stephanie
11-15-2007, 02:00 AM
coming our way soon enough..They've already started with the smokers.....Enjoy your freedoms while you still have them....:cheers2:
Government ministers should shrug off media accusations that they are running a nanny state and introduce tougher public health measures, experts say.
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics said the time had come to consider a whole host of interventions in the UK after the introduction of a smoking ban.
Its proposes raising alcohol prices, restricting pub opening hours and better food labelling to fight obesity.
The government said it was taking steps to protect public health.
The report by the panel of experts, which include scientists, lawyers and philosophers, said there was a balance to be struck between individual freedom and wider public protection.
The government has a duty to look after the health of everyone and sometimes that means guiding or restricting our choices
Lord John Krebs, of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Do interventions work?
But they urged the government not to be afraid to act where there was evidence people were being put at risk by environmental factors.
It praised the action taken over the smoking bans, introduced across the UK countries in recent years, as an example of where the "greater good" outweighs an individual's right to make a personal choice.
The experts said the government and industry should not see such measures as tantamount to creating a nanny state.
Instead, public health interventions should be seen as a "stewardship" role where proportional intervention was only taken when other measures had failed.
The report called on ministers to reconsider the relaxation in pub opening hours and look into increasing the price of alcohol through taxation.
It also said industry should introduce the most effective food labelling methods once the Food Standards Agency review of the issue is completed.
read the rest..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7091047.stm
Government ministers should shrug off media accusations that they are running a nanny state and introduce tougher public health measures, experts say.
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics said the time had come to consider a whole host of interventions in the UK after the introduction of a smoking ban.
Its proposes raising alcohol prices, restricting pub opening hours and better food labelling to fight obesity.
The government said it was taking steps to protect public health.
The report by the panel of experts, which include scientists, lawyers and philosophers, said there was a balance to be struck between individual freedom and wider public protection.
The government has a duty to look after the health of everyone and sometimes that means guiding or restricting our choices
Lord John Krebs, of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Do interventions work?
But they urged the government not to be afraid to act where there was evidence people were being put at risk by environmental factors.
It praised the action taken over the smoking bans, introduced across the UK countries in recent years, as an example of where the "greater good" outweighs an individual's right to make a personal choice.
The experts said the government and industry should not see such measures as tantamount to creating a nanny state.
Instead, public health interventions should be seen as a "stewardship" role where proportional intervention was only taken when other measures had failed.
The report called on ministers to reconsider the relaxation in pub opening hours and look into increasing the price of alcohol through taxation.
It also said industry should introduce the most effective food labelling methods once the Food Standards Agency review of the issue is completed.
read the rest..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7091047.stm