[Ammi]

Britain's doctors want the cost of sugary drinks increased by a fifth and a ban on unhealthy food in hospitals, according to reports.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges says the moves would help to break the cycle of "generation after generation falling victim to obesity-related illnesses and death".

The Guardian cited a report by the academy which says doctors are "united" in seeing obesity as the greatest public health crisis facing the UK.

The academy said government efforts so far have been "piecemeal and disappointingly ineffective", given the scale of the problem.

Figures show that one in four adults in England is obese. Obesity can lead to heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

The academy's chairman, Professor Terence Stephenson, said the report did not claim to offer a full solution to obesity, but "it does say we need together to do more, starting right now, before the problem becomes worse and the NHS can no longer cope".

Its recommendations include an experimental 20% tax on sugary soft drinks for at least a year, to see what effect it has on sales.

The academy believes the potential £1bn annual tax yield could help fund an increase in weight management programmes.

Local councils are also urged to limit the number of fast food outlets near schools and leisure centres.

And NHS staff should routinely talk to overweight patients about their eating and exercise habits, the report adds.

Chef and anti-obesity campaigner Jamie Oliver welcomed the report as "the clearest warning sign yet that the medical profession is deeply concerned about obesity".

But the Food and Drink Federation , which represents produce manufacturers, said the report was a "damp squib" that added "little to an important debate".




http://uk.news.yahoo.com/doctors-wan...--finance.html

[Nedusa]

This does seem a bit suspicious, if the Govt really wanted to tackle the problem of Child Obesity surely there are better ways to do this than just slapping yet another tax on these products. Why not ban all advertising of these products or only let them be sold to adults. Or ban their sale in shops near schools.

Or better still legally regulate the amount of sugar in these drinks or better still ban the product completely. This would cut down on the Obesity rates and save the NHS money in the long term as less medical interventions would be needed.

This current strategy smacks of making money out of childrens addictive natures and morally cannot be the way forward.

[Jamie.]

This will encourage shop lifting, teenagers in the morning live off sugary drinks and if they put prices up on it, the crime levels for Shop Lifting in Britain are high enough

[Kizzy]

It will never happen look at the pasty tax.....

[arista]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

It will never happen look at the pasty tax.....

True

[lostalex]

Why are they taxing just sugary drinks though, why don't they just tax SUGAR period? That would seem more fair.

[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by lostalex

Why are they taxing just sugary drinks though, why don't they just tax SUGAR period? That would seem more fair.

Really good point and that in itself would increase the price of all the products with sugar in them at a stroke.