Wednesday 19 September 2012

The zealots get their teeth into food

Last week, New York City passed the ban on large sodas.

And now, this week...

Plain packaging for junk food? Health experts call for govt intervention

Australia should consider a healthy food rebate, tax on sugary drinks, and regulated portion sizes argue health experts, as New York pushes ahead with government regulation to address the obesity epidemic.

They don't skip a beat, these folks.

The New York City health commissioner behind a proposed cap on the container size of sugary soft drinks has argued government regulation of portion sizes is justifiable and could help fight America’s obesity problem.

Writing in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr Thomas Farley writes governments that do nothing about the marketing of high-calorie sugary drinks are inviting even higher rates of obesity, diabetes and related mortality.

Naturally, this has gone down very well in the Australian super-nanny state, where the vast public health industry is doubtless hoping to "lead the way" once more.

The food and drinks industry is using the same tactics as the tobacco and alcohol industry argues Rob Moodie, professor of global health at University of Melbourne.

Boom! Straight in there with the argumentum ad tobacco.

Professor Moodie said saturated advertising to Australia’s children and sponsorship of key sports created a culture where eating junk food and drinking junk drinks was the norm.

Then I guess we need to denormalise it? Seriously, is there any industry that is fit to sponsor sports events according to these zealots?

Professor Loff said stemming the tide of disciplines dedicated to the marketing of food was a huge ask, but controlling the portion size of sugary drinks was a good start.

But only a start, obviously.

She added that it took 60 years, and a decision by the government to ignore its own guidelines for regulating, to see the plain packaging crackdown on the tobacco industry.

I have no doubt that it will take a fraction of that time to put food in plain packaging (after all, kids are helpless in the face of corporate brands—won't someone think of the children?)

It never ends. In fact, it's barely begun.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So the march of the Australian totalitarian regime marches on.

What was it that the weasel Simon Chapman was saying about "The unslipperiest slippery slope" recently? Either he's both blind and deaf, or he's a barefaced liar. Or, most likely, both.