We are tackling problem of obesity, says HSSD following news of UK’s ‘fat tax’
Wednesday 20th February 2013, 4:00PM GMT.
(Picture from Shutterstock)
A VARIETY of options exist within the island’s obesity strategy to tackle the problem, the Health and Social Services Department has said.
After the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges called for a tax on sugary drinks, HSSD said in a statement that the current strategy was making a ‘valuable contribution towards supporting healthy living in the Bailiwick of Guernsey with the resources available.’
Any further development of the drive would, the department stated, receive wide consultation before going ahead.
Doctors in the UK have called for healthier hospital food, but unhealthy options are still available here.
The statement said that there is ‘currently no proposal to ban the sale of high density foods such as chocolate or crisps on hospital premises’.
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Here’s a novel idea, how about not trying to deal with obesity and just leaving people alone.
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Concerned,
You need to appreciate that your health is these people’s business, and they don’t see any issue in restricting your freedom / liberty in order to protect you from what they consider to be your own stupidity (or perhaps child-like naivety). They use the fact that most healthcare is publically funded to imply that your lifestyle decisions are therefore a matter for government to try to influence in so far as they affect the cost of your publically healthcare.
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@ concerned
I don’t agree with the tax on fizzy drinks as I feel there are better options available.
The obesity strategy, however, is being carried out with good intentions.
There are two very good reasons for this strategy
1 Better health for the community
2 less tax being spent on health issues that could be reduced in a proactive manner.
Please don’t tell me you can’t understand the burden it places everyone!
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There will always be tax spent on health issues – if people live longer then you have to provide healthcare and social care for them. People living longer is also a “burden” who has looked at the comparison in costs of this?
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@ concerned
That would be fine if we could let people be alone in their sickness with their choices they made. As in provide no treeatment,
You up for that as well?
Because treating people for their obesity related illnesses is an escalating cost so the sooner it is tackled the more affordable it will be.
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They are planning to tax us until we squeak. Then we will have no money left for food!!!
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Maybe you could use the dieticians more?
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Simply taxing fizzy drinks and other things that are perceived to be “bad” for our health will not cure the problems.
This is the lazy way out for the States as it avoids any further expenditure in other areas such as education (to the health issues of these foods) and food labelling.
Not all fizzy drinks are bad for you because they are fizzy, it is the sugar and chemical content, I doubt fizzy spring water will make you fat.
Perhaps we could go back to wartime rationing, I’ve heard people were healthier during that period because the government effectively controlled the diet.
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The were malnourished you moron!
Which led to the government telling people to clear their plate, stock up on fatty food etc to put the weight back on in the post war period.
The time the baby boomers were born, the same pioneering generation who are no obese, and bringing up fat children.
Rationing following by an ill informed government, coupled with the baby boomers infusing their offspring with the same mis information about clearing your plate, and eating fatty foods and lack of excersise is what has caused this mess.
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Instead of placing a tax on foods and drinks that are unhealthy for you, why don’t we reduce the cost on healthy food and drinks to encourage a healthy living style, or is this too simple?
Maybe I am being naive!
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yes tax sweets and chocolate but make sure the tax from this goes where it should go
i know of many who have asked for help with a gastric band or bypass .but was refused help
not all folks who are fat sit and eat huge amounts of crap every day .
chewing gum should be taxed as this cost the tax payer thousands a year to remove from the streets
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Operations are not the answer, stats show in 10 years the individual is very likely to be at least as heavy if not heavier then before the operation.
If you do not treat the mental well being of why someone eats too much no operation will fix the issue.
Help the person want to like themselves and get better and lose weight. Far more productive then very expensive operatons which do not treat the root issue and leave the individual with more hangs up as they walk around with acres of excess skin because they lose weight too fast after an operation if they are lucky otherwise add to that unknown pain and difficulties with eating anything.
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Gastric bypass operations are not good. Many people who have them have all sorts of complications that come from this operation. It’s an easy way of slimming down for those who can’t stick to a diet and exercise.
People will almost always stretch their stomach back to almost normal size and put on weight again. They think because they’ve had this operation they can continue eating as they did before. Many people are uninformed as to the dangers of this operation.
I know a couple who have had it that are now on omeprazole for life due to acid reflux. Before the operation they were on no medication whatsoever.
This operation should be banned.
Guern Abroad, you’re spot on!
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Unhealthy food choices clearly impacts negatively on peoples health but let’s not under-estimate the role that exercise also plays. ‘Lack of activity’ has been found to be a major cause of obesity and related health problems.
If we want the Guernsey population to be fit and healthy and thereby reduce the cost implications of an obese community, then we have to do much more to encourage everyone to choose to walk or cycle their journeys when they can. It is the simplest way to incorporate more activity into busy daily timetables.
We are going to have to address the Guernsey addiction to cars to make the roads less busy and therefore more pleasant to walk and cycle on. I suspect that there will be lots of tantrums along the way, but if we want to address this problem, we are going to have to stop burying our heads in the sand about the overly car-dependent community that we have become.
