GPs call for soft-drink tax and banning of pre-watershed adverts - "junk food should be treated like

[matt.ant]

[QUOTE=Stewox;39653849]Facepalm

[img]http://www.jcprojects.net/qqblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc00527-300x225.jpg[/img]
[/QUOTE]

What? he said:

"I'm struggling to think of any drinks that contain no sugar enough as it is"

So I listed some drinks with no sugar and you then facepalmed and took a photo of a drink that says "0 sugar cola" on the side?

If you're implying that a drink with 0 calories and aspartame that everyone keeps banging on about will make you as fat as drinking something with 30g of sugar and 150 calories, you're wrong.

[Ownederd]

i don't see what's wrong with this and i think junk food should be regulated and taxed, just like alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana

the tax revenue can go to health and human services

[inaba]

[QUOTE=Ownederd;39657634]i don't see what's wrong with this and i think junk food should be regulated and taxed, just like alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana

the tax revenue can go to health and human services[/QUOTE]

Because it works so well to tax it/raise the tax.
It will only make it harder for the poorer to buy it, and it won't stop them.

[JustExtreme]

Yeah anyone with a problem i.e. consuming junk food compulsively or alcohol or tobacco or whatever will just keep buying it anyway even if it means they have to borrow a ton of cash if they have a serious issue.

Raising taxes is raising taxes, you can dress it up all you like as being an altruistic act but that doesn't change what it is.

As far as I know the NHS isn't supposed to discriminate in the treatment it provides based on lifestyle. If you do something risky like eating a ton of big macs each week or going horseriding every weekend I don't see why you should be refused care should something go wrong as a result.

I can kind of see the value in the opinion I've come across that certain things should mean you have to pay more tax to the NHS to factor in personal responsibility for actions in regard to health but that isn't how the system is designed and it can often be difficult to tell if someone's personal choice caused a particular health problem or whether it was caused by something perhaps beyond their control such as undiagnosed mental illness or genetic predisposition or even social inequality.

We all have our strengths, flaws, and differences in lifestyle choices. I don't like the idea that just because some people choose to abuse fizzy beverages or junk food that everyone who consumes those things, responsibly or not, has to pay the consequence.