In "Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables" by Mark Bittman, the ideas of taxing unhealthful foods were brought up - a tax that is much similar to a sin tax, such as those put on tobacco and alcohol. However, my initial impression when I read about this idea was that the diets of Americans are their responsibility. If Americans want to eat junk food, they should have the right to; and if they want to enjoy healthy foods, they have the right to do that as well. But as I kept reading, Bittman mentions that public health is the role of the government, from water treatment to mass transit. Bittman's statement gave me a new perspective about this issue in which the blame for unhealthy foods is not completely on Americans, but on the government. Another thing that interested me was how a sin tax on unhealthy foods would be used to promote healthy lifestyle programs. I know that lifestyle programs such as Michelle Obama's were successful in bringing awareness to Americans about the importance of healthy eating, but I would be interested to know if a program promoted by the FDA would ever launch. Knowing the FDA, they seem to have a bias towards food manufacturers that bring in the most profit, and those manufacturers generally sell unhealthy foods.
A point that Bittman made was related to one of my research sources, which is comparing the issue of unhealthy foods to tobacco. The USC News article "Meat and Cheese May Be As Bad As Smoking" by Suzanne Wu shows the evident comparison of a statistic about the risk factors of eating animal products to smoking tobacco. Wu states that eating a diet rich in animal proteins during middle age makes you four times more likely to die of cancer than someone of a low-protein diet, which is an identical statistic to smokers who die of cancer. If the government action taken for smoking awareness is any similar to animal product consumption, then I'd imagine that the government will also take action for unhealthy foods as well.
"Meat and Cheese May Be As Bad As Smoking" by Suzanne Wu:
https://news.usc.edu/59199/meat-and-cheese-may-be-as-bad-for-you-as-smoking/
I definitely agree with you that the government does hold partial responsibility towards American health. Certain regulations much like the ones Michelle Obama help create do influence the nation. Perhaps if the government were to become more active in American health there would be a decrease in food related diseases.
ReplyDeleteIt's so sad to see how our government warns people about smoking, but won't tell people how meat/dairy products have been found to be just as harmful. I definitely will be using the source suggested to further support my research!
ReplyDelete