London Mayor Sadiq Khan is planning to ban advertisements of junk foods on the London Underground network in a bid to tackle childhood obesity. The proposal also extends to the capital's buses and bus shelters.
Khan's proposal comes at a time when London is facing a children obesity challenge. London has one of the highest child obesity rates in Europe, with statistics pointing at almost 40 per cent of children aged 10 and 11 being either obese or overweight.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Khan said: "Advertising clearly works and that's why companies are queuing up to advertise on the public transport networks in London. We know London has one of the worst children obesity problems in Europe and that families feel pressurised, especially in more deprived areas."
Khan added: "In poorer parts of London they don’t have access to healthier foods and they are exposed more to these adverts and unhealthier foods. We’ve got a ticking time bomb of obese children who will grow to be obese adults, who will go on to add to the strain of the NHS and other services."
Obesity is an issue plaguing not just children, but adults as well. Recently, the UK was declared the most obese country in western Europe.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in 2015, 26.9 percent of the UK population has a body mass index of 30 and above, considered obese. According to OECD, obesity in the UK has increased by 92 per cent since the 1990s.
“One could weep over the figures, the result of successive governments who have, for the last 30 years, done next to nothing to tackle obesity,” Tam Fry, chair of the National Obesity Forum, was quoted as saying by the media in November 2017.
“Even today, we have only a pathetic attempt by Theresa May’s administration to get serious about reducing the numbers and avoiding an official estimate that more than 50 percent of the UK will be obese by 2050. Ten years ago, a government department report stated that the nation was sleepwalking into obesity – but no minister, either then or since, has woken up to the fact.”
Damian Talbot