meme
New member
well at least they wouldn't only be taxing the shit out of smokers...enjoy..
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SNIP:
Tue Sep 1, 2009 12:00am EDT Email * Print * Share* Reprints * Single Page[-] Text [+]
* Soaring obesity rates make changes imperative
* Taxes could reduce soft drink consumption
* Changing public transport routes could encourage grocers
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - A strongly worded report on child obesity released on Tuesday recommends that state and local governments tax junk food and soft drinks, give tax breaks to grocery stores that open in blighted neighborhoods and build bike trails.
The report from the independent Institute of Medicine and National Research Council also suggests that governments limit television and video games in after-school programs, require restaurants to list calorie counts on their menus and open school playgrounds and athletic fields to communities.
"Childhood obesity poses a serious threat to health in the United States," it reads. The problem cannot be solved by the federal government and communities need to act, it adds.
"This is not a report that says 'this is what every community should do.' This is a menu of options," Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, who chaired the panel that wrote the report, said in a telephone interview.
Obesity rates are soaring among U.S. children, and along with them rates of early heart disease, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.
"The prevalence of childhood obesity has tripled in just three decades," the report reads. Nearly 18 percent of U.S. adolescents are obese.
While the food and restaurant industry cites personal choice and a lack of exercise, many reports have shown that unhealthy food is cheaper, more readily available and more heavily marketed than more healthful foods.
Last week, the American Heart Association took on the $115 billion soft drink industry, saying the drinks are the No. 1 source of added sugars in the American diet.
The American Beverage Association, representing companies including PepsiCo (PEP.N), Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc (DPS.N), says sugar-sweetened drinks do not pose a particular health risk.
USING TAXES
Taxes work, said the experts on the panel, commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
the rest..
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN31395859
--------------------------------------------------------------
SNIP:
Tue Sep 1, 2009 12:00am EDT Email * Print * Share* Reprints * Single Page[-] Text [+]
* Soaring obesity rates make changes imperative
* Taxes could reduce soft drink consumption
* Changing public transport routes could encourage grocers
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - A strongly worded report on child obesity released on Tuesday recommends that state and local governments tax junk food and soft drinks, give tax breaks to grocery stores that open in blighted neighborhoods and build bike trails.
The report from the independent Institute of Medicine and National Research Council also suggests that governments limit television and video games in after-school programs, require restaurants to list calorie counts on their menus and open school playgrounds and athletic fields to communities.
"Childhood obesity poses a serious threat to health in the United States," it reads. The problem cannot be solved by the federal government and communities need to act, it adds.
"This is not a report that says 'this is what every community should do.' This is a menu of options," Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, who chaired the panel that wrote the report, said in a telephone interview.
Obesity rates are soaring among U.S. children, and along with them rates of early heart disease, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.
"The prevalence of childhood obesity has tripled in just three decades," the report reads. Nearly 18 percent of U.S. adolescents are obese.
While the food and restaurant industry cites personal choice and a lack of exercise, many reports have shown that unhealthy food is cheaper, more readily available and more heavily marketed than more healthful foods.
Last week, the American Heart Association took on the $115 billion soft drink industry, saying the drinks are the No. 1 source of added sugars in the American diet.
The American Beverage Association, representing companies including PepsiCo (PEP.N), Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc (DPS.N), says sugar-sweetened drinks do not pose a particular health risk.
USING TAXES
Taxes work, said the experts on the panel, commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
the rest..
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN31395859
