According to British general practitioner Dr David Walker chocolate should be thought of as a dangerous substance and dealt with and taxed in the same way as cigarettes and alcohol.
According to Dr Walker chocolate is a major factor in driving up the ever escalating rates of obesity in British children and adults.
This epidemic will take far more lives than alcohol and tobacco combined, as such the major causes of obesity should be looked at as a threat to public health.
A generation ago, a chocolate bar was seen as a special treat, but these days chocolate consumption is at an all-time high with no apparent indication that it will stop its ever-increasing sales boom.
According to the doctor, large numbers of individuals actually take in a complete days of calorie requirements in chocolate alone and that this is often not an occasional event but a daily routine.
He said that chocolate was a major contributor to the mushrooming diabetes and cardiovascular disease problems found in the UK. He went on to say that, a heavy tax on chocolate and other “dangerous” foods would help to slow down the obesity problem as well help in funding the treatment of the obesity health epidemic.
Walker’s proposal says that the chocolate tax cash would go directly into the British National Health Service to pay for treatment of diseases and conditions related to overeating of these dangerous foods.
Not surprisingly, the food industry’s public voice the Food and Drink Federation came out against such measures saying that adding taxes to chocolate and other goods would not change the nation’s eating habits and pointing out that chocolate is already taxed with the nation’s Value Added Tax system.
