Sugar tax may be necessary, England's chief medical officer says

[Northerner]

A sugar tax may have to be introduced to curb obesity rates, the chief medical officer for England has said.

Dame Sally Davies told a committee of MPs that unless the government was strong with food and drink manufacturers, it was unlikely they would reformulate their products.

She said she believed "research will find sugar is addictive", and that "we may need to introduce a sugar tax".

The food industry said it was working on reducing sugar in products.

Speaking to the health select committee, Dame Sally said: "We have a generation of children who, because they're overweight and their lack of activity, may well not live as long as my generation.

"They will be the first generation that live less, and that is of great concern."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26442420

Erm, why not try and educate the public about carbs?

 

[Pumper_Sue]

It's a stealth tax as most of it has a 20% tax on it anyway (VAT) Perhaps a better option would be to lower the price of healthier foods and drink.

 

[gossamersquare]

Does that mean they are going to up the tax on "diet" food? After all, thats higher in sugar than normal foods!