Should Junk Food be Regulated
Should Junk Food be Regulated by the Government?
The consumption of Junk foods harms human health and contributes to obesity, diabetes, skin cancer, and heart diseases. With diabetes and obesity at record levels, public health experts recommend the government to tax sweets, junk food, soda, and other unhealthy drinks and foods. France, Mexico, Hungary, Finland, and Denmark have already initiated such taxes. This essay seeks to explain whether public consumption of junk food should be discouraged through public policy implementation such as taxation, bans, and monetary subsidization of healthier foods.
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Soft drinks represent the major health threats to the human body. Healthy experts propose that the government should ban the sale of junk foods to promote healthy living. Banning of junk food consumption requires the government to first restore people’s diets to a more natural state. Until recently, most people had no choice but eating a healthy diet with modest food proportions with less fat saturation, high of fiber, and low in sugar. Banning consumption of soft drinks needs to apply to all Americans, and mainly focus on paternal laws on kids.
Excess consumption of junk foods poses health risks that warrant policy attention. Public policy implementation of high taxes policies to junk foods is very important. Taxes change what people consume and drink. Therefore, the government needs to pass a significant fraction of taxes to junk foods prices. The imposition of tax on junk foods serves as an excellent monetary policy to discourage their consumption. In response, people drink and eat less of the higher priced products and prefer consuming more of natural substitutes.
Monetary subsidization on healthy foods by government discourages junk food consumption by encouraging healthy foods and drinks purchases and consumption. Junk foods consumption tracks potential health risks and costs to people. Subsidies on healthy foods such as vegetables work in increasing their consumption. Also, subsidization of healthier foods by the government effectively helps in modifying dietary behavior. Policymakers need to increase attention on economic interventions that promote healthy eating and drinking, particularly in light of taxing saturated fat, salty foods, sugar or fat, and soft drinks.
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However, some people object government’s direct involvement in banning, taxing, and discouraging junk food consumption. These people believe that using taxes to influence personal choices is not right. Other people consider tax as an acceptable strategy only when individual choice imposes costs on other people. The consumption of junk foods creates externalities when its effects spread leading to health care costs on other people. As well, the imposition of taxes on junk foods reduces internalities by exposing healthy harms to only consumers.
The government needs to weigh all these concerns before deciding whether to ban, tax, or discourage junk foods and drinks. If the government decides to tax, ban, or discourage junk foods, they should focus on content other than focusing on proxies such as sales value and drink volume. For instance, Mexico taxes sweet foods grounded on volume and this motivates consumers to reduce how much they eat but plays no role in encouraging non-junk foods consumption.
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In conclusion, most junk foods discussion major on changing consumer choices. However, this does not affect consumers alone. Beverage and Food firms decide what to produce, market, and sell to consumers. Imposing bans and taxes on junk foods volumes offer these companies little or no incentive to make and market their non-junk foods alternatives. However, taxing sugar content would make them find other avenues of reducing sugar in the foods and drinks that we consume. Therefore, Junk food consumption should be regulated by the government.