Prisoners of the War on Fat

Kerry Howley | November 20, 2007

At least one British woman can't quite make it past New Zealand's immigrant weigh stations:

A British man who moved to New Zealand has been told by officials that his wife is too fat to join him.

His wife, Rowan, 33, a photographer, has been battling for months to shed the pounds so they can be reunited and live Down Under but has so far been unable to overcome New Zealand’s weight regulations.

Robyn Toomath, a spokesman for Fight the Obesity Epidemic and an endocrinologist, said... she was opposed to obese people being stigmatised. "However, the immigration department’s focus is different," she said. "It cannot afford to import people into the country who are going to be a significant drain on our health resources."

Having lived and dined in Britain, I'm pretty sure the only way for Rowan to lose weight is to contract some sort of infectious disease. 

Elsewhere in Reason: Jacob Sullum on why it's time to lay off the fatties. 

Comments

|11.20.07 @ 12:10PM|#

Bah, I'll just pay for the blasted liposuction!

|11.20.07 @ 12:12PM|#

I thought that Britain was a great place to lose weight, as long as you kept "trying" to eat English "food". Though, Scotland might work out better in that regard.

If only they could chase away all those darn furrners with their edible food, their curries, their shawarma kabobs,....

DavidS|11.20.07 @ 12:20PM|#

"Having lived and dined in Britain, I'm pretty sure the only way for Rowan to lose weight is to contract some sort of infectious disease."

Bit rich coming from a resident (citizen?) of the world's fattest country.

VM|11.20.07 @ 12:21PM|#

ooh. DavidS with the Kelly Rippa!

betcha you thought Michael Bisping won both fights, too.

|11.20.07 @ 12:22PM|#

"However, the immigration department's focus is different," she said. "It cannot afford to import people into the country who are going to be a significant drain on our health resources."

Or you could not enact such a silly scheme and not feel compelled to pay for it.

Nah. Crazy talk.

Bit rich coming from a resident (citizen?) of the world's fattest country.

Yeah, it's a bitch to lose the spare tire around Arkansas.

|11.20.07 @ 12:23PM|#

It is by eating sandwiches in pubs on Saturday lunchtimes that the British seek to atone for whatever their national sins have been.

Episiarch|11.20.07 @ 12:30PM|#

I wonder if the fat chick hates smoking.

Joshua Holmes|11.20.07 @ 12:31PM|#

Bah, I'll just pay for the blasted liposuction!

Woo-hoo!

|11.20.07 @ 12:36PM|#

Won't the extra cost in health care be offset by the boon to the economy? I mean, this woman is a consumer.

Guy Montag|11.20.07 @ 12:37PM|#

Another step backward in the march toward solyent diesel, the natural and renewable fuel solution.

|11.20.07 @ 12:47PM|#

Guy,

Too late--some joker named William R. Simonson is already making it happen.

|11.20.07 @ 12:57PM|#

Now watch how many guys emigrate to New Zealand just to dump their fat wives.

Guy Montag|11.20.07 @ 1:01PM|#

PL,

I was talking about the fat supply, not the process, silly.

ed|11.20.07 @ 1:06PM|#

I wonder if they can or do ban burdensome smokers as well?

|11.20.07 @ 1:30PM|#

Guy,

I stand corrected. Still, while obesity is preferred, Soylent Oil can work with less robust sources.

Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|11.20.07 @ 1:36PM|#

Okay, in the previous thread, I meant barebacking everything but Rowan.

Thomas Paine\'s Goiter|11.20.07 @ 1:41PM|#

This is so much better than our immigration policy. Rather than keeping people out based on their place of origin, keep them out based on the size of their ass. This place would be so much better if we could get rid of fatties.

Oh man, skinny immigrant chicks. I'll be right back.

Guy Montag|11.20.07 @ 2:08PM|#

TPG,

Man aren't those skinny immigrant chicks hot! I now have to expand my immigration policy: skinny immigrant chicks only need apply.

Maybe the cost of women's interpritive dance theater will decline, with an increase in quality AND quantity as a result?

squarooticus|11.20.07 @ 2:33PM|#

Another step backward in the march toward solyent diesel, the natural and renewable fuel solution.

Professor Hubert Farnsworth: I'll have some Soylent Green, with Soylent Orange, followed by a side of Soylent coleslaw.
Leela: [whispering] It's the 20th century, Professor.
Professor Hubert Farnsworth: In that case, I'll have a croque monsieur, a paella, two mutton pills, and a stein of mead.
Leela: I'll have a small injection of Fem-a-slim.
Mildred: Two chili dogs comin' right up.

|11.20.07 @ 3:54PM|#

So, I figure that it's safe to assume that they also bar people with a BMI below 20 because they have increased health care costs, too.

Paul|11.20.07 @ 5:29PM|#

So like, I was going to RTFA, and I read these first words, and didn't read a word after. Everything that needs to be said about socialized medicine is summed up neatly right...effing...here:

Richie Trezise, 35, a rugby-playing Welshman, lost weight to gain entry to New Zealand after initially being rejected for being overweight and a potential burden on the health care system.

|11.20.07 @ 5:49PM|#

But....

Mr Trezise has private health care in New Zealand...

my emphasis.

So why is it any of the governments business?

poco|11.20.07 @ 6:28PM|#

So, I figure that it's safe to assume that they also bar people with a BMI below 20 because they have increased health care costs, too.

Possible.

It can work the other way. Australia, famously strict with its entrance requirements and literalist about BMIs, last year refused citizenship to a healthy British woman who wasn't heavy enough.

|11.20.07 @ 9:44PM|#

I'm not really surprised by this, other than it's coming from the Kiwis.*

Once you get far enough down the nanny state road, you are going to start dictating to people who refuse to conform.

*I'm surprised by it coming from the Kiwis because I'd always thought of them as rather independent sorts.