Hector Guerra

Period 1

Government

Mr. Turner

LIMIT THE GREASE,LIMIT THE GREASE,IT GIVESIT GIVES

LIFE A LONGER LEASELIFE A LONGER LEASE

Government should limit unhealthy foods by

increasing prices through taxation.

POSITION STATEMENT

MOST OF TODAY’S DIET

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OilsFood Coloring

FAT Excessive Calorie

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Change Of Value

Back in the days families used to use fast foodsand unhealthy foods just as “treats” for special occasions. Otherwise dinner would actually be made at home rather than being picked up from a window.

Now fast foods and unhealthy foods are eaten wheneverwe feel hungry or whenever we want to pick up somethingfast out of the drive thru window. Also due to a lot of people living their busy lives, it’s less time consuming for them, but they don’t realize that the value of what used to be a treat back in the days is now just any ordinary snack or meal. Besides the value of these foods, most people are now blind to theeffects of the ingredients that they carry.

• Sodium Nitrate – cancer causing substance, helps packaged meats to last longer. http://www.livestrong.com/article/538837-sodium-nitrite-in-beef/

• Artificial Sweeteners – tricks body to crave more calories & may contribute to nerve damage & cancer cell formation. http://www.livestrong.com/article/537638-adverse-effects-of-artificial-sweeteners/

• Excess Sugar – leads to blood sugar, obesity, weaker immune system. http://www.livestrong.com/article/144711-damaging-effects-of-too-much-sugar-in-diet/

• Refined Oils – being SOLD WITHOUT BEING TESTED for safety, causes allergies, harms immune system, & increases risk of cancer.

• Food Coloring -contains up to ten parts per million of lead and/or arsenic, allergic reactions, fatigue, ADD/ADHD, asthma, skin rashes, and may cause visual and learning disorders along with nerve damage! http://sheerbalance.com/nutrition/every-color-of-the-rainbow-food-coloring-artificial-color/

Death’s Ingredients

http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

Age-adjusted percent

0 - 19.4

19.5 - 23.8

23.9 - 27.0

27.1 - 30.7

> 30.8

Percentages of Obesity In The States

Due to these high percentages of our population being overweight and obese, our government needs to regulate unhealthy foods to prevent this epidemic from taking over the country completely. If our government does not take any actions then our economic debt will keep increasing due to health issues that involve obesity or being overweight such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, etc.

http://www.worldometers.info

Money spent for obesity related diseases in the USA as of 5/16/2012:$ 191,603,661 &Continues to increaseevery day.

Real Time World Statistics:

Argument 1

Taxation on unhealthy foods would be a disincentive for those who are used to having an unhealthy diet.

ARGUMENT 2

For example, Denmark put a “Fat tax” on foods that contain saturated fat and according to Dr. Mike Rayner, a public health researcher at the University of Oxford:

"Modeling suggests that it will see a 14 per cent decrease in butter consumption levels in Denmark and so it will be interesting to see whether it does actually result in these kinds of changes in diet."

http://www.channel4.com/news/denmark-introduces-fat-tax-on-food

Call To Action

To really make a difference you can encourage your representative to vote for bill AB 669 which will impose a tax on every distributor of bottled sweetened beverages at a rate of $0.01 per fluid ounce.

To contact your local senator, you can visit these websites:

http://senate.ca.gov/ (District 22 - Kevin deLeon)

http://assembly.ca.gov/ (District 46 - John Perez)