Ban food on public transport to tackle obesity, says expert

FOOD should be banned on buses and trains to stop snacking on the go and tackle obesity, according to a public health expert. Dame Sally Davies – dubbed a ‘nanny-in-chief’ for her bold public health interventions – today delivers her most radical proposals yet.

She also wants the UK Government to threaten the food industry with cigarette-style plain packaging for sweets and chocolates if they fail to meet sugar reduction targets and to introduce a calorie cap on takeaways.

Dame Sally says that the proposals are needed to tackle obesity, especially in children. ‘We know that snacking is a cause of excess calories in children and adults,’ she said last night.

‘Years ago we didn’t snack – we sat down and ate. I would stop all food and drink except water on urban public transport.’

She said it would be up to the Government how this would be enforced, but added: ‘We are a lawabiding nation. The vast majority of people would observe it, as they did the smoking ban.’

Dame Sally, who last week stepped down after nine years as Chief Medical Officer for England to start a new job as Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, also called for nutritional labelling to be made compulsory on all supermarket food.

She wants junk food adverts banned from public venues and the ‘sugar tax’ – already in place for soft drinks – to be extended to cereals, yoghurts and cakes if sugar reduction targets are not met by 2021.

Her 98-page report is scathing about politicians’ attempts to tackle obesity. She calls on ministers to ‘do their duty’ and ‘be bold’ to deal with the problem.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is opposed to introducing more levies

‘Crime to eat a sandwich on train’

on items high in salt, fat and sugar – and has spoken of reviewing what he calls ‘stealth sin taxes’.

Dame Sally’s report says: ‘The Government has a duty as well as a moral responsibility to uphold children’s rights and the quality of the environment in which they live.

‘Ministers are in a unique position of influence to shape the environment. They can set the scene for nudging positive outcomes or they can continue to allow the flow of unhealthy options to dominate a child’s upbringing.

‘Political apathy will mean that negative health consequences for children continue – limiting their life chances whilst restricting economic productivity and the viability of the NHS.’

Dame Sally also criticised the junk food industry.

‘Everywhere children look they are dazzled by companies competing for their attention,’ she said. ‘Adverts are everywhere, from bus stops to our mobile phones.’

Health charities have welcomed the proposals.

Diabetes UK chief Chris Askew said: ‘This report is an urgent and ambitious call to action. The bold and decisive recommendations outlined mean that this report cannot be ignored.’

Cancer Research UK’s Sarah Woolnough said: ‘Dame Sally gets to the heart of the matter – children have the right to be healthy.’

But critics said the calls were typical of Dame Sally’s record as a ‘nanny-in-chief ’.

Christopher Snowdon, from the Institute of Economic Affairs thinktank, said: ‘The suggestion that it be a crime to eat a sandwich on a train brings Dame Sally’s tenure as Chief Medical Officer to a fittingly authoritarian conclusion.

‘In her time in the job, she has become synonymous with the silliest extremes of the nanny state.’

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: ‘Professor Dame Sally Davies has done more than anyone to promote the health of the nation over a decade as CMO.

‘Her parting report is no different and we will study it closely and act on the evidence.’