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September 14, 2017AMA (NSW) President: health risks of codeine outweigh benefits
October 9, 2017AMA (NSW) President, Prof Brad Frankum, is welcoming the renewed push for a tax on sugary drinks in an effort to curb Australia’s obesity crisis.
“Two-thirds of the adult population is overweight or obese and so are one in four children.
“A tax on sugary drinks would send a clear message to people that products affected are not good for them.
“We need to do much more work on obesity prevention, especially the Federal Government.
“The NSW Government is doing good work in this space with the Make Healthy Normal campaign.
“It sends strong healthy eating messages like ‘make water your drink’ and ‘eat your fruit, don’t drink your fruit’ but there is a complete absence of this sort of thing from the Commonwealth,” Prof Frankum said.
“It should be noted that the health problems posed by overweight and obesity are significant and complex.
“It represents a bigger threat to human health than tobacco.
“While we have very good preventative health campaigns around tobacco use, we see almost nothing from the Federal Government related to healthy eating.
“I find this quite disturbing because there is no one solution that will solve this health crisis and we need to be doing everything we can to reduce obesity rates.
“Overweight and obesity lead to increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and a range of cancers, as well as reducing quality of life.
“The Government cannot afford to continue to reject the idea of a sugar tax out of hand, like it has been doing.
“Similarly, we need to be looking at ways of creating better urban spaces that encourage physical activity and use of public transport, on top of improving people’s health literacy and knowledge about diet and exercise,” Prof Frankum said.
Media contact: Lachlan Jones 0419 402 955