Smarten the Hell Up Already

Pretty angry title, eh?

What's this about?  This time it's about an article I came across today: "Ontario doctors urge junk food warning labels and taxes/OMA launches campaign to fight obesity".

Here's some highlights:

"Unhealthy foods should be taxed the same way tobacco is as part of an effort to battle childhood obesity, Ontario doctors say."

"The OMA says three-quarters of overweight children will remain so in adulthood, with health effects ranging from diabetes to certain types of cancer and heart disease."
OK. Stop. There are foods on the market that knowingly can cause cancer?  For how long and which ones exactly?

Anyways, back to the article: "The group suggests that the province introduce policies including:

Increasing taxes on junk food and decreasing taxes on healthy foods.

Restricting marketing of fatty and sugary foods to children.

Placing graphic warning labels on pop and other high-calorie foods with little to no nutritional value.

Adding retail displays of high-sugar, high-fat foods to prominently advise consumers of the health risks.

Restricting the availability of sugary, low-nutritional value foods in sports and other recreational facilities frequented by young people.

Just as graphic images are required on cigarette packages, the doctors said, junk food such as french fries should come in packaging illustrating the toll obesity takes on the body. Potential images include a foot with an open wound meant to reflect on a problem that people with diabetes may suffer, or a liver riddled with fatty liver disease."

Wow. That's quite a checklist.

I don't know if anyone has noticed but in the last year, a bag of potato chips have already doubled in price to $4.00 a bag.  That's not a tax?  Plain and simple, it's gouging.  Where are the extra two dollars per bag going?  Anyways, you don't have to advertise obesity, I can see it just by going outside.

"The OMA, led by president Dr. Doug Weir, is starting its own advertising campaign against low nutritional foods, saying such a move helped bring smoking rates down and could help lead to better eating habits."

Uh - graphic warning labels and taxing cigarettes haven't changed smoking rates and they won't deter anyone from eating fun foods.  That's why this is called a blatant "bullshit cash-grab": nothing changes and these "doctors" get money in their pockets.  I added the word bullshit because it adds some colour. 

But saying a bag of chips or a side of fries is unhealthy as a pack of smokes?  Are the members of the OMA really that dumb?

Here's the major cause of obesity, ready?  And I'll dumb it down for some members of the OMA so they can follow it:  fat man marries fat woman and has...that's right, fat kids.  It's genetics.

I don't know who's getting off on this but just stop already. How about trying to stop acting like a group of greedy, overbearing assholes that like seeing their names in the paper? 

Now that would be a trick.

Here's the article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/10/23/obesity-tax-oma.html?cmp=rss