ClearKarma at CIBUS 2012 – Debate over ‘Junk Food Tax’ heats up
**ClearKarma at CIBUS – Food meets Business**
**Junk Food Tax – Is it worth the whole debate?**
**What we feel as ClearKarma**
Youngsters have always questioned taxes wondering how effectively their money was being used. Lately they have another reason to ponder over; Junk Food Tax. We all know what junk food does to our bodies and overall health. Over the years there have been talks of implementing various percentages of taxes over junk food but nothing concrete has come out of it in most places. These taxes are being discussed for implementation to combat obesity, which has more than doubled since 1980.
According to Red Cross’ World Disaster Report (2011), the number of obese people in the world stands at 1.5 billion last year.
Nutritionists have taken this upon themselves and have been making numerous amends to reach out to the public and explain the ill-effects of unhealthy food. They support this by insisting on junk food tax, claiming that introducing a monetary impact may reduce consumption.
Introduction of Junk Food tax has created sort of a furor across the world with various arguments for and against the idea. Some feel nobody should be telling them what to eat and what not to. A few others say it hardly makes a difference since even alcohol and cigarettes are taxed yet the consumption hasn’t reduced. True!
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has estimated a staggering $147 billion annually as medical expenses for obesity-related health issues in the United States. A junk tax can effectively be used to compensate the money spent in curing obesity-related illness and can also be used to spread awareness about this dreaded disguised disorder.
ClearKarma is all up to fight obesity and eradicate the root-cause, but we have our way of doing it. We firmly believe that every individual has a right to choose – be it what they eat and what they don’t. Creating awareness by educating the masses is important. Informing the public about ‘ill-effects’ of junk food may help get the situation under control. Using force seldom gets out a desired result is what we believe. Advertisers have to conduct themselves in a way by keeping in mind the social impact the media creates. They have to be morally and socially responsible to the consumers.
Holding that thought, ClearKarma attends the 16th International Food Exhibition CIBUS 2012being held in Italy between 7th – 10th May 2012; that goes with the tagline ‘Where Food meets Business’; seemingly apt since ClearKarma attends the exhibition with a flood of thoughts looking for insights and opinions by leading industry people. Though CIBUS is mainly associated with the Italian agri-food sector, it also focuses on various food-related issues covering the global food scene and not just restricting themselves to Italy. It is a conglomeration of various producers, distributors, importers and professionals of the domestic and foreign markets that use CIBUS as a platform to communicate latest trends in the food and retail segments.
ClearKarma wishes to get an overview of the growing concerns of food-related health issues like obesity and the sudden rise in use of the terms ‘Organic’ and ‘Bio’. Let’s find out what’s in store for the future in Italy and the global markets? How are we planning to sustain organically? These are a few questions with which we attend the event hoping to find conclusive answers.
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