Junk food taxes to stop obesity

Australians have suggested putting taxes on unhealthy foods. They believe that this would slow down the obesity epidemic and prevent obesity in many cases.

However, there are many who object to this proposal calling it “ineffective and unfair to the poor”. Some of the cons mentioned regarding the tax policy are justified and realistic but health experts fear that without strict regulations it would be impossible to curb the obesity epidemic and they ask for ban on the advertising of all junk foods and unhealthy foods to children. They think that junk foods should be treated the same way tobacco industry is being treated-as major health threat.

Those who oppose to the so called “fat-tax” believe that higher prices would be ineffective as it has been shown that demand for food is insensitive to price and that this would only burthen the budgets of those people with lower incomes who don’t have weight problems. The “opposition” reports that it is often not the kinds of food that people eat but rather the amount that leads to obesity.

The International Association for the Study of Obesity is one of the organizations who have backed the new plan and together with the others is putting pressure on the WHO to ban the marketing of unhealthy foods as the studies showed that the food advertising had a big influence on the children's health.