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Food strategy criticised by government's own advisor
Restauranter Henry Dimbleby, the author of a landmark independent review of the food system, said the Government’s newly published food strategy was not detailed enough to be called a strategy, and crucially lacked “one vision across the whole system."
The long-waited plan to transform England's food system will be revealed later today, with the government promising to put farmers and food security at the heart of their reforms. Health campaigners have described the plan as "half baked" and "watered down", with many of the recommendations made by Dimbleby’s independent review, commissioned by the government to inform this strategy, noticeably missing.
Dimbleby called for the taxing of salt and sugar in processed foods in his review, a recommendation which has not been included in the food strategy but will reportedly be responded to by the government at a later date. Dimbleby argued Health Secretary Sajid Javid should "be bold and brave in a difficult political context and act to break that junk food cycle", saying that the target of halving child obesity by 2030 can’t be achieved “without strong government intervention in the junk food cycle, the toxic relationship between the commercial incentives of companies and our evolved appetite.”
He expressed hope that government can "get away from this narrative of personal responsibility and education, which is important, but it isn't going to get us out of the hole we're in."
Source: BBC News, 13 June 2022
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Member of the House of Lords and former Health Minister Lord Young of Cookham welcomed Javed Khan’s independent review Making Smoking Obsolete, particularly backing making the industry pay in line with the “polluter pays” principle. He wrote that this, among other stated recommendations, will “help the government achieve its target of smoke-free by 2030, and support its levelling up agenda.”
He said: “My party may be concerned at the moment about its popularity, so they will be relieved to hear that the levy is popular. 77% support manufacturers paying a levy or licence fee to the government to help smokers quit, with just 6% opposing.”
Assuring this tax would not be passed to the smoker, he explained it would be modelled on the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, which has been in operation for over 40 years, overseen by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). He concluded that “Down in the House of Lords, we will be holding the government’s feet to the fire!”
Source: Politics Home, 10 June 2022
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Professor of Public Health and Founding Director of the Tobacco Control Research Group, Anna Gilmore and Senior Lecturer at the University of Bath and Member of Bath Tobacco Control Research Group, Robert Branston wrote to The Conversation on the radical steps that could be taken to address smoking.
They note that the recent Khan Review suggests several ways in which the industry could be made to pay directly for the harm their products cause, including a surcharge on corporation tax, or a new “polluter pays” levy on cigarette profits. They said that both of these ideas were supported by their research.
However they added that “Ideally, we would encourage the government to go even further by introducing price regulation, whereby a regulator would fix the price of each tobacco product, giving the industry lower returns and the government maximum tax potential. If done carefully, this could transfer current large industry profits into higher government revenue. And it would also put a stop to the clever pricing tactics the tobacco industry has been using to undermine taxation."
"Such direct control of prices might seem radical. But it already happens with water and energy in the UK. So why not with an addictive product that kills tens of thousands in the country every year?”
They conclude that “The Khan review shows that a radical approach is what is needed to help save lives and achieve plans for England to be smoke free by 2030. The key question is whether the government will be brave enough to do battle with such a rich and powerful industry in order to do what is necessary.”
Source: The Conversation, 10 June 2022
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Interviewed by the Times, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said that the Tories need to be more “radical” and focus more on “Conservative issues” after four in ten Tory MPs voted to remove the prime minister from office.
Speaking candidly to The Times, he confessed: “I have the occasional cigar, I have a burger now and again. I like it and I enjoy it and there’s nothing wrong with it.”
He is reportedly not unsympathetic to comments by John Reid, the former Labour health secretary, who defended people’s right to smoke by suggesting it might be the only pleasure for a single mother on a council estate.
Javid argues that the state’s role is to provide people with the information to make informed choices. “People will decide rightly for themselves, whether they’re going to smoke and drink, they’re going to want to eat fatty foods, but people also will expect the state to warn them of the risks,” he says.
The Times notes that Javid’s views are in keeping with his political philosophy. Javid reportedly prides himself as a Thatcherite, having come from humble beginnings as the child of Pakistani immigrants to the UK.
Source: The Times, 11 June 2022
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The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) has welcomed the Khan Review but said that increasing the age of sale from 18 by one year, every year, will require significant enforcement action to prevent the policy’s effectiveness being undercut. CTSI has also welcomed the proposal to enhance local illicit tobacco enforcement by investing £15M to tackle the illicit market.
John Herriman, Chief Executive, CTSI said: “CTSI welcomes this vitally important review to help us finally stub out tobacco use in England. Raising the age of sale, year on year, is a radical attempt to “de-normalise” smoking for future generations. We would welcome clarity on how the year-on-year age restriction in sales will work, and Trading Standards professionals stand ready to support through enforcement, test purchasing and monitoring. Increasing age restrictions is a bold move but the effectiveness of this could stand or fall, based on how robustly we deal with underage sales and the trade in illicit tobacco, which could undermine such major attempts to reduce smoking levels and achieve Government targets.”
Herriman added that CTSI would also “urge the Government to implement the recommendations to invest in local illicit tobacco enforcement, such as Operation CeCe to tackle the trade in illegal tobacco at the local level. And we also believe that further measures may be needed to deal with the potential growth in sales on platforms such as online platforms and marketplaces on social media.”
Source: Wired Gov, 9 June 2022
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Canada is proposing that written health warnings be printed on individual cigarettes, the first country in the world to do so, a federal minister said on Friday.
Mental Health and Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett said the 2001 measure, requiring picture warnings on cigarette packages, had become stale for the 13% of Canadians who smoke regularly. Bennett emphasised that “adding health warnings on individual tobacco products will help ensure that these essential messages reach people, including the youth, who often access cigarettes one at a time in social situations, sidestepping the information printed on a package."
A 75-day public consultation period will start on 11 June, with findings used to inform the development of the proposed new regulations, a government statement added. Extending the existing list of health risks printed on cigarettes packs is also being considered.
Source: Reuters, 10 June 2022
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