"Next, they'll be putting a parking meter on my couch."
Posted on 02/26/2006 11:51:35 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
MONTREAL (CP) - It may take a special tax to help fight what one Canadian sociologist calls the "obesogenic food environment" - the junk food that's prominently displayed in supermarkets and schools.
Anthony Winson of the University of Guelph said high-sugar and high-fat products are "aggressively promoted" every week in grocery stores.
"You can have maybe 20 special displays in a supermarket that are around every corner promoting types of high-sugar, high-fat products, whether they be candy bars or soft drinks," Winson said in an interview.
He said the displays are advantageous for retailers because they bring in extra revenue.
"If you look at the trade magazines of the industry, they claim that high-sugar, high-fat products are typically among the most lucrative in the supermarket...they get the highest returns," Winson said at a recent food conference sponsored by the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada.
"And the corporations that are promoting these products are extremely powerful in the food system."
Winson defines the "obesogenic food environment" as the penetration of supermarkets and schools with junk food.
He suggested a tax on low-nutrition food products might help "because the price for society in the long run is going to be extremely high."
"A lot of this is nothing new. We've done it with tobacco. We can do it with junk foods and low nutrition foods," Winson said.
He suggested the tax revenues could be put into promoting healthy eating.
Nick Jennery, president of the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, defended the promotions and said supermarkets are not in the health-regulation business.
"We're in the business of giving consumers choice, and if you walk into pretty much any grocery store, you will see a lot of choice, whether it's low fat or low sugar or fresh product," Jennery said.
He said there is more fresh product on the floors of supermarkets than there has ever been "in the entire Canadian grocery history."
"We are not going to tell consumers what they should and should not eat," Jennery said.
"It's the consumer who has to make choices, not the grocery store," he said.
Winson said he conducted a survey of supermarkets in the Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph area of southwestern Ontario.
He said the survey found that "something in the range of 30 per cent of shelf space ... is devoted to high-fat, high-sugar products."
"The latest innovation of supermarkets are massive displays of ice-cream products, both high sugar and high fat," Winson added.
Mary Bush, head of Health Canada's Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, was non-committal when asked if the federal government should intervene and adopt legislation - especially when it comes to junk food advertising aimed at children.
"I think we need to understand better the issue.
"One doesn't take those kinds of measures until you have a good understanding of what the issue is and it's influence," Bush said.
Winson also complained about vending machines in schools.
He pointed out that high schools get much-needed revenues from junk food and he blames governments for putting them in that position.
Hey! Since we're defending smokers and bar businesses and Wal-Mart, let's defend the "obesogenic food environment" while we're at it too, LOL!
You know, I probably haven't purchased that junk food in a grocery store in a decade.
Obesity=lack of self control and discipline for 99.8% of the population.
Obesity = None of your business if you are not paying my bills.
We should have a special tax on newspapers and magazines that publish stupid Leftwing propaganda. It's hurting our society. Let's do it for the children!
liberal view of anything............tax it
How about a special tax on people who engage in unprotected sex? They sure cost society!
Zoykes. Pitchforks and torches? Liberals and Peaceniks are a'skeerd of touching guns, aren't they? *Smirk*
So, are people supposed to be responsible for ANYTHING in their lives?
Eh, it's definitely a public health concern and fact of the matter is that we generally are paying for the obese's bills in our healthcare premiums. It's going to get very interesting in the next few decades as even more diabetics make themselves onto the scene with all of the associated health complications. If you think insurance is expensive now, give it 20 years. We're definitely going to be paying the bills of the obese, whether directly or indirectly. Obesity is a tax on the healthcare system.
Man, you'd think taxes were the cure all for every ill in society since that's the govt answer to every health problem.
So my question is, when can we expect the tax on the gay lifestyle to cover the cost to society of AIDS? Waiting.
Not so in Canada. Since you are fat, your health problems are paid for by the communists taxpayer, so they have every right to tell you what to eat, and force you to get some excersize. Of course, like the Canadian tax on cigarettes, which now cost $11.50 a pack of 25, none of that money ever seems to find it's way into the healthcare system.
Smokers, who themselves pay the entire cost of the Canadian health care system, and should get royal service, be first in line etc. are still discriminated against, and get shoved to the back of the line. Soon they will have fat people to talk to.
A Special Tax on Academia Needed in Fight Against Legalized Prohabition (American Citizen)
More of the mentality of using taxes as punishment... which we on the Right have claimed for years -- at least it's becoming overt.
I have a better idea: DON'T EAT SO MUCH!
We've done it with tobacco. We can do it with junk foods and low nutrition foods,"
So then who determines what is non-junk food and food that is high in nutrition? This is government gone insane!
We should put a special 75% tax on left-wingers.
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