Ontario Medical Association calling for warning labels similar to cigarette labels on junk food afte
29 replies, posted
[h2]MDs accused of demonizing fatty, sugary snacks after call for graphic junk food warnings[/h2]
[tab]Mock-ups created by the Ontario Medical Association include a pop can with a photo of a foot afflicted by diabetic ulcers, and a pizza box emblazoned with the image of a discoloured organ and a warning that eating too many slices could result in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.[/tab][img]http://nationalpostnews.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/untitled-19.jpg?w=620[/img]
[quote]For years now, frustrated doctors, faced with a growing obesity epidemic and its dire health consequences, have advocated a succession of dramatic measures to combat the problem, often likening the risks of bad eating habits to the dangers of smoking.
A major doctors’ group took the trend a provocative step further Tuesday, swiping an idea directly from the anti-tobacco movement and calling for the same kind of graphic warning labels found on cigarette packs to be slapped on certain food products, to highlight their risks.
One mock-up created by the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) shows a take-out pizza box emblazoned with the image of a slimy, discoloured organ and warning that downing too many slices could result in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Another shows a child’s juice box featuring a photo of a foot afflicted by ugly diabetic ulcers. “Excess consumption of this product contributes to obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and related complications,” it warns.
Doug Weir, the association’s president, said it was time to stop “tip-toeing” around the risks associated with certain foods.
[img]http://nationalpostnews.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/pizza_obesity_warning.jpg[/img]
“The recommendations … may appear radical to some, but the urgency of our situation demands aggressive action,” the OMA said in a background article. “The lessons learned from the strategies of the tobacco-control movement should be applied to the fight against obesity.”
But one food industry representative called the warning labels “over the top” and unlikely to be as effective as a campaign promoting a more balanced, healthy diet.
“I think it’s shocking that medical doctors would be comparing food to tobacco,” said Derek Nighbor, a vice president at Food and Consumer Products Canada. “They’re demonizing individual products and certain categories, and they’re ignoring the overall balanced diet message, which I think is seriously irresponsible.”
[img]http://nationalpostnews.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/chocolate_milk_warning.jpg[/img]
As well as the warning labels for pop and other high-calorie foods with little nutritional value, the OMA urged for policies requiring store displays for such products to be prominently marked with similar health warnings. It also recommended: higher taxes on junk food and reduced taxes on healthy foods; restrictions on marketing of fatty and sugary food to children; and limiting the availability of those products in recreational facilities frequented by young people.
The group says obesity is now a “full-scale public-health crisis,” resulting in soaring levels of heart disease, diabetes and other serious maladies. Statistics Canada suggests that more than 26% of children aged 5 to 17 are either overweight or obese.
Dr. Weir said he even sees the fallout in his child psychiatry practice, with numerous patients suffering emotional problems because of being obese.
The OMA’s proposals add to a growing list of contentious strategies on the issue emerging from the public health world. A leading Calgary hypertension expert called earlier this year for excessive amounts of sugar, salt and saturated fats to be labelled as “pathogens” — a word normally applied to viruses and other disease-causing bugs. An article in the journal Nature suggested an age limit for buying sugared soft drinks, while another paper suggested that child-welfare officials should temporarily take certain obese children away from their parents.
[h2]"Currently we are living in a food environment that is [more] different than it has ever been" [/h2]
Two researchers specializing in obesity and public health called the OMA’s ideas a good start, at least, in an area where Canadian governments have not done a great deal.
The intensity and frequency of marketing for unhealthy foods has reached historically high levels, making it one of several factors that has altered society’s approach to eating, said Catherine Mah, head of the food-policy research initiative at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.
“Currently we are living in a food environment that is [more] different than it has ever been,” she said. “It’s the environment that actually subverts our ability to make healthy choices.”
Many changes are needed to address the obesity epidemic, but countering the influences children face to eat poorly is certainly an important one, said Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, an Ottawa-based obesity specialist.
“They’re growing up in a world that pushes them constantly and relentlessly toward calories and foods of very questionable and poor nutrition,” he said.
But Brett Skinner, a health analyst who heads the fledgling, market-oriented Canadian Health Policy Institute, said that dramatic government intervention is not the solution to the obesity problem, since poor eating is only one of the factors that causes weight problems.
“I suspect that obesity affects a very small percentage of people who consume less-healthy kinds of foods,” he said. “And that the vast majority of people who eat those kinds of foods are not obese.”[/quote]
[url=http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/10/23/mds-accused-of-demonizing-fatty-surgery-foods-after-call-for-graphic-junk-food-warnings/]National Post[/url]
[tab]Dr, Doug Weir, president of the Ontario Medical Association, after a news conference in Toronto on Tuesday. "Hater's gonna hate." Mr.Weir said.[/tab][img]http://nationalpostnews.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/health_obesity_report_20121023.jpg[/img]
I've always had an idea like this. But not this farfetched. You see, trans fats make everything taste better. Much like smoking cigarettes, people who enjoy the fatty goodness of trans fats should be able to obtain these foods just as much as someone looking for Saturated fats. [b]OR ANY FATS[/b] (i understand both are really bad for you). And in all retrospect, the government ALREADY has a space for their information, which they could make even more use of. Take this for example, and bear with me here, I'm in a rush and don't have the time to open photoshop up and start editing.
