planes now need more fuel to go the same distance with the same amount of people

A dramatic proposal put forward by Doctor John Tickell an Australian expert of nutrition and dieting says that obese people should be made to pay extra in a “fat tax” to cover the expense of carrying their extra weight when they go on a plane. The idea is that a threshold weight would be set and anybody who was over that weight would have to pay excess charges in the same way that people pay excess charges when they have extra weight in their suitcases.

The number of very overweight and obese people in Australia has grown over the last ten years and with the price of aviation fuel at an all time high the price of flying is going up. Airlines now say that the average weight of all the passengers is definitely more than it was say twenty years ago and that as a result planes now need more fuel to cover the same distance with the same amount of passengers.

Some people argue that they have to pay extra for carrying extra weight in their suitcases so why shouldn’t overweight people have to pay extra for carrying extra weight on their bodies. Dr. Tickell claims that once he flew and was charged an extra $100 to check in his golf clubs however an obese person who weighed more than him and his golf clubs together did not have to pay anything extra.

Needless to say not everybody agrees with this proposal put forward in Australia and many people say that it is not fair to discriminate financially against people who suffer from weight problems.  It is already known that obese people already pay more for their weight problem as they tend to be less productive and more likely to be needing to medical attention just to mention a couple of things.

The whole issue comes down to one thing which is whether obesity is an illness from which people are unable to cure themselves or whether it is a way of life that these people choose or can’t be bothered to do anything about. At Ukmedix News we believe that you cannot make general sweeping statements about obesity as each person’s individual case is different and needs to be examined from that point of view.