David Shearer –
The first thing the National government did when it came to power in 2008 was change the law to allow junk food back into schools.
Since then our children have become some of the most obese in the world – 36% are overweight or obese, with the number rising to 60% for Pacific Island children and 40% in Maori children.
Through no fault of their own, children in New Zealand now have a far greater risk of diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. In other words: shorter lives.
Harmful food
Ironically, the junk food industry uses images of fit people exercising to sell its products.
They lobby us, and the government, with a message of personal choice: that exercise can protect us from obesity and diabetes. Well, that’s not true. Research shows that diet is by far the greatest factor in the obesity problems we face.
As reported recently in the Guardian, “This is not the result of a sudden onset of greed or a widespread lack of self-control. It is because a powerful and highly competitive food and drinks industry has transformed the national diet.”
Preventable risk
Next year, obesity will overtake tobacco as New Zealand’s leading preventable health risk.
It is a result of junk food in schools, cheap fizzy drinks sold at low prices, hidden sugar in processed food, inadequate food labelling, high overall food prices, and junk-food advertising aimed at children.
Not only is obesity limiting the potential of our next generation, it is also burdening taxpayers with outsized health costs. Our public health system is currently bracing for the impact of a generation with record-breaking levels of type two diabetes and heart disease.
Unhealthy decision
So, where is the government in this public health crisis?
This year they voted down my ‘Healthy Food in Schools’ bill, which would have seen gardening and nutrition taught in primary schools, and fresh produce available to children.
More recently they have put out a report on obesity, which completely ignores the role of junk food manufacturers in this health crisis.
When it is considered normal in New Zealand for the government to regulate other health risks, like alcohol and tobacco, why can’t they do the same for the food that is making our children sick?
If the government is serious about the health of the next generation, they would restrict junk-food marketing to children, putting healthy food policies and vegetable gardens into schools, and introducing proper food labels people can understand – especially for sugar — instead of bowing down to the food manufacturing lobby.
Hope fizzles
There was a glimmer of hope recently when the Health Ministry decided to ban fizzy drinks in hospitals. The health professionals considered them the wrong food that would lead to ill-health. Yet our schools are out there actively promoting them.
Given the urgent, tragic and expensive problems facing our children, banning these same foods in our schools is well overdue.
I would like to see a turnaround from our government: some courageous leadership in an area currently threatening our economy and affecting so many young lives.
David Shearer is Member of Parliament elected from Mt Albert Constituency in Auckland and is Labour Party’s Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Consumer Affairs.
