'Obesity is an international scourge?, said Prof. Paul Zimmet, the chairman of the meeting of more than 2500 experts and health officials, told delegates in a speech opening at the International Congress on Obesity. ?This insidious, creeping pandemic of obesity is now engulfing the entire world?.

?It's as big of a threat as global warming and bird flu?, said Zimmet, an Australian expert on diabetes.

Other experts at the conference said the cost of treating health problems related to being overweight was immeasurable on a global scale, but was estimated at billions of dollars a year in countries such as Australia, Great Britain, and the United States.

?we are not dealing with a scientific or medical problem, we're dealing with an enormous economic problem that, already accepted, is going to overwhelm every medical system in the world?, said Prof. Philip James, the chairman of a global task force set up by medical organizations that deal with weight-related problems.

He said governments had been forced to confront rising obesity rates because of the expense of treating related health issues.

Among the most worrying problems is skyrocketing rates of obesity among children, which made them much more prone to chronic diseases as they grow older and could shave years off their lives, experts said.

The children in this generation may be the first in history to die before their parents because of health problems related to weight, Prof. Kate Steinbeck, an expert in children's health at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, said in a statement.

The World Health Organization says more than one billion adults around the world are overweight and 300 million of them are obese, putting them at much higher risk of diseases such as diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure, stroke, and some forms of cancer.

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