Industry Tactics Against Tobacco and Vapes Bill
Addiction Economy Thought for Today - good long form article from BBC's Hugh Pym on the importance of tackling obesity through restrictions on addictive ingredients like sugar which is missing from party Manifestos.
Sugar taxes and curbs on sugary drinks, BOGOFs and advertising were popular, but May, Johnson and Sunak have since dropped these proposals.
He cites Amanda Pritchard, the head of NHS England, who said in a recent speech: "Will we tackle problems at source, or do we accept the NHS becomes an expensive safety net?"
As he says, Tory fears of being seen as a Nanny State are often cited. We put an alternative view in our White Paper on the Economic Model of Addiction - as follows:
OPPONENTS OF MEASURES
* The Nanny State - ‘we don’t want the ‘big state’ interfering in our personal lives’
* The Right to Choose - ‘we should be free to choose to use these products even if it harms us and others’
* The market will go underground - ‘the illegal market will step in and more dangerous unregulated products will be the result’
* Effectiveness - ‘these policies don’t work and are a waste of public money’
Ideology - ‘the market is the best way to regulate society, if people didn’t want them they wouldn’t buy them'.
* Financial - ‘these companies contribute to society, give us jobs, paying taxes, they should be allowed to flourish for the economic good of the country’.
WHAT ABOUT A DIFFERENT ANGLE?
* The Neglectful state - ‘government’s are not doing their job properly if they don’t protect their citizens from harm - even from companies’
* The public interest - ‘the public interest should override the individual’s right to choose products which harm individuals and society’
* The illegal market - 'it is tough, but not insurmountable with good case studies of how effective laws and enforcement change social norms around products all the time'.
* Effectiveness - ‘this is what has been proven to work best’
* Ideology - ’as a society, we cannot afford to subsidise the social costs of the harms incurred by these companies.’
* Financial - ‘these companies are a net drain on society and the NHS and should be dismantled’.
Let's hope the Labour Party get in and ditch counter these Nanny State fears more effectively and put curbing the influence of harmful industries more central to their plans.