Link to the full article: Channel 4 News (PA News)
Last Modified: 12 Mar 2009
Source: PA News
A controversial proposal to campaign for a tax on chocolate to help curb obesity has been narrowly rejected by doctors.
Lanarkshire GP David Walker led calls for an increase in chocolate prices as a way of tackling weight-related conditions like diabetes.
But delegates at a British Medical Association (BMA) conference in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, voted down the plan by just two votes.
Dr Walker described chocolate as a "major player" in problem weight-gain and its associated conditions including high blood pressure and joint pain.
But food industry leaders said such a proposal would result only in lighter wallets, not smaller waists.
The Food and Drink Federation said the tax would be a "bureaucratic nightmare".
Spokesman Julian Hunt said: "Introducing regressive taxes on the foods that consumers love would result only in lighter wallets, not smaller waists - particularly as we already have to pay VAT on all our chocolate purchases.
"There is no evidence to suggest that such 'fat taxes' would actually work in reality.
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