WASHINGTON (Reuters) - That fast-food burger, monster take-out sandwich or bag of nutritional nothing you got from the vending machine at work does more than make you sluggish after lunch.

It's probably making your company less productive.

The global cost amounts to billions of dollars a year in lost productivity, considering that a diet loaded with fat and sugar puts workers at risk for diabetes and obesity-related illnesses, said Christopher Wanjek, who wrote the book on food in the workplace.

Obesity accounts for as much as 7 percent of total health costs in industrialized countries, Wanjek reported in "Food at Work," a review commissioned by the United Nations' International Labor Office.

Fat workers are twice as likely as fit workers to miss work. In the United States, the total cost attributable to obesity was $99.2 billion in 1995, Wanjek wrote.

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Organic agriculture is expanding in both the European Union and the U.S., but the way the two governments interact with the organic industry couldn’t be more different.

That's the finding in a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service.

In a February article in the Amber Waves online magazine, the USDA compares the free market organic model in the U.S. with the statesupported design of Europe.

The article, written by Carolyn Dimitri and Lydia Oberholtzer, noted that the value of organic food sales in the two regions is similar - about $10 billion for the U.S. and $13 billion for Europe.

However, the 15-member European Union has more organic farmland and smaller farms than the U.S., the article said.

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The U. S. is now approaching 80,000 chemicals in active production. Over 3,000 chemicals are put into the food we eat and over 10,000 solvents, emulsifiers, and preservatives are used in food preparation. The vast majority of these chemicals have not been adequately tested for their impacts on human health or their particular impacts on children and the developing fetus.

There are no tests to assess the combined impacts of the 'chemical soup' we are all exposed too. Children are exposed to hazardous chemicals through residues in their food, indoor and outdoor air pollution, and through household products and contaminated house dust.

Recent research has shown that if exposures occur during critical times ('developmental windows') in the life of the fetus or young child, these can contribute to health problems much later in life. For example, early exposure to endocrine disrupters can affect an individual's immune function, his or her neurological systems, or ability to reproduce. Exposure to heavy metals in early childhood may produce life long learning disabilities, among numerous other negative health effects.

Children are not simply 'little adults'. Their bodies are still developing and their detoxification systems are immature. They react to hazardous chemicals differently from adults. They are also more at risk because they eat and drink more per body weight, they live life closer to the ground, crawling, digging in dirt and putting objects in their mouths. Being unaware of the risks, children are less able to protect themselves from exposures.

The U.S. government's own research shows that 610,00 children between 1-5 years old eat a daily dose of pesticides that exceeds government safety standards.

Childhood Obesity
In 1999, 13% of children aged 6 to 11 years and 14% of adolescents aged 12 to 19 years in the United States were overweight. This prevalence has nearly tripled for adolescents in the past 2 decades.

Risk factors for heart disease, such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure, occur with increased frequency in overweight children and adolescents compared to children with a healthy weight. Type 2 diabetes, previously considered an adult disease, has increased dramatically in children and adolescents. Overweight and obesity are closely linked to type 2 diabetes. Overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese adults. This increases to 80% if one or more parent is overweight or obese. Overweight or obese adults are at risk for a number of health problems including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and some forms of cancer.

The most immediate consequence of overweight as perceived by the children themselves is social discrimination. This is associated with poor self-esteem and depression.

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