"It makes sense. A lot of children probably don't even know what obese means." You would think it would be a good idea to educate them then. Hence this whole exercise (is this word okay to use as I mean it in a different context?).

Nathan, Watford, UK

Gosh, I just can"t figure out why the term "obese " is a turn off, and "very over weight" an acceptable norm for chubby, bumpy kids. Literary speaking "obese" is an euphemism,and "very over weight" a superlative adjective to qualify a body mass index.Let kids be as kids, and not brand them as items

sandy, New Delhi, India

It makes sense. A lot of children probably don't even know what obese means. What doesn't make sense is using BMI in the first place. It can class people as obese when they have a low body fat but high muscle mass.

Tony, Islington, London, UK

Let's ban any negative words that might upset anyone for any reason. For god's sake, if children are obese or fat then we must be able to say so for their good. The same for me If i'm gaining weight. We really have become a nationed weakened by political correctness and we deserve our fate.

Peter , London, UK

Does this Government have any idea how ridiculous they are becoming? Fat chance!

Dennis Eagan, Colorado Springs, US

valid point. i had to listen to a top doctor telling my son age 11 that he was obese and he was emotionally traumatised by this. fact is he has spent 8 years on high dose steroids and this affects weight and mental health. children DO need protecting and he should not have had to hear that.

rach, luton ,

Another brilliant crack at political correctness, yes lets wrap kids in wool even more. Yes, lets create another term to describe a problem and sweeten it up. Just give people the truth, if the kids are obese say it instead of beating around the bush of “we need to cuddle them on everything”.

mike, Bristol,

Should we rely on the State to tell us when our children are too fat? Why not. We are such a mollycoddled lot, we look to the government to provide our every need and hold them to account when they don't deliver

Frank Greaney, Liverpool,

That's fine then , we'll just call them Fat !
Most fat kids are victims of their mothers weakness, who generally seems to be overweight, the kids don't stand a chance with them as role models.

maggie millington, brittany, france

Sorry, but if a child is obese, say so. Parents amy not like the term, but it's hard hitting. 'Very overweight' does not have the same health warning urgency. Also kids will be cruel to each other whether they are aware of results or not. They can see when someone is fat.

L Haines, Kingston, Canada

Does this mean we shouldn't call NULABOUR a government?

dave, chorley,

This is ridiculous! Why don't the people who decide these things realize that the rest of us think they are stupid?

Mike, Manchester,

"They are not stupid just obese."

Sadly, Lloyd, stupidity and obseity tend to go hand in (pudgy) hand!

Max, London,

They' are Tiptoeing Through the Tulips

Ian, Bristol, UK

I would question the supposition that parents and children do not know that they are overweight, which makes this issue irrelevant.

**Ask a fat school-aged child if they have any problems at school.**

Pointing the finger of blame stigmatises children and parents, but the issue is universal.

Anon, Brighton, United Kingdom

If the medical profession hadn't devalued the word "obese" by directing it to everyone a few kilos overweight, it would have retained its shock-value. Overweight is a perfectly reasonable word and gets the message across.

At least something is being done. Let's not get hung-up on the wording.

Rick Worth, Rochester, UK

Will fines be imposed for use of the word?

Unbelievable news - but hardly surprising of this Govt.

tom, leicester,

why not - they are - same as some kids are thin and some are tall. simple answer.

hugo, london,

Political correctness gone mad.

Kate, London,

Phil and Mandy are right about 1984 - but I'm surprised that they don't point out that Orwell's real name was (Eric) Blair. Keeping it in the family?

Mal, Edinburgh,

Obesity is a medical condition.The children themselves are not to be blamed. A serious situation certainly! Whatever it's called, the children know;and hear various names tossed their way! Children are not dumb!Talk to them first! At times children need outside intervention!

Michael Sullivan, Toronto, Canada

I live in America where supposedly everybody is fat and sedentary. That's not really the case, but there certainly are obese children, and I feel so bad for them when I see them walking home from school. By definition, many of them are obese, and this word needs to be used to shame their parents.

Eric, Laguna Niguel, CA, USA

I think any parent that lets their child become "obese" should be charged with neglect.Also any health concerns relating to being "obese" should be charged at a premium by the NHS."Obesity" is not a disease (except in a very few cases) but a way of life.

Dave, London, UK

Wait wait wait, they will not show the children the results so that they are not stigmatised by others? I think kids, the most unwittingly insensitive people, already stigmatise obese kids, regardless of what the school's measurements say! What a silly thing to say.

Eric, Laguna Niguel, CA, USA

Do we elect people to tell us how to bring up our kids? Is the standard of education in UK so poor that people cannot understand that there are two reasons for so-called fatness: genes or overeating possibly combined with little exercise? Education, education, education. Ring any bells?

Mike , Copenhagen,

Let's be honest; there are a load of kids... and adults who are obese, gross, fat, and they need to take exercise.

It doesn't matter if the DofH calls them overwieght, pound challenged or oak trees. They're FAT and they need DIETS and EXERCISE.

End of.

tris, dundee, Scotland

"Euphamism" is not just a British disease but clearly Incurable...! It is simply another kind of pussyfooting, which, in one form or another, there's no doubt the English do best...! If only they'd made it an Olympic sport maybe the Brits could look forward to at least one gold in Beijing...!!!

John Jay, Walton on Thames, UK

Of course it's a turn-off. It's not meant to be flattering.
But neither is it a perjorative term to be banned.

Sean, Surrey, UK

Is ludicrous to ban the word Obese, but its equally disturbing that the dept of health see BMI as the best way to calculate healthy weight. BMI is simplistic at best and takes no account of actual Body Mass relying on height and weight but ignoring the physical build.

