Alarming obesity rates could be reduced with taxes

[patslatt]

Blackburn and Darwen council gave all the residents free gym membership because they had the highest obesity rate in the Country.

Taxing junk food would not stop people eating it, however, it would contribute to the increased medical expenses that they are likely to clock up as a result of their binging. It is a polluter pays policy.

Wrong. Food prices affect the amount purchased on discretionary items as opposed to bare necessities such as the cheapest cuts.

[hopi watcher]

Fatties and smokers choose to be fatties and smokers. I would have no probllem reducing tax on fags and just refusing them public health care if it makes them sick. We are all going to die and they chose their death.

Incorrect, addiction to smoking in most cases is learned from peers etc. it cannot, in most cases, be regarded a 'choice'. When it was discovered that smoking was so harmful the state should have intervened and regulated the supply, probably by making nicotine a prescribed drug.

In the case of food, processed food is by far the main case of obesity. The amount of consumption is less a factor than the quality of food consumed and the nutritional balance. Processed food contains higher levels of bad fats and salt which directly lead to obesity. Again, the state should intervene and regulate the content of all such foods.

BTW, Many people are being denied access to public healthcare as we natter, and they are not obese either, just victims of a capitalist ideology that makes the rules at present. Might go some way to explaining the lack of regulation when it comes to food content too.