Take obese children from parents, say doctors

A number of papers report on a motion to be debated at the British Medical Association’s annual conference later this month which will call for overfeeding to be considered a form of parental neglect or abuse. 

A BBC investigation which questioned 50 consultant paediatricians yesterday revealed the role played by obesity in at least 20 child protection cases involving social services in the past 12 months. 

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health do not support the conference motion and say: “Obesity is a public health problem, not a child protection issue.”

(Telegraph p4, Nicole Martin; Mail p10; Express p21; Mirror p33; Sun p16)