If all this tax and regulation sounds familiar, well, it is.
Calls for the government to intervene to regulate excess sugar consumption have been compared to the anti-smoking movement.
Just like Big Tobacco, Big Sugar could be the next big public health campaign.
Some have suggested that the sugar industry is approaching its Tobacco Moment - when regulators need to step in to protect society before any more harm is done.Hey, I'm not making this shit up, you understand.
The Credit Suisse report argues that regulators should adopt strategies from the battle against smoking to fight the looming war with sugar.
The template would include restricting advertising space to hurt marketing appeal, increase tax on foods containing added sugar, and including health warnings on labels.Like this, perhaps.
Yes, it's a template stolen from the tobacco industry, as I've said many times before. I described the process in detail here way back in January 2009.
It's also a template denied by the likes of ASH and the Smokefree Action Coalition as being a fantasy. Or, as Debs "light the blue touch paper and retire" Arnott put it, "patently false".
The effective regulation of sugar consumption needs to focus on the individual.
This is where plain packaging, health warnings on labels and public education campaigns are likely to have great impact. But could we go further?"Further" than plain packaging?
Just as we have bottle shops for alcohol, imagine dedicated party shops or segregated areas in supermarkets where sugar-laden foods such as confectionary (sic), sweetened beverages, bottled sauces and breakfast cereals would be sold. The goal would be to drive home awareness of the prevalence of added sugar in foods and its negative impact on our health.The naughty corner for Mars bars, Coco Pops and Coca-Cola? Yes, I do believe that is what is being suggested. Behind shutters so kids don't see them too, presumably.
This is a powerful message which seems to be saying that society is not prepared to wait for slow-moving governments, regulators (and, dare I say, academia) to provide conclusive evidence of sugar's detrimental effects.Evidence? Pah! Who needs evidence?
Whatever you may think, please remember that this is not a slippery slope. It is, in fact, merely what is termed "the most unslippery slippery dip I've ever seen in my life".
Got that?
