Holy cow. Unbelievable that they are looking to start prescribing statins for kids when there's not even any real info as to what the effects might be. I agree that there's a huge (no pun intended) problem as far as childhood obesity and that it may not be a bad idea, in light of the situation, to look at cholesterol levels in kids if they're overweight or have a family history of cholesterol problems. That said, the way to fix this isn't to push the "quick fix" of medications that have side effects and may affect growing children differently than adults. Parents need to take responsibility for making sure they and their children eat a healthy diet (occasional treats are OK, sitting in front of the TV eating Twinkies every day isn't) and get sufficient exercise, and health professionals need to give them information and support to do so. Pretty simple, but unfortunately not so easy in our society. However, it needs to happen in order to keep kids healthy.