If you are a Boy Scout with a BMI of 32 or higher you will not be allowed to participate in The National Boy Scouts Jamboree unless you submit health information and are individually cleared for participation. Boys with a BMI of 39 or higher are barred from participation in the ten-day camp-out. The reason? Dan McCarthy, director of the BSA’s Summit Group, told the Associated Press this years summit is the most physically demanding since 1937; activities range from mountain biking and rock climbing to scuba diving and a water obstacle course, all strenuous exercises that require physical fitness.
The Council on Size and Weight Discrimination has fired back stating: “BMI measurements are not always accurate proxies for a person’s general health, they say. There are boy scouts who are heavier than average but extremely fit and capable of strenuous physical activity. At the same time, it is patently absurd to assume that just because a boy is thin, that means he is capable of a three-mile hike up a mountain,”