A fat tax for public health?

We have survived climate change policies for at least two decades. It’s a model that could be adapted to other public “crises” with a little entrepreneurial creativity and NO GOVERNMENT involvement.

Behaviour modification.

Public policy is often used to modify human behaviour for “the greater good”, correct?

Carbon taxes added to the price of fossil fuel energies aim to deter consumers and businesses from buying gasoline and CO2-emitting home heating fuels. One might think that those taxes would be used to subsidize the price of electricity to encourage its use, but that would be incorrect. Most tax revenues go to subsidize the operating costs of government institutions. Wages and employment benefits are a major part of those costs which carbon taxes subsidize.

The NO GOVERNMENT Approach

What if a similar, non-governmental approach was applied to another public crisis - METABOLIC SYNDROME?

I recently heard Dr. Peter Attia, an expert on metabolic syndrome, say the following:

“If you are a man with a waist diameter exceeding 40 inches, or a woman with a 34+ inch waist, you are most certainly suffering from metabolic syndrome.”

Metabolic syndrome is a biochemical decline in the body’s ability to process carbohydrates. It is caused by the excess consumption of sugars over many years. A large waist line indicates the presence of unwanted stores of abdominal fat that elicit chronic inflammation within the body. The over-taxed immune system weakens its ability to heal injuries, ward off cancers and fight viral and bacterial infections.

A high-sugar, processed foods diet has consequences.

It leads to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, dementia, and many other forms of illness. No one knows how much of Ontario’s health care budget is spent on patients suffering from advanced stages of metabolic syndrome, but it is sure to be significant. In the USA, estimates of 200 million citizens are afflicted. This widespread, chronic condition could easily qualify as a crisis that is every bit as serious as “climate change”.

Treatable.

The good news is that metabolic syndrome is a preventable problem if taken seriously by our citizens.

Sweet drinks and processed foods are the culprits.

The human body did not evolve to consume manufactured foods with high sugar content, preservatives, fillers, and other additives.

Corporations like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, General Mills, Kraft Foods, Kellogg’s, Nabisco, and more, have sold us snacks, breakfast cereals and other forms of industrial foods that provide calories, but not much else.

While these corporations and their shareholders build healthy bank accounts, the health of their customers becomes impoverished and they pay for it at their doctors’ offices and the drug store.

A new approach.

What if your local grocery store owner tore a page out of the government’s climate change playbook?

What if every processed food product with high sugar content and low natural nutritional value was “taxed” at 30% by the grocery store owner who would apply the “tax” proceeds to reduce the costs to shoppers of natural whole foods? This is NOT a government tax! It is a local grocery store strategy to help customers to live healthier lives and do so while remaining profitable.

Would kids begin to buy cheese, apples and carrots sticks instead of a bag of Fritos chips and a Pepsi for lunch? Would their parents prepare healthier meals and begin the family’s war against metabolic disease?

The grocery store owner would surely develop good business relationships with local farmers. Perhaps he/she would build green houses on site to grow fresh produce. I’ll bet that even climate change alarmists would support this idea knowing that the greenhouse gas footprints of natural food producers would be “greener” that corporate supply chains.

This scenario is currently speculative, of course.  So far, I know of no grocery store owners who have attempted this business model but it would be a welcome business strategy from my perspective.

Any takers?