For the love of the game
March 9, 2017
Professional Services: Sticky issues for VMOs
March 9, 2017
SPECIAL FEATURE OBESITY
Momentum for sugar tax builds, as experts from across Australia call for a national obesity plan and regulatory reform.
Commercial interests shouldn’t trump the health of future generations, says leading obesity expert, Laureate Professor Nick Talley.
Professor Talley, who chaired the recent National Health Summit on Obesity, is calling on the Commonwealth Government to adopt a coordinated six-point plan for action on obesity.
The plan not only recognises obesity as a disease, but recommends a tax on sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) and a reduction of unhealthy food marketing to kids.
Prof Talley outlined the plan in the February edition of MJA, which also included a persuasive argument from Professor Stephen Colaguiri on the need to adopt a tax on sugar sweetened beverages.
Prof Colaguiri addresses the argument that a tax on SSBs is a nanny-state response to the obesity crisis.
“Such thinking calls into question government intervention to control tobacco and alcohol or promote road safety through seat belts and speed restrictions.”
He also acknowledges that strong government leadership is needed in the face of industry opposition.
A similar call for a sugar tax was made by 100 experts from 53 organisations who developed their own 47-point plan to address obesity.
Dr Gary Sacks, a senior research fellow at the Global Obesity Centre at Deakin University, led the study. In addition to recommending the development of an overall national strategy, the study called for a tax on junk food, especially sugary drinks, to make them more expensive, and a reduction of advertising and marketing of those products to children.
The study also recommended a junk food ban from schools and sports venues and a crackdown on using junk food vouchers as rewards for sporting performance and fundraising.
The experts found wide discrepancy between State and Federal food labelling, advertising and health policies and are recommending a National Nutrition Policy.
AMA (NSW) President, Professor Brad Frankum, also recently made a compelling case for a tax on sugar sweetened beverages in a video posted to Facebook. The video was viewed more than 20,000 times, shared 83 times and elicited 34 comments.
Not only does Prof Frankum call for a tax on SSBs, but urges money generated from the tax be spent on a national obesity plan, which includes nutritional education and sports programs.
To date, these calls for a sugar tax have been met with resistance by the Federal Government. The Department of Health’s issued a press release on 20 February: “Obesity and poor diets are complex public health issue with multiple contributing factors, requiring a community-wide approach as well as behaviour change by individuals. We do not support a new tax on sugar to address this issue.”
Prof Frankum responded that the Federal Health Minister is letting the people of NSW down by dismissing a sugar tax so readily.
“A tax on added sugar is not about raising the prices of people’s grocery bills, in fact, it would help as part of an overall education strategy.
“The sorts of things it would ideally be applied to are things like sugary drinks, which are not a necessary part of anyone’s diet,” he said.
“Knowing that a tax applies to something because of its unhealthy added sugar content would help people in identifying poor food choices,” he added.