CRUK calls for action on obesity
Today Cancer Research UK calls for government intervention on obesity as it rivals smoking as a cause of cancer. Whilst smoking is still the biggest cause of cancer, CRUK has warned that obesity is a significant factor in 13 different types of cancer.
RCSEd is a member of the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA), a coalition of over 40 organisations committed to influencing health policy to combat obesity. Caroline Cerny of the Obesity Health Alliance, responded: “The causes of obesity are complex, but we know that the environment we live in plays a huge role, and currently this is heavily skewed towards unhealthy options. This is why we need the government to push on with plans to bring in a 9pm watershed on junk food adverts on TV and online, reduce the amount of unhealthy food promoted in supermarkets, and take sugar out of everyday food and drinks.”
RCSEd response to Boris Johnson’s promise to review “sin taxes”
Conservative Party leadership candidate and potential future UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced he would like to halt the introduction of new so called “sin taxes” and launch a review into their use.
In response RCSEd President, Professor Mike Griffin, said:
“RCSEd, as a member of the Obesity Health Alliance, is fully supportive of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy introduced in April 2018. Faster progress is needed to reach the government’s target of halving childhood obesity by 2030, and taxation is one of the tools available to the Government to reduce the consumption of foods high in salt, fat and sugar.
Additionally, obesity continues to be a key priority for the public with recent polling highlighting that 76% of British adults are supportive of government action to reduce levels of childhood obesity. The Government has shown it has real ambition to tackle obesity and we urge both Conservative leadership candidates to ensure that achieving the Government’s target of tackling childhood obesity by 2030 remains a key priority.”