Obesity??? Taxation???.....
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.
To a liberal there is nothing that a good tax won't cure.
Which is proof that there's WAY too much government interference in our lives right now! The proper response would be to tar and feather the politicians and activists.
Mark
Actually, it's a defense of everyone's freedom to choose for themselves without some government "I know better than you" agency mandating what we may and may not do from cradle to grave.
Seems to me, if I remember history, that was one of the reasons for this nations founding, to let the people make their own choices individually.
Not even 300 years and we are rapidly returning to what our founders rebelled against. (all in the name of Public Health, of course)
It's all just a symptom of the problem.
I agree! Busybodies.
Busybodies and prostitutes, the bane of women every where!
Not quite 100%... Me? I just don't give a damn!
Mark
So YOU are one of those who give ideas to the wrong people! LoL!
Well, if applied to the government and leftists, it would certainly provied an unlimited amount of money!
Mark
This is nonsense. Eventually, the food police will use consumer misunderstanding (and their irrational fear) of this product to further assert control over what we consume.
ROFLMSS!!!!!!!!!!! That's a good one. Escpecially considering these "we know better" nannies fall into BOTH categories.
But that is just who is causing the misunderstanding and irrational fear........the smoke police have done it about tobacco and it is working. The food police include many of the same people.
Bump
Yup. And it's disconcerting for me to see so many on FR buying in to the nonsense that all these food ingredients are truly unhealthy in nature and are being forced on us by an evil and greedy food industry. It creates a lot of momentum for banning products and suing the manufacturers. Food processors are feeling the fear which is why so many products are being reformulated these days and now suck - Oreo's are a prime example.
I totally agree with you. The makers of Oreo have reason to be fearful - they also make cigarettes and so have been down this road before.
They tried to get a 10 cent tax on coffee out here in Seattle. The liberals almost killed each other getting the proposed legislation defeated. But apparently, taxing everything else is ok.
"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.”
C.S Lewis
"Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God."
Thomas Jefferson
Now pass the ammo!
You got it! I long to be in a position of such total state power than I can dictate to others:
Quit smoking! Hit the salad bar, Fatso! Drop and give me thirty! I better not catch you drinking! Weigh in every day! Pee in the bottle, druggie!
Mmmm. Sounds like fun!
And what about those people with cancer? Those bastards run our premiums up too. Also, look at all the child births. Those ladies come in and run our costs up as well. We should stop covering them too. Also, smokers and coal miners and people with genetic predispositions to sickle cell.
If you think insurance premiums are too high, you can always self insure or just save up for the procedures that you think you will need in the future....(hope you are right). You can always choose not to have insurance as well. Insurance is a service not a God given right.
The defense of obesity on this forum is truly humerous.
I can't think of another serious health condition that could be more easily prevented. Food isn't even addictive.
I'm sorry; you'll get no sympathy on this one from me. You want to jack up your body in a way that leads to so many health problems, go right ahead, but don't expect me to desire to pay for it down the road.
If you have sickle cell, fine. Nothing you could do to prevent that. Same thing with breast cancer, for the most part. But people who don't have the discipline to maintain an exercise routine/stable diet aren't winning the same level of respect. People weren't obese 50, even 20 years ago. No excuse for it now.
I can't speak for what corn syrup used as a sweetener, rather than sugar does, however, I can tell the difference in taste. Not long after Snapple was sold (I believe to Quaker Oats), they stopped using sugar, and began using corn syrup, since it's cheaper: The taste of their products changed radically. And not for the better.
Mark
""obesogenic food environment"
WHERE do these people come from???????????"
They squawked and bitched and finally got their draconian DUI legislation, then..
They squawked and bitched and finally got their draconian taxation and warnings on tobacco consumption, after
They had gotten your property taxes jacked up by always demanding more money for the schools, and now,
they're ready for their next great cause all because they want to make the world a better place for the children.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.