Chris, Glasgow,

Anne, who puts the food in their mouths? Why do you treat children with such contempt, they know if they are FAT or OBESE. They are not stupid just obese.

Lloyd, London,

What is wrong with "FAT"?

S. Barraclough, Huddersfield, W. Yorkshire

Do these jobsworths in the Department of Health actually have anything productive to do? It is now going beyond Orwell's 'Thought Police' to 'Word Police.' Does anyone else find this mind manipulation quite disturbing.

mandy , Tonbridge,

George Orwell's "1984" was out by 13 years. The "New Labour Dictionary " will no doubt omit unhelpful words like; spin, sleaze, incompetence; and confusing terms like 'dodgy dossier', 'mass immigration', 'stealth tax', 'lost data', 'grade inflation', 'early release' and 'surveillance society'

Phil, Epsom, England

A major difficulty is that many obese adults provide themselves with coping mechanisms to deny that weight is a problem. The TV encourages this telling them to give up trying to lose weight and love themselves as they are. I don't want people to hate themselves, but they need to take responsibility.

Andre Harris, St Albans, Herts

Some other words the government might like to ban;

Recession

Opinion Poll

Referendum

NHS Database

Violent Crime

Cash for Honours

10p tax

Conservative Party

Etc

Simon, london,

Hey Government, ban the words "size zero" and "anorexic". They are such turn-offs. Instead use "very slim" and "not so hungry", eh?!?!

Sid, London,

This makes my eyes roll and my blood boil. Our kids are so fat because they have been over-indulged and our response to that is to further coddle them with euphemisms which hide the alarming truth. We need to shock them out of their fat, rather than kill them with kindness. And "exercise"? I give up

Guy, London,

Fat kids almost invariably have fat parents - you need only look at the overloaded supermarket trolleys to see the heaps of crisps and packs of cola that form the bulk of the family diet. Perhaps the government should outlaw burgers, pizzas, biscuits, chocolate and bottles of pop.

RJR, Malvern.

Robert J. Rice, Malvern, UK

Preposterous! Does this mean that the government have reduced childhood obesity to 0% overnight!? I think we should have a BMI Tax - £300 for every point over. That'll get them sweating...oh no, wait...

Stew, Harrogate, UK

Since when was it the job of governments to make this kind of decision?

Colin, shrewsbury,

Kenny, how can you say over weight children have inflicted this on themselves? Are these children doing the weekly shop? Are these children cooking the food and filling their plates? No they're parents are. Do people actually no longer have the slighest care about childrens feelings?

Anne, Nottingham,

I get it!
Why use one word to describe something, when TWO words means the same thing?
Brilliant! Ooops that's one word..Of course I meant to say.. "Absolutely wonderfull".

Ian, Madison, USA

Good grief - Lets ban "obese" to cover up the fact that our childres are too fat because they don't exercise. Why don't they exercise? because all the playing fields were sold off and children have no where to go and stop being fat. Brilliant!

Kersty, Leeds,

How about 'abdominally challenged'?

Paul, Coventry,

Can we ban the use of the word 'ban'? News headlines love to allege that such-and-such a word/thing has been 'banned' but when you read the body of the article, no such thing has happened. I await feverish tabloid chuntering 'you can't call people obese now, it's PC gone mad, oh why oh why etc..'

Bob Samms, Warwick , UK

Call them what they are. Fat lardies. Its not a disease it is self inflicted, they usually have fat parents, and fat grandparents. Shame them not patronize them.

kenny, hove,

No reality will ever be countenanced by New Labour. It must be subjected to Stalinist NewSpeak. Thus when speaking of New Labour we do not say 'a total failure of policies and management', we say 'the Government is listening, and must enhance its ability to get things right'.

Paul Freeman, London, England

Why don't they use "fat"?

Sarah, London,

I wonder how long it took the Government to come up with that?

"Now come on guys, we can't use the word 'obese' anymore, what shall we use instead?"

[Hours Pass]

"What about 'Very Overweight"?

"Great, that'll help them to exercise!"

"'Exercise'?!?!? Wash your mouth out Cavendish!"

Andrew, Swansea,

Keeping children healthy will pay dividends in the long run and save the NHS alot of money in the future.

geert, Cape Town, South Africa

A preposterous misuse of the very idea of "Government" and social contract -- the obsessive insistence to control everything and anything. As for parents who don't see on their own that their children are obese, well, most likely they are "very overweight" themselves.

Jason Masson, Geneva, CH

Political correctness gone made!! What is wrong with using the right term? Parents should be grateful if the Government tells them the truth, but above all the Government should help them and their "very overweight" children.

Andrea, Palermo, Italy

More politically correct clap-trap. Parents of obese children need to be told the truth - not euphamisms to save their feelings. Exercise isn't a dirty word. How many of the underclass (where many obese parents & children are to be found) understand what is meant by physically active.

Donna Walker, Effingham, England

You couldn't make it up!

Tom, huddersfield, England

Smile ... shake my head .... "obese" and "exercise" are banned words? A turn-off? These should be used - for the sake of saving a life. JC! Juggling the PC language is becoming real silly. How about simple English? Maybe use "Too fat" for the required effects. Daffodils and tip-toeing, indeed!

Jay, Shanghai,

What's the point of this? The while idea is to give a short sharp shock, and the only way to do that is to tell it as it is.

Anne, Birmingham,

I am delighted that obesity has been banned by the Department of Health. All you Civil Service Departments take note ! No more obese departments overful with bureaucrats earning fat pensions and salaries at the tax payers expense.

Steve, London, UK