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A cross-party group of British MPs has called for a nationwide ban on new fast-food outlets opening near schools and tougher restrictions on junk food advertising, arguing that stronger action is needed to tackle the UK’s growing obesity crisis. The recommendations are part of a new report by the Commons Health Committee, which says decades of fragmented policies have failed to reverse rising obesity levels, according to a report by The Guardian.<\/p>
The committee has urged the UK government to give local councils greater powers to prevent takeaway chains from opening close to schools, saying current planning laws contain loopholes that allow many fast-food businesses to bypass local restrictions.<\/p>
READ THIS:\u00a0From deal to delivery: India-UK trade pact kicks in as first shipments leave Indian shores<\/strong><\/p> Committee chair Layla Moran, Liberal Democrat MP, said the country’s food environment has become overwhelmingly unhealthy, particularly for children.<\/p> “It has become common sense that if we want to stem the tide of the obesity epidemic in children, we should be removing the temptation of fast food outlets in the vicinity of schools and areas of high levels of childhood obesity,” Moran was quoted as saying by The Guardian.<\/p> She also called on ministers to curb “the constant bombardment of promotions and adverts we see and hear in our daily lives” and to empower local authorities to challenge major fast-food chains more effectively.<\/p> According to The Guardian, the report highlights that obesity now affects 66% of adults and 28% of children aged 13 to 15 in England. MPs estimate the condition costs the UK economy \u00a374 billion annually through healthcare expenses, lost productivity and related illnesses.<\/p> The committee also criticised Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government for failing to fully implement promised reforms on unhealthy diets and obesity prevention. The MPs argued that ministers should be “more courageous” in resisting pressure from the food industry and prioritise public health.<\/p> ALSO READ:\u00a0Spicing the menu: Why global food giants ditch their signature recipes for India<\/strong><\/p> Beyond restricting takeaway outlets, the report recommends banning outdoor advertising for foods high in fat, sugar and salt on billboards and public transport. It also proposes mandatory front-of-pack traffic-light nutrition labels on all food products, prominent placement of fruits and vegetables in supermarkets, and requiring food manufacturers to disclose how much of their sales come from healthy and unhealthy products.<\/p> The Advertising Association opposed the proposed advertising restrictions, saying there is no clear evidence that advertising bans reduce obesity rates. However, MPs insisted that a comprehensive national strategy is essential after hundreds of obesity initiatives introduced since the early 1990s have delivered limited results, The Guardian reported.<\/p> <\/div> UK, obesity crisis, fast food ban near schools, junk food outlets, childhood obesity UK, Layla Moran, UK health committee, food advertising ban, Keir Starmer government, The Guardian, obesity prevention#Fastfood #lovers #note #eyes #strict #rules #takeaways #junk #food #ads1784117755<\/p> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A cross-party group of British MPs has called for a nationwide ban on new fast-food outlets opening near schools and tougher restrictions on junk food advertising, arguing that stronger action is needed to tackle the UK’s growing obesity crisis. The recommendations are part of a new report by the Commons Health Committee, which says decades […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[152,46418,1555,46416,46425,9271,46421,46427,46417,46422,46419,46426,5074,46415,46424,560,37953,6269,46423,10755,46420],"class_list":["post-11687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content-marketing","tag-ads","tag-childhood-obesity-uk","tag-eyes","tag-fast-food-ban-near-schools","tag-fastfood","tag-food","tag-food-advertising-ban","tag-junk","tag-junk-food-outlets","tag-keir-starmer-government","tag-layla-moran","tag-lovers","tag-note","tag-obesity-crisis","tag-obesity-prevention","tag-rules","tag-strict","tag-takeaways","tag-the-guardian","tag-uk","tag-uk-health-committee"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}