Thursday, March 23rd, 2006
Doctor wants tax on junk food to fight obesity
OTTAWA — Junk food should be taxed to combat the epidemic of childhood obesity, says Dr. Ruth Collins-Nakai, president of the Canadian Medical Association.
Collins-Nakai, a cardiologist who works with young people, says Canada has the second-highest rate of pre-school obesity in the world, after China.
‘‘Healthy choices should be cheaper and more readily available,’’ she said after a speech Wednesday to the Canadian Club. ‘‘The corollary is that you make unhealthy choices less available and one way to do that is to tax them. Certainly it works for cigarettes.’’
Her comments go beyond a resolution passed at the CMA’s last general meeting, which called on governments to ban junk food sales at all schools in Canada.
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