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Well said, Rosie.
We have to stop designing everything around the car.
Car addiction and the need to drive/park ‘door-to-door’ is making people obese, causing CO2 emissions and eroding traditional town community/shopping. All of these issues are in the news frequently but no one wants to join the dots.
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I agree Rosie
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Townie2.
I agree with everything you said apart from the “eroding traditional town community/shopping” statement. I think online shopping is a larger cause for this.
This is part of the reason why I don’t drive and have no intention of even learning. It means that if I want to go somewhere I have to walk (or get the bus).
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Drinks & food are all already more than 20% more expensive here than in England, why are we not 20% thinner than English people?, just another tax increase for no reason
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With the UK having high statisics of being over weight/obese it would not be hard to still have high statics of being overweight in Guernsey and still be 20% thinner.
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You could argue that healthy people cost the taxpayer more as they will eventually contract some illness and become a medical cost while obese people are much more likely to die soon after retiring and will not be incurring medical costs and the pensions they have paid for.
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Medicine is very good today, it is very good at keeping ill people alive and live long lives being very ill. Whilst this is obviously good for the individual and family it is not always a great quality of life and is expensive for the health service.
Better to be well and live longer then be ill and live almost as long do you not think.
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People must take responsibility for their own lives,but allways be aware that we are not alone on this planet. Everything that we do and say, has an affect on everyone else.We should learn to use the word “NO” more often instead of the words “I WANT”.
I am not usually bothered by Fat people, unless of course I am forced to sit next to one whilst using Public transport,where they take up half of my seat,(although paying the same price for their ticket).
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In all fairness A.J., bus seats are very narrow (surprising given the size of buses). I’m not obese but I always find myself rubbing shoulders with my neighbour.
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Sounds like a fatty excuse to me!
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hahaha thanks for that Sanguine.
I lift a lot of weights. I’m big but not fat.
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How many of you supported a ban on smoking? Why? It was a negative externality that affected you right, so you decided it was wrong for other people to smoke because of “passive smoking” despite the fact that poor driving and alcohol are responsible for more deaths per annum than passive smoking ever was or ever could be. The real reason was, you didn’t like other people do it around you plain and simple – didn’t like the smell. Nothing to do with passive smoking, but you hyped it up, told your kids, make smokers feel like “bad people”.
Now smoking has been defeated (apparently – reality, just forced it into the third world, but who cares right? they are a different colour and have a different god so it doesn’t matter) But now people are looking at the fat people in society and seeing another negative externality. But this time it is you who are a user of the very same externality. Its time to pay the piper ladies and gentlemen, especially those who vehemently opposed smoking, you have started something here with an erosion of civil rights. This isn’t really about fatty food and the associated weight gain – this is about the god awful sight of fat people, i mean they are just gross to look at right? Real social cost? Having to look at a that fat sweaty man at the bus terminus how is struggling to breathe with his can of Stella – what a sight!
What is next, alcohol? Why? Well, no one cares about the deaths really, but they will use it to justify the fact that people don’t like to see the yooof having fun on a Friday night, when they are at home in their bitter marriages with their annoying kids.
It started with smoking, where will it end? Or more important, as this is Guernsey after wall, who’s fault is it??????
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(Oh Dear.) I was referring to my seat on a Jumbo Jet!
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Oh… those seats are fine.
I think they should use that as a guidline that people are too fat. If you need an extension on your seat belt you’re definitely too fat.
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Why discriminate… put the tax on all drinks other than water. Alcohol contains more calories than sugar. Artificial sweeteners have their own risks as well. Tax them all and subsidise healthy fresh foods, put the money into healthy eating and exercise initiatives.
Also try preventing people from drinking them in the first place through smarter product placement (suggested by Ed in other thread) and removing them from schools.
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Rachel.
Unfortunately, the shops selling and making a lot of money out of these foods and drinks think that they have already got their ‘product placement’ right. They put them where they can be sure that they will get maximum sales. I agree it would be better if they were out of sight on the bottom shelf or so high up they were out of reach but sadly, I don’t see any of those shops volunteering that action.
So many kids are being brought up in households where everything they eat comes out of a packet and if as a community we think that these kids (& the community) would be better off understanding the importance of a healthy diet, then it up to us to make sure that they get that education at school. How you give that education while at the same time still selling rubbish food / drink in the schools (& hospitals & Beau Sejour) is beyond me!
And exercise initiatives as you suggest are bang on the money. As others have suggested increased provision for PE, dance classes or whatever would be good, but in my opinion a crucial aspect that needs looking at is how we travel around the island. Our journeys frequently offer us opportunities for increasing the amount of exercise we are getting but we need to change the culture that discourages us all from getting on our bikes or even walking to where we are going.
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All you food snobs will only be happy when those nasty fizzy drinks and so called unhealthy foods are put in plain packaging and ‘displayed’ under the counter out of sight along side the cigarettes. Then again you wont be happy at all because you will find something else to moan about. You people need to stop trying to enforce your lifestyle choices on others, the Germans tried this and they ultimately failed.
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