Medical group pushes for health-warning labels, higher taxes on junk food

Medical group pushes for health-warning labels, higher taxes on junk food

winnipeg.ctvnews.ca

The Ontario Medical Association is advocating for health-warning labels on junk food, which would indicate foods that can cause conditions such as diabetes or liver disease.
“We need to treat obesity like the public health epidemic that it is and we need to apply the lessons learned from those anti-tobacco initiatives and use them to fight obesity,” said Dr. Doug Weir from the Ontario Medical Association.

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Well, it's finally been suggested by the professionals. The Ontario Medical Association is pushing for health warnings on junk food, similar to the way health warnings have taken over the packaging for tobacco in Canada.



I'm actually excited about the idea, mainly because of the absurdity of it all. Many have called this the final sign of a nanny state, or big brother... I find it hilarious, in many aspects.

A side note, I was just reading an article on prescription medication deaths... And I thought, "Hey, when is someone going to make big pharma throw some coffins on the script bottles." ??



winnipeg.ctvnews.ca
(visit the link for the full news article)

its bad enough pulling a smoke out of a packet with a disfigured foot on it...

as if im going to eat chips with a picture of a some gory diabetes condition on the packaging . would make me throw up


this wont fly, not in a million years

It's a great idea. Tax the hell out of crap food and use the revenue on that to subsidize the outrageous cost of healthy food.... like fruit and vegetables.

Originally posted by TFCJay
It's a great idea. Tax the hell out of crap food and use the revenue on that to subsidize the outrageous cost of healthy food.... like fruit and vegetables.

yeah its surprisingly expensive to eat healthy. Sourcing meat and finding decent fruit and veg places.

Originally posted by TFCJay
It's a great idea. Tax the hell out of crap food and use the revenue on that to subsidize the outrageous cost of healthy food.... like fruit and vegetables.

It's sad that the government has to get involved for this to happen unfortunately, but I see where you are coming from.

I mainly stock pure fruit juice in my home, which is pretty much just pureed fruit (not as thick), you wouldn't believe how many guests opt for a pop instead.

reply to post by boncho


While I can see taxing junk foods at a higher rate I think the warning labels are simply redundant. I think the majority of adults know when foods are unhealthy- they just don't give a darn. I don't think we need the "munchie police" putting pictures and warnings on junk to tell us what we already know.

This is interesting timing. In the UK the government have finally managed to get an agreement from food companies, to unify the approach to food labeling, with an across the board system which means that all food will be sold with absolutely identical labeling for comparison purposes on the part of the consumer.

However, I am very suprised that the Ontario lot have gone one step further than that, and have put through the idea of tobacco like warnings on food. There are NO food types that cannot kill you in huge doses. You eat nothing but carrots, you will turn orange, get jaundiced, and die, just as thoroughly as if you eat nothing but pizza, and die because your arteries clog.

Seems to me that its absolutely essential that governments make people aware of what is in the food they eat, and the possible medical effects on a person of consuming any one of them in exclusivity or excess, but there is a difference between doing that, and reducing all packaging to a doom and gloom document, printed on the front of ones prefered meal or food stuff.

Also, the obesity crisis is not caused by food packaging being bad, but by people lacking the common sense, and basic general knowledge to correctly assess for themselves, what is, and what is not a good idea in the dietary sense. My personal opinion is that one CANNOT become obese unless a) One is so under eductated that they cannot grasp the simple principles of healthy eating and living, or b) One is suffering from a psychological condition which prevents one from operating ones intellect when considering what to shove down ones throat next. Aside from these two routes to obesity, there is only the glandular issue to consider, and that is something which requires constant medical assessment by health professionals, and literaly cannot, in most cases, be affected for good or ill by the sufferer.

So although packaging ought to contain good and uniformly laid out data on the content of the food, I think it is a denial of Darwin to go further than that. If a person insists on cramming the worst junk possible down thier throats, in huge quantity, they will do that no matter how much information you give them.

