Health matters

Food, the next frontier. What should we Scots do about our appalling diet? The press today reveals that the Scottish Diet Action Plan has failed, with only one of its nine targets on course to be achieved. Meanwhile, the Executive publishes a bill to ban junk food from schools. Ian Bell in The Herald tries to work up some enthusiasm for radical action (here):

"Our Scottish Executive says that several items deemed foodstuffs should no longer be fed to the children in our schools. No-one disputes this seriously. But if that version of nutrition is deemed horribly dangerous to children, why not reverse the argument? Why feed, or allow to be fed, such garbage to adults, for whom the word "consumer" begins to acquire a certain porcine, Animal Farm echo?
Is junk food dangerous, or is it not? If healthy, why isolate kids? If likely to kill people prematurely – like booze, or fags, or heroin – why allow adults to set appalling examples to those smaller humans? Since when did human liberty involve the right of stockholders to profit from the deliberate slaughter of gluttons?
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Ban a few disgusting things. At least we might be around for long enough afterwards to dispute the decision."

I have some sympathy with the argument. And I have no doubt that some of those in the Executive Health Department would like to take it further. But there is nothing morally or even nutritionally wrong with the occasional poke of chips, or a slice of pizza, or a mince pie, or a burger or even - once in a while - a fizzy drink. The problem arises when these items take an undue prominence in someone's diet. Can you ban chips? Is it just or fair to close down chippies all over the country because some people abuse them? And where does personal responsibility enter the equation? No, I would suggest that the Executive's current policy of encouragement, education and culture change - at least for adults - may be boring and not particularly successful but is probably about right. Not all issues can be resolved by politicians.