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.
Common sense has shown to be a trait devoid in the thinking of Legislatures.
However, look at the bright side, WE vote them into office! ; )
All that extra animal fat causes heart problems that the tax payers have to pay for doncha know.
ping
Totalitarianism is being created before our very eyes, not in one large Leninist rush to build, but in a decades-long effort to slowly and inexorably regulate everything and define everyone's behavior. Strangely enough, I can go into a supermarket and come out with a sack of fresh fruits and veggies, bread, lean meat, and cheese, and not even purchase one item from the saturated fats and high calorie display cases. I'm a fool, though. I guess I still need protection from the evil machinations at Frito-Lay, though, so thanks again for looking out for me when I really can't do it myself!!! I think there's a line in a book that reminds of me of this whole experience!!! I love Big Brother!!! Although, since this article refers to Canada, I must add that I love Big Sister, too.
'LEGAL TAX ON LIBERALS TALKING AND WALKING AND BREATHING OUR AIR"
That should just about do it!
Now that they've finished with us smokers,......
Canada Ping!
Please FReepmail me to get on or off this Canada ping list.
Why not just tax people on their fat content? You know if you weigh 400 lbs and you should only weigh a max of 150 lbs then that amounts to 240 lbs of taxable fat, say $10 per pound. So if you continue to weigh 400 lbs it will cost you $2400 a year. But if you are trim and slim like I use to be, well you just get off light. I do not believe that taxable junk food will make a dent in reducing the numbers of fat people unless of course you also tax cheese,ice cream, cakes and pies,twinkies, fried chitlins and of course the list goes on and on.And don't forget that fat people are sneaks that munch on just about anything all day long. So I say hit them in the gut where counts and tax them on their extra fat. Support the FAT TAX.
Obese people drop dead of heart attacks in their thirties and forties while 9% body fat whiners live for years in old folks homes and hospitals. If you want cheaper insurance, there are group plans that you have to qualify for by taking physicals every year and maintaining certain health requirements. Shop around online before you come in here complaining about how the fat people are running up everyone's premiums.
Oh, I've shopped around. But not everyone has the luxury of shopping around, at least outside of shopping around for a new employer.
I work in a clinical setting. Let's just say that it's not unsual for me to see, oh, a patient who has had a quintuple bypass surgery, angioplasty on several occasions, who comes strolling into our office having with a blood pressure of 195/100. Do you think this patient is checking his blood sugar (a diabetic, of coure) or blood pressure? Well, maybe once a week if he gets around to it. Do you really think he's paying his fair share insurance premiums? Oh yeah, he had 2 donuts that morning for breakfast. And came in with a blood sugar of 220.
I see dozens of patients every day. About half of them are diabetics. I would say 2/3 are overweight.
This is an epidemic. No mistake about it. And warfarin, all those statins, etc... aren't cheap. Think is, with technology these days, these patients are living to be 65+ years old. Some die in their 50s. Very few in their 30s.
Take a look at the mile long list of medications these patients are taking, even in their early 40s, and tell me your premiums aren't going up as a result.
A Special Tax on Sociologists Needed in Fight Against Junk Science!
My father worked for Knudsen Creamery, the largest creamery in Los Angeles for 25 years. I myself worked for Adohr Farms for 3 years and Alpha Beta Grocery for 3 years. All their milk products were produced with fresh milk or dried milk products derived from fresh milk. All of their out-of-code products were sold to livestock farms or were disposed of. I have never heard of the practice of reprocessing out-of-code dairy products for resale. You have been misinformed.
1984, Book One, Chapter 2
"Parsons was Winston's fellow employee at the Ministry of Truth. He was a fattish but active man of paralyzing stupidity, a mass of imbecile enthusiasms—one of those completely unquestioning, devoted drudges on whom, more even than on the thought police, the stability of the Party depended." —pg 22
Coming true before our very eyes. ;)
What a nasty busybody!
But alas, they are not through with the smokers......still money to be made there.
They've already started here, and with similar comments by the nasty busybodies!!!!
Not on our watch!
:-)
Oh, just forget the tax credits. Let's just give all of our money to the gov't, and they can give us food rations (calorie controlled, of course) and medical care.
And GPS implants, so they can make sure we're all walking our required distance each day.
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