Originally posted by littled16
reply to post by boncho

 

While I can see taxing junk foods at a higher rate I think the warning labels are simply redundant. I think the majority of adults know when foods are unhealthy- they just don't give a darn. I don't think we need the "munchie police" putting pictures and warnings on junk to tell us what we already know.

Same goes for tobacco no?

Especially given that there are age restrictions on it already...

Maybe they should put health warnings on Spinach and broccoli. I find more health issues with them for some people than with a hamburger.

They should just put a picture of Honey Boo Boo on all the packages with a simple statement like: "On your way to greatness!"

People dont care so much about their insides. Evident by all the thin people with high blood pressure and soft muscle tone who believe they are healthy because they arent fat. Just like all the fat people who think they are strong simply because they displace a lot of water. They care about their outsides a great deal though.

Tell them they will develop diabetes, heart disease, COPD, whatever and they wont concern themselves until it's too late. Tell them every time they pick up one of these things that they will be fat, ugly, unattractive and they just might listen.

This is a good idea, if people continue to eat junk food that's is their choice, however they cannot complain later on when they are fatter than a house and have heart disease, that they haven't been advised or warned. These are not invasions of privacy or clamping down or precious individual freedoms,(yawn) this is just advice and guidance about known and possible health risks, so you are informed of the risk to help you make a choice, if they banned junk food and ciggies then that would be an infringement of your right. People moan when the government keeps things from then then moan just as bad when they don't, FFS :-)

The tax will only hurt the poor and will do nothing to make people eat right. If they really want to do something start revoking business licenses for fast food and convenient stores that sell junk food. Start restricting what kind of food commercials can be broadcasted on kid tv shows like nicktoons, Disney and PBS. Any fast food joint that wants to give away kids toy in (happy meals), the meal should contain at least 60% of healthy food, that would make it a lot easier for parents to get their kids to eat right.

Just looks like a new way to get more tax dollars for local bloated government.

"oooo, a hole im foot? Well nobody will see that!"




"WTF, what will people think if I look like that, I can't look like that - This has to stop!"


95% of people will not acknowledg the writing on a packet of food. But if you plaster a warning that they will look like a massive slob who is over due his coffin by 2 years, then we will see people stop eating it and feeding it to their children

If they want to tax junk food into submission, then they need to make fresh food affordable. At the moment, here in the UK, junk food costs a fraction of the equivalent fresh food.

Example:
Sweet n sour chicken from Iceland (a UK retailer), £1 per portion. Due to the high sugar content, its classed as junk food.
To buy the ingredients to make a similiar sized portion from fresh, without the sugar £8.

Originally posted by boncho

Originally posted by littled16
reply to post by boncho

 

While I can see taxing junk foods at a higher rate I think the warning labels are simply redundant. I think the majority of adults know when foods are unhealthy- they just don't give a darn. I don't think we need the "munchie police" putting pictures and warnings on junk to tell us what we already know.



Same goes for tobacco no?

Especially given that there are age restrictions on it already...

That is true as well. I myself am guilty of smoking, even though I know full well the possible consequences. People are going to do what they're going to do. Consider that everyone with a brain knows the possible consequences of drug and alcohol abuse, and yet people abuse them anyway. No amount of warning labeling or public service announcements have had any success in curbing abusive behavior in regards to most substances. A photo of a morbidly obese person on a candy bar isn't going to stop me from eating it. I believe the only way to deter people from eating so much junk food is to make it more financially viable to eat healthy food.

Awesome, see what happens when you let government trample freedom and become a nanny state? It seems anti smoking people are going to be putting their foots in their mouths soon...because letting them goto work on cigarettes created a precedence; to start doing this and built the frame work for it. Governments have realized banning and prohibition creates black markets and things become hard and costly to police...so they'd rather tax you to death on it, and trample freedom all disguised in the name of good health...

So in march the sin taxes based off the 7 deadly sins...

Just get it over with already governments; demolish neighborhoods and put up the free tract houses, give us free health care, free education, and return we work for free in your industry, while the jack boots stomp out free will, self expression as attack dogs sniff us out from head to toe.

George Orwell wasn't a science fiction writer; the man was a PROPHET.

Just look at his face...and sing along.