Environmental health-moving up the agenda, is the theme of this year's CIEH annual conference to be held in Torquay from 14 to 16 September.

This month's issue offers those of you heading for the English Riviera background information on the main subject areas up for discussion. For those not attending conference, EHJ provides a snapshot of the main challenges facing the profession at present.

No one can have escaped the fever pitch of concern over obesity and the ever-more alarming predictions of a public health Armageddon that faces us if we fail to address issues around diet-related disease now. Unusually for public health, the debate is tending to take place in the press while government plays catch-up in an attempt to put together a strategy that will defuse this ticking time bomb. Conference this year will be looking at food and health action plans with speakers from the East Midlands, where the first regional public health strategy was produced, the Department of Health and the campaign group Sustain. Our story reveals disquiet among public health campaign groups about how effectively the government is responding to this critical public health issue and asks whether we should not be looking to the devolved governments for inspiration.

Smoking, of course, is very much on the political agenda with government still undecided whether to grasp the nettle and go for a national ban or encourage a tapestry of regional bans. This debate is likely to take centre stage at Torquay with delegates hearing from Colm Smyth, chair of the Environmental Health Officers Association in the Republic of Ireland, the first European country to introduce a national smoking ban. Our story this month advocates following the example set by Ireland.

Sustainable development is increasingly running through most things the profession is involved with and unsurprisingly one of the first conference sessions looks at where we are at in achieving a sustainable future. EHJ this month has taken a sideways look at the subject as we consider how much economics influences the possibility of achieving a sustainable future for our communities. John Corkey, environmental health manager at Belfast Council, argues that by ignoring issues around economic sustainability we run the risk of failing future generations.

And finally, one of the key sessions at conference will investigate how the evolution of local and regional government is impacting on the profession and its ability to provide our communities with the sort of public health protection that they deserve. EHJ this month looks at the work being done by the CIEH's President's Commission to make sure the profession benefits from these changes in governance.

For all of you going to Torquay, have a fruitful and stimulating conference.

Stuart Spear
Editor