‘Meat tax could prevent 220,000 deaths and save £30bn care costs’

A PRICE-HIKING “meat tax” could prevent about 220,000 deaths and save more than £30.7bn in healthcare costs around the world each year, say researchers.

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

Scientists set out to estimate the level of health tax needed to make up for healthcare costs associated with eating meat in 149 regions around the world.

They also calculated the likely impact of a meat tax on death rates due to chronic disease.

By 2020, consumption of red and processed meat is likely to cause 2.4m deaths per year and cost the global economy £219bn, the study found.

In the UK, the “optimal” tax level increased the cost of red meat by 14 per cent and processed meat by 79 per cent.

Despite the huge impact on the price of burgers, sausages, mince and steak, researchers called on governments to consider imposing a meat tax.

Dr Marco Springmann, from the Nuffield Department of Population Health at Oxford University, said consumption of meat above recommended levels was “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.”

The World Health Organisation has classified beef, lamb and pork as carcinogenic when eaten in processed form, and “probably” cancer-causing when consumed unprocessed.

Meanwhile MPs have said the Government should give up on its voluntary agreement approach to food and drink marketing in favour of statutory regulation to crack down on childhood obesity.

A report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on A Fit and Healthy Childhood wants it to ban the use of child-friendly characters to advertise junk food, extend existing regulation to restrict TV advertising of food high in fat, sugar and salt until after the 9pm watershed and review and amend the regulation of online content.