[img]http://www.ontarionatural.ca/sites/default/files/nutrition/Nutrition_WholeTomatoes_796mL.jpg[/img]
Let me direct your eyes to where the fats are located, maybe even things such as sodium. Once the fat content deems the food "Unhealthy" they should highlight (IN RED, CAUSE RED=DEAD) the area where the fats are listed. That way, consumers are aware of what is in what they're purchasing, and can go from there.
But putting a bunch of french fries (Clearly mcdonalds fries too) in a cigarette box and labelling it "BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH" (Yes I know it's just a mock-up) just sounds redundant and controversial
They should do this with video games too while they are at it. There is no limit for this kinda stuff since everything is bad for your health in this world!
[QUOTE][IMG]http://nationalpostnews.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/untitled-19.jpg?w=620[/IMG][/QUOTE]
I didn't know that junk food causes you to shoot yourself in the foot.
[IMG]http://nationalpostnews.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/pizza_obesity_warning.jpg[/IMG]
Now that is fucking delicious
They should also doing it for going outside too!
HARMFUL SUN RAYS CAN CAUSE CANCER.
CARBON DIOXIDE CAN CAUSE LUNG CANCER
can't say i disagree
fat people are gross
[editline]26th October 2012[/editline]
and fat
By this rate, graphic designers will go excint in the the not so distant future.
[QUOTE=kevlar jens;38185700]By this rate, graphic designers will go excint in the the not so distant future.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://tablesidestories.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/saddondraper.png[/img]
[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;38185655]They should also doing it for going outside too!
HARMFUL SUN RAYS CAN CAUSE CANCER.
CARBON DIOXIDE CAN CAUSE LUNG CANCER[/QUOTE]
DRINKING WATER CAN KILL YOU [sp]If you drink 10 leters in one hour[/sp]
everybody knows this stuff is bad for you okay people are fat because nobody gives a shit
Jesus and I already hate the ones on the cigarette packages that's fine though but this is just plain stupid, the warning labels on cigarettes are for trying to get people to smoke less/quit but putting pictures like the diabetes one on soda is just plain ridiculous.
I don't see why they are trying to get people to feel guilty over eating food.
[QUOTE=NightmareXx;38185760]everybody knows this stuff is bad for you okay people are fat because nobody gives a shit[/QUOTE]
If my memory serves me correctly, smoking cessation increases in countries that institute graphic labeling; everyone knows the risks of smoking too.
I don't agree with this type of thing, but there are probably people out there who are trying to lose weight and will be affected by some small motivation.
[QUOTE=NightmareXx;38185760]everybody knows this stuff is bad for you okay people are fat because nobody gives a shit[/QUOTE]
People are fat because they are too stupid and/or don't even realise (hard to believe) the implications of eating tons of junk food.
That's where this comes in. Maybe.
[QUOTE=Billiam;38185915]If my memory serves me correctly, smoking cessation increases in countries that institute graphic labeling; everyone knows the risks of smoking too.
I don't agree with this type of thing, but there are probably people out there who are trying to lose weight and will be affected by some small motivation.[/QUOTE]
Yeah but if someone wants to smoke the graphic label doesn't help at all, I know many people who started smoking and didn't care what was on the package, it only really discourages people from starting.
This won't really help people lost weight, people who quit smoking aren't the ones who see a girl with a whole in their neck then decide to quit but ones who decided that they want to quit. Anyone who stops eating stuff like this because of warning labels won't really stop and will get used to the package and eat anyways, if they want to lose weight they will if not then nothing will change anyways no matter how many pictures are on the soda can, just like people who start smoking they get used to it.
Im a dumb sheep who needs the government to tell me right from wrong, please help me i dont know what to eat!
[editline]26th October 2012[/editline]
Like honestly if you are too lazy or stupid to do a marginal amount of research pertaining to proper eating and health you deserve to get shot in the foot and have a tape measure wrapped around your liver
Great time to have a phobia of holes on the skin....
[QUOTE=Speedhax;38186374]Great time to have a phobia of holes on the skin....[/QUOTE]
Do you also have a fear of vaginas
Can we fuck off with the idea of scaring people off things with disgusting pictures? If someone isn't going to listen (or notice) a label with a skull and crossbones on it, they're not going to listen to a label with a picture of serious medical condition.
[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;38186386]Do you also have a fear of vaginas[/QUOTE]
those are sexy holes in the skin though
totally different
[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;38186386]Do you also have a fear of vaginas[/QUOTE]
I might not have been specific, I have a phobia of clusters and unnatural holes on the skin.
Ban capitalism. It gives people the right to choose how much food they want, and their calorie intake.
How would this work for food not served in a box and whatnot? Like Chipotle?
Fuckers aren't taking my Chipotle god damn it. I'll set the building on fire.
they should start dong this for everything
"Warning: Using a Macbook makes you look like a faggot"
I don't like liver on pizza
I think it would be better to show pictures of fat people with a label saying "eating too much of <insert food/drink here> will make you look like this".
rip Erik Wolfpaw's pink cookie
if Valve was in Canada
Why the fuck would I eat something with a picture of some rotting organs on the package?
I'd just puke all over the pizza.
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