Artykuły

Artykuł pochodzi z pisma "Guardian"

Junk food ads banned to fight fat epidemic


Junk food adverts during children's programmes will be banned and unhealthy foods issued with warning labels under a 'traffic light' scheme to help tackle Britain's obesity crisis.
The moves will be the centrepiece of the government's long-awaited report on public health, to be published on Tuesday, which will cover the nation's slide into unhealthy habits, including eating, smoking and drinking to excess.
The government will face criticism when it confirms that there will not be a total ban on smoking.
The move on children's health and television follows a sustained campaign by parents angry at under-fives being bombarded by TV campaigns using cartoon characters and catchy jingles encouraging them to want unhealthy snacks.
Sugar, salt and fat-laden foods such as sweets or burgers will display red labels on their packaging to signify they should be eaten sparingly, with 'virtuous' foods such as vegetables marked green to encourage their consumption.
Foods such as cheese, high in fat but nutritious, will be labelled amber.
Crucially, TV watchdogs will be expected to use the new code to determine which food adverts can be shown when young children are watching.
John Reid, the Health Secretary, will also unveil plans for a compromise on smoking expected to see it outlawed in restaurants and pubs that serve food or allow children in, with new controls to protect bar staff from secondhand smoke. The changes fall well short of a total ban and will also be delayed until after the election, in a retreat that will infuriate doctors.
As the country gears up for the biggest debate on health for a decade, The Observer can also reveal that Tony Blair directly intervened to prevent a ban on smoking being introduced six years ago.
He vetoed plans from his then Health Secretary, Frank Dobson, for a ban and for raising the age at which children can buy cigarettes to 18. The Prime Minister also rejected plans to force the tobacco industry to disclose all its scientific and marketing research to the Department of Health.
'We just couldn't get Blair to agree to it,' recalls one source involved in the negotiations. 'I suppose we may have been a little bit ahead of our time then. But I think the public climate has changed considerably since.'
The revelation pushes Blair into the forefront of the row likely to erupt over smoking, with the medical profession - including Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, the government's own Chief Medical Officer - favouring a ban.
Campaigners will also be disappointed that Reid's 'traffic light' labelling scheme will be voluntary. However, with several major supermarkets, including Tesco, Sainsbury's and the Co-op, expected to introduce such labelling on all products in their stores, ministers will argue that manufacturers will have to join in if they want to sell in supermarkets.
Measures encouraging more people to play sport are also likely, including tax breaks for people who buy bicycles for cycling into work. They will be able to offset the cost against tax returns.
Low-income families will also get free passes to swimming pools and sports centres to encourage exercise. Ministers are also expected to introduce new measures to tackle the explosion of sexually transmitted diseases, including ensuring that all patients can get an appointment at specialist clinics within 48 hours and providing over-the-counter testing kits for chlamydia.
Ed Mayo, director of the National Consumer Council and chair of the white paper working group on consumer issues, said the 'traffic light' scheme - to be piloted by the Food Standards Agency this year - would initially target processed food such as readymade meals, with even supposedly healthy eating ranges stuffed with hidden salts and sugars.
'Shoppers don't go around with calculators: you don't add up all the ingredients on the nutrition panel,' he said. 'Sales of processed foods have shot up and they have been among the most perilous of foods in terms of hidden ingredients.'
Traffic light labels could then be used by Ofcom, which regulates TV advertising, to devise a 'sliding scale' for which ads may be shown and when. 'Red light' foods are likely to be barred during children's programming, with controls progressively relaxed for programmes that both adults and children might watch, like the soaps, and phased out after the watershed.
Jeremy Preston, director of the industry-funded Food Advertising Unit, said: 'If this is about the demonisation of individual products, that's wrong, because what we should be looking at is what constitutes a healthy diet.'
The white paper has been overshadowed by furious debate over smoking. The working group commissioned by the Department of Health to tackle workplace issues is understood to have recommended a ban, but Reid's plans - while likely to ensure only a minority of pubs and clubs allow smokers - will stop well short of that.
Unions want an outright ban to protect bar workers.



amber - bursztyn, kolor bursztynowy
ban - zakaz; zakazywać
barred - zabroniony
catchy- chwytliwy, wpadający w ucho
centrepiece - przedmiot dumy
chlamydia - chlamydia (drobnoustrój)
commission - zlecać, zamawiać
considerably - znacznie
constitute - konstytuować, stanowić
demonisation - demonizacja
determine - determinować, określać
disclose - ujawniać, wyjawiać
fall short of - nie spełniać (np. oczekiwań)
fat-laden- obładowany tłuszczem
forefront - czoło
infuriate - rozwścieczać
ingredient - składnik
issue - wyposażać, wprowadzać w obieg
kit - zestaw
label - etykieta
manufacturer - producent
nutritious - pożywny
obesity - otyłość
offset - rozliczać
outright- zupełny
overshadow - przyćmiewać, rzucać cień
over-the-counter - odręczny (o sprzedaży leków)
perilous - niebezpieczny
phase out - usuwać
readymade meal- gotowy do użytku, gotowy do spożycia
retreat - odwrót
sexually transmitted disease - choroba przenoszona drogą płciową
signify - oznaczać, mieć znaczenie
slide - ślizg
sparingly - oszczędnie
stuffed - wypchany
supposedly - przypuszczalnie, prawdopodobnie
sustain - podtrzymywać
tackle - radzić sobie, rozprawiać się
target - celować
to excess - do przesady
watchdog - nadzór
watershed - przełom, punkt krytyczny


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