Utah film links childhood obesity to the NCLB law

Could No Child Left Behind be making kids fat?

According to a documentary directed by former Brigham Young University film student Steven Greenstreet, the way schools have reacted to the federal law contributes to a national childhood obesity epidemic. So do a lot of other factors that play out on the schools' stages.

Greenstreet, director of the award-winning documentary "This Divided State," about filmmaker Michael Moore's 2004 visit to Utah Valley State College, is putting the finishing touches on the film, "Killer at Large," produced by ShineBox Media Productions in Salt Lake City. The film, which Greenstreet plans to submit to 30 festivals, explores childhood obesity in America.

A dozen schoolteachers interviewed for the film said the federal No Child Left Behind policy is part of the problem, Greenstreet said. Vending machine junk food, what some call lax USDA school lunch standards, overpriced produce also are fingered as contributors, among a slew of other factors.

Utah health and education leaders tend to agree.

"We're finding that with increased pressure to perform well on academic tests there is actually less emphasis, according to reports from teachers, on physical education and health-related topics, primarily at elementary school," said Frank Wojtech, physical education director for the State Department of Education. "I think the health of children is the most important goal of the schools, especially when we're looking at the epidemic of obesity and Type II diabetes and all the psychological problems that come with being obese at a young age."

More than 22 percent of elementary school students were overweight or at risk of being overweight in 2006, according to the Utah Department of Health. Obesity and related illnesses kill more than 100,000 Americans a year and cost taxpayers $117 billion in 2002 alone, states the film, citing the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Obesity could lead to crises in health care and national security, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona says at the film's onset.

"I don't think people know the half of the immensity of the problem," Greenstreet said in a Wednesday interview with the Deseret Morning News.

"Killer at Large" aims to change that.

The film opens with a 12-year-old girl undergoing a liposuction, interviews and speeches from across the country that range from former President Bill Clinton to the author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma," teachers to clergy.