“Where something has gone awry is in prevention of diseases,” he said. “The (United States) has a very high incidence of chronic disease, though we seem to treat them very well once they occur. We’re not preventing some diseases as effectively as many of our peers.”
The report notes that smoking and obesity are “products of broad social and economic context,” in the United States, including residences and workplaces that encourage driving, levels of affluence that support large numbers of automobiles, low gasoline taxes and a climate and soil in part of the country that is conducive to growing tobacco.
