Excise duty on sugar and meat, as well as the subsidy of vegetables and fruit, is one of the proposals that Karen Ellemann, Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers wrote about in Wednesday’s DN Debate. She suggests that the Nordic countries should jointly raise the tax on meat and sugar.
– We welcome proposals that can help us create the conditions for healthy lifestyles. We know that excess weight, obesity, increases the risk of various forms of cancer, says Cancer Foundation Secretary General Ulrika Årehed Kågström.
“Protect future generations”
Ulrika Årehed Kågström tells us that a large percentage of children and adults today are overweight.
– Overweight, obesity, increases the risk of 13 different forms of cancer. We need to help ourselves as individuals make healthier choices.
She cites the fight against smoking as a good example. Marketing regulations and taxes to protect future generations have reduced smoking. And she believes that the lessons learned should be used in more areas, such as food.
– 80 percent of the advertising that children encounter in their everyday lives is about unhealthy food. It increases the desire for this type of product.
Make it easy for us to do the right thing
According to the Cancer Foundation, there is plenty of evidence from other countries that regulations of this type work. And when surveys are conducted among the public, it turns out that many people want help in making healthy choices.
– This is why they have banned this type of advertising against children in London’s subways and that they have added a tax.