Brits Plotting Battle of Bulge on Plumpies

Two sobering reports have frantic Brits casting about for ways to combat their obesity epidemic, reports the Christian Science Monitor. England is the fattest country in Europe and half of its population could be obese by 2050, the reports warn. Now the country is looking into everything from regulating junk food to requiring workplaces to provide daily exercise hours.

If the obesity rate becomes as bad as expected in 2050, the problem could cost England an estimated $90 billion a year. Experts attribute much of the problem to few opportunities for exercise combined with easy access to the worst kinds of food. Britain's health secretary warned that obesity could develop into a crisis "on the scale of climate change." (More obesity epidemic stories.)