NOW THEY WANT TO TAX MEAT!

Do-gooders call for huge price hike on bacon, roast beef and lamb chops

‘LIBERAL do-gooders’ want to tax meat to make it too expensive for normal people to eat – because they don’t think they can be trusted to look after themselves.

They reckon a “meat tax” could prevent almost 6,000 deaths per year in the UK and save the economy more than £70m in healthcare costs.

And they claim globally, meat taxes could save an estimated 220,000 lives by 2020 and reduce healthcare costs by £30.7bn, a study found.

The research is based on evidence linking consumption of “red” meat – such as beef, lamb and pork – to increased risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. Impacts

And the boffins have calculated that to meet the health cost the price of red meat would have go up by 14 per cent and processed meat by 79 per cent.

Lead researcher Dr Marco Springmann of Oxford University, said: “The consumption of red and processed meat exceeds recommended levels in most high and middle-income countries.

“This is having significant impacts not only on personal health, but also on healthcare systems, which are taxpayer funded in many countries, and on the economy, which is losing its labour force due to ill health and care for family members who fall ill.

“I hope that governments will consider introducing a health levy on red and processed meat as part of a range of measures to make healthy and sustainable decision-making easier for consumers.”

The study indicated that a health tax could reduce consumption of processed meat such as bacon and sausages by about two portions per week in high-income countries.

Higher taxes on processed meat were also expected to cause consumers to switch to eating more unprocessed meat.

But red meat enthusiast Paul Doncaster refuted the calls. He said: “This is bullshit. These liberal do-gooders think they know better than everyone else.

“People should be free to make their own choices.”