Lawmakers must do to junk food what they did to tobacco
The comments by the former chairman of the Preventative Health Taskforce, Professor Rob Moodie, come shortly after new figures showing that two-thirds of Australians are overweight or obese.
“[The government] has to take on the food industry, which is a giant industry in itself. It has to take on the advertisers and the PR industry. It also has to take on the media themselves,” Moodie told Australia’s ABC radio in a report to highlight the importance of the obesity report.
“Children's obesity levels have plateaued at absolutely Everestian proportions. You know, this is not plateauing at Mount Donna Buang, this is plateauing at a very, very high level. Again Australia's the fifth fattest nation. Unless we can somehow change what's going on amongst our kids, let alone our adults, then we're in a really tough position.”
Significant growth
According to the most wide-ranging survey ever undertaken by the Bureau of Statistics, the number of overweight or obese adults has climbed from just over half in 1995 to two-thirds—or 63 per cent—today.
This translates to a weight gain of about 4kg per adult since the mid-'90s. The average Australian male now weighs 86kg and the average woman about 71kg. Today, 70% of men are either overweight or obese, and this figure spirals up to a staggering 80% among middle-aged men.
This weight increase comes despite years of government programmes promoting more exercise and fresh food, and working with the packaged food industry to reduce levels of fat, salt and sugar through voluntary codes.
Those programs have failed, say public health experts, meaning it is time for regulation.
“What [the government has] failed to do is bring in policies to reduce the obesigenic food environment,” said Boyd Swinburn of Deakin University, advising lawmakers to restrict the marketing of junk foods to children, and to tailor fiscal policies to subsidise healthy foods. “That's where the failure is: not addressing the unhealthy food environment.”
Not all agree
However, the grocery lobby has been quick to dismiss the figures, saying that childhood obesity, in particular, is not on the increase, and this proves that current voluntary programmes are working.
“Policy should be based on the evidence, it should be based on the facts. And the facts are that childhood obesity is not increasing,” Gary Dawson of the Australia Food and Grocery Council, told the ABC.
“If you look overseas to where more direct intervention in the market has happened in advertising, it hasn't worked. And therefore we should be looking at the evidence and getting back to the facts, not opting for overly simplistic approaches.”
Editor's note: Government measures against tobacco have been extremely successful in Australia, so why couldn't the same be done with junk food? Or is it right for the state to intercede in what is a free country, where citizens are at liberty to make their own choices? After all, tobacco produces second-hand smoke, whereas junk food is only harmful to the consumer. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
