We all know biking and walking are FUN. But they're also a key in combating obesity, as 53 European health ministers noted last week, in adopting a charter calling on governments to provide bicycle priority streets and safe routes to school.

From the Associated Press article:

"European health ministers from 53 countries approved the world's first charter to fight obesity on Thursday…. It is the first real attempt to compel national authorities to take concrete action to combat obesity…. The charter commits governments to things like improving the availability of healthy foods and adopting regulations for safer roads to promote cycling and walking."

The complete 5-page anti-obesity charter. The language about regulations for safer roads to promote cycling and walking are in section 2.4.6, 2.4.9, and 2.4.11.

The Charter also calls for Bicycle Priority Routes (a related concept to bicycle boulevards) and safe routes to school (my bolding):

"When designing and implementing policies, successful interventions with demonstrated effectiveness need to be used. These include projects with proven impact on the consumption of healthier foods and levels of physical activity such as: schemes to offer people free fruit at school; affordable pricing for healthier foods; increasing access to healthier foods at workplaces and in areas of socioeconomic deprivation; establishing bicycle priority routes; encouraging children to walk to school; improving street lighting; promoting stair use; and reducing television viewing. There is also evidence that many interventions against obesity, such as school programmes and active transport, are highly cost-effective."

Note: I was surprised to think that there were 53 European health ministers. This website claims there are only 47 European countries. I'll leave it to you to figure it all out.

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