Obesity Activist’s Attack on Government Won’t Slim the Nation

An obesity activist’s attack on practical Government initiatives to promote healthier lifestyles for New Zealanders ignores the good work being done and does nothing to reduce obesity in New Zealand, says Food and Grocery Council (FGC) Chief Executive, Katherine Rich.

Mrs Rich is responding to yesterday’s comments from Robyn Toomath, of the Obesity Action Coalition, who said the Government’s work was a “tragedy” and that the obesity issue had “disappeared off the radar”.

"This is inflammatory nonsense. The Government, on behalf of New Zealand taxpayers, continues to spend millions of dollars on many health initiatives designed to encourage healthier lifestyles. Healthy food and exercise messages remain an integral part of New Zealand’s education and health services and our members continue play a key role.”

“There are many positive initiatives currently being supported, including practical projects to encourage the reformulation of foods, the encouragement of physical activity in schools and the community, and the promotion of healthier lifestyles through public health campaigns.”

Mrs Rich says that it is accepted that obesity is linked with many negative health outcomes, but that many of the interventions championed by obesity activists will make no difference to these outcomes.

“For example, the argument that more New Zealanders are getting fat, therefore the Government needs to implement sugar taxes and fat taxes is not only a weak argument, but the worst kind of non sequitur. Such taxes won’t work and will do little more than hike foods prices and increase every family’s food bill.”

Mrs Rich says that the use of phrases such as “Big Food” are deliberately emotive and misleading. It’s designed by activists to create the image that the food industry is a single target and to connect obesity issues to the tobacco debate.

“It’s a ridiculous comparison. Harm from smoking is unavoidable, harm from food comes from overeating and unbalanced diets. Likewise the most popular high fat food is probably fish and chips sold from individual shops up and down New Zealand – hardly “Big Food”.”

“Tobacco-like health warnings on food packaging is an extreme idea. Some of the foods that New Zealanders enjoy are high in sugar or fat, but pictures of fat tummies on product labels are more likely to annoy or insult everyone rather than encourage healthier diets.”

Mrs Rich says that pointing to the funding cut of Fight the Obesity Epidemic, an activist group, is not evidence that the Government is not taking the obesity issue seriously.

“The group did little more than issue inflammatory statements “declaring war” on the food sector, call on the Government to “ban access” to certain foods, and promote unusual theories like the “scream test” for working with food companies.”

“I am sure most Kiwis would say the Minister of Health, Tony Ryall made the right decision by redirecting the group’s funding into more useful areas.”

“Our members continue to be involved in the promotion of health eating messages, which complement Government initiatives across the Health and Education portfolios.” Mrs Rich said. ENDS

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