South Wales East AM Lindsay Whittle has called on the Welsh Government to take action over childhood obesity.
Mr Whittle, who is Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for children, raised the issue in a question to First Minister Carwyn Jones. He said Wales was the fourth worst nation in the world in terms of childhood obesity.
While Mr Whittle wants to see action taken against parents, he made it clear he did not want to criminalise them.
He said: “Is it not now time for this Government to initiate discussions with health and social care agencies about the feasibility of empowering health and social care workers to warn certain parents that, if they do not take responsibility for their children’s increasing weight problems, they run the risk of their children being taken into care?
“This has already happened in Scotland. Children in Wales are the future of Wales, and we need to ensure that their future is not damaged by bad parenting.”
In response the First Minister said that he would be reluctant to “go down that line”.
He said: “Over 99% of schools are involved in the Welsh network of healthy school schemes and over 200 pre-school settings are working with the healthy pre-school scheme. We know that a well-balanced diet is essential for children and young people if they are to develop and grow into healthy adults. ‘Appetite for Life’ sets out our priorities.”
I wonder if any politician will summon the courage to take on the food and drink manufacturers who add fructose and other sugars to our food? These include Coca Cola and MacDonald’s who are sponsoring the Olympic games. Not to mention the supermarkets who sell their produce.
The primary function of any government is, or should be, to protect the populace from attack. This is traditionally a foreign enemy but global big business ought to be high on the list too. The trouble is that, like the banks, these businesses are too big for our government to challenge.
The onus is on parents to take responsibility for the welfare of their children. We all know McDonald's and sugary drinks are not health food. Just as we all know that excessive consumption of junk and fried foods are similarly of no benefit to us. You need not be a nutritionist or indeed even an health expert to have a basic understanding of healthy and not so healthy foods.
Supermarkets in turn will stock that which sells, they are after all seeking profit. So we should not confuse the notion of protecting the populace from attack as a means of covering ineptitude. Parents must accept their responsibilities and not rely upon some superimposed nanny state to do all the thinking for them.
Helen is correct, we do not need a meddlesome, nanny state to tell us what do eat, drink, whether to smoke or drive a car, exercise or lie on a settee; but nanny state is what we are increasingly getting.
My point was that there are certain areas where government has a role, regulation of big business is one of them. Telling people what to eat is not an area where government should venture.
Cooking a tasty and nutitious meal is a lost art in many households. If the government wants to get involved it should make cookery lessons available in schools once more. This is part of a rounded education and, if the knowledge of cooking is no longer passed from mother to sons and daughters, then schools can help. Once our young people are educated they should have freedom of choice, even if that choice is not the one the government wants them to make.