern which needs a sudden check or else the day is not far when Scotland’s vast wildlife heritage will be left only in history books and museums.