|
||||||||||||||||||
    
|
|
 Despite what Mireille Guiliano would have you believe, the French apparently really do get fat. Or at least, they get fat enough to cause the French government to consider taxing its notoriously fattening food options in an effort to slim down the population. In their convoluted logic, by forcing all of its denizens to pay more for butter, cheese, chocolate and extra salty foods, it will encourage the percentage of fat population to lose weight. Riiiiight. Because taxing has worked so well at curbing one's taste for other vices, such as tobacco or liquor? There are so many problems with this logic! First of all, food isn't a moral judgment. It's food. Plain and simple. Secondly, everyone eats food. Fat people, skinny people, in-between people. Sure, they don't have to choose to eat chocolate, but isn't the world a better place with a little bacon or a bit of delicious gruyere? And explain to me exactly how the price of these types of foods are contributing to the so-called obesity epidemic? Haven't those foods always been available, in reasonably the same quantities and qualities, way before everyone started their hand-wringing about our collectively widening backsides? Are people really fat because they eat too many cookies? And even if they were, would they actually stop because a package of cookies costs 50 cents more? Seems to me that no one has done any quantitative analysis here. No, it's easier to just point fingers at possible solutions so that it seems as though you're doing something. It reminds me of the TSA banning liquids from carry-on luggage because someone in another country tried to do something with liquids and their attempt failed before the regulations were even in place. Huh? In this case, taxing fatty, sugary and salty foods probably won't actually solve the problem at hand but at least the French government looks like it's doing something. And, if you don't think about it too much, you'll forget about the fact that they're actually using the fear of fatness to make a bunch of extra money in the process. Wow. You almost have to admire the spin on that. 4 CommentsLeave a comment |
|
![[Self's Reach Your Goal ad]](http://elasticwaist.com/ads/slf_goals08_275x225.gif)
Send your queries to us at
info@elasticwaist.com Check out Elastic Waist on MySpace.com. Follow Weetabix on Twitter |
||||||||||||||
FEED ME
I'm in favor of the tax if, and only if, the tax money is used to promote healthy habits. If they want to add a 5% tax to cheeseburgers (or the French equivalent) and then build recreation centers that are free to the public, or increase free diabetes education programs, or something else that is FREE and promotes public health, then okay. I figure that way everybody wins. The tax isn't prohibitively expensive and everyone benefits from the revenue. I would happily pay a small amount more for yummy unhealthy food if it helped build new bike lanes in my neighborhood.
Japan has a law that requires large and government companies to measure the waists of their 40-74 yeah old employees. If the employee's waist is too large (over 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women), they are given 3 months to start losing weight, or they receive 'dieting guidance'. After six month, they will be 'steered towards further re-education'.
Companies can be taxed according to how many employees are overweight. Check it out here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/world/asia/13fat.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin.
This is beyond my comprehension, because if you tried to implement it in North America, all hell would break loose, and then some! And the limits are kind of strict, especially for people who are naturally larger.
Japan has a law that requires large and government companies to measure the waists of their 40-74 yeah old employees. If the employee's waist is too large (over 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women), they are given 3 months to start losing weight, or they receive 'dieting guidance'. After six month, they will be 'steered towards further re-education'.
Companies can be taxed according to how many employees are overweight. Check it out here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/world/asia/13fat.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin.
This is beyond my comprehension, because if you tried to implement it in North America, all hell would break loose, and then some! And the limits are kind of strict, especially for people who are naturally larger.
Japanese researchers find no support for healthy weight guidelines