Parents are warned to steer clear of sugar-filled 'healthy' drinks
Parents' efforts on healthy eating 'undermined' by marketing campaigns and lack of government interest
Read Alex Renton's report on sugary drinks
A special in today’s Observer, with Alex contributing an article as well as his report.
"But the campaign group Sustain, which leads a consortium of organisations campaigning for legislative action on children and sugar, told the Observerthat the government had shown no interest. The Treasury refused to comment on Sustain's January report, which set out the case for taxation of added sugar in food and drink, while the Department of Health merely referred its copy on to the Treasury, saying the issue was "not within its remit".
"Parents' best efforts to encourage their families to eat healthily are undermined by cynical multimillion-pound marketing strategies that present sugary drinks as fun and fashionable," said Sustain campaigns director Charlie Powell. "As government chooses to ignore the science that clearly classifies sugar as toxic, it's no surprise that public health policies fail to protect children."
“Some 67 health charities, medical royal colleges and public health bodies are asking the government to consider a health tax on sugary drinks, along the lines of those already successfully introduced in France and four other European countries”.
This “health” aka “sugar tax” is to combat the “diabesity epidemic”, and as Alex points out such a tax has been “successfully introduced in France and four other European countries”. No mention of the Danish experience though, for some reason …
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