Tax junk food to fight obesity, top doctor says
Mar.*22, 2006. 05:54*PM
CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA ‹ Junk food should be taxed to combat the epidemic of childhood
obesity, says Dr. Ruth Collins-Nakai, president of the Canadian Medical
Association.

Collins-Nakai, a cardiologist who works with young people, says Canada
has the second-highest rate of pre-school obesity in the world, after
China.

"Healthy choices should be cheaper and more readily available," she
said after a speech today to the Canadian Club.

"The corollary is that you make unhealthy choices less available and
one way to do that is to tax them. Certainly it works for cigarettes."

Her comments go beyond a resolution passed at the CMA's last general
meeting, which called on governments to ban junk food sales at all
schools in Canada.

Bill Jeffery of the Centre for Science in the Public Interest said
many health organizations have already called for a fat tax, including
the World Health Organization.

"She's in good company," he said.

Collins-Nakai said children's health is being forgotten at a time of
increasing baby-boomer demands on the health system.

Canada now ranks in the bottom third of OECD countries for child
mortality, while as recently as the 1980s it ranked in the top third,
she said.

"This decline is a national disgrace. We simply must do more for child
health."

Collins-Nakai also used her Canadian Club appearance to comment on the
controversy over public versus private health care.

She said the CMA has drawn up a list of principles that should be
applied to both sectors. The principles include timely access, equity,
choice, comprehensiveness, quality and efficiency ‹ but there's no
reference to the Canada Health Act.

The CMA supports the Conservative government's promise to establish
"care guarantees" which would allow patients to visit another
jurisdiction if they cannot get timely care at home.

Collins-Nakai said she was disappointed that Alberta did not include
care guarantees in its so-called third way health reform proposals.

She said the Alberta strategy could pit public-health care providers
against private providers.

She also asked who will regulate Quebec's health system, following its
recent reforms, to ensure quality care in the private sector.