Five entities accuse the Government of blocking the objectives of its own plan against childhood obesity | Society

2023-05-05 10:05:21

A minor watches advertising for cookies on television.Jaime Villanueva

Representatives of five of the main entities that participated in the elaboration of the National Strategic Plan for the Reduction of Childhood Obesitypresented by Pedro Sánchez in 2022have sent a letter to the scientific journal The Lancet accusing the Government of blocking the objectives of its own initiative by not approving the decree on unhealthy food advertising directed at minors. “Preparing a plan with the experts and then paralyzing the main measure that we have requested is an absolute contradiction, something incomprehensible,” Miguel Ángel Royo-Bordonada, one of the signatories of the letter, explained to EL PAÍS. The decree, drawn up by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, has passed all the required procedures and has been awaiting approval since July, and various sources accuse the Ministry of Agriculture of paralyzing it, something that Luis Planas’s department denies.

“As members of official, scientific, non-governmental and civil society organizations that have actively participated in the preparation of the National Strategic Plan for the Reduction of Childhood Obesity 2022-2030, we ask the Spanish Government to approve as soon as possible the royal decree that regulates advertising of unhealthy food and beverages directed at children. points to the letter, signed by Cristina Junquera-Abaitua, director of Awareness and Policies for Children at UNICEF; Jesús Vioque, who coordinates the Nutrition group at the Spanish Society of Epidemiology (SEE); Luisa María Capellán, president of the Spanish Confederation of Student Parents’ Associations (Ceapa); Santiago F. Gómez, expert from the Gasol Foundation; and Royo-Bordonada himself, professor at the National School of Health and one of the nation’s leading experts on childhood obesity.

The document indicates that the decree prepared by the department of Alberto Garzón is based on the recommendations of Unicef, the World Health Organization (WHO), and numerous scientific societies of public health, nutrition and pediatrics, and that “it will contribute substantially to the protection of the rights of children and adolescents, as well as the promotion of public health”. However, “unfavorable reports from some of the ministries […] are impeding the advancement of the regulatory processes against the advertising of unhealthy foods. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has publicly come out in favor of self-regulation (the position advocated by the food industry) despite the fact that, according to scientific evidence, self-regulation is not effective in protecting children and teenagers,” he continues.

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In the opinion of the signatories, “this situation represents a blockage to the achievement of the objectives established in the plan”, for which they require all the ministries involved – up to 15, according to the plan itself – to work as soon as possible “to reach a consensus based on the draft published by the Ministry of Consumption and ensure that the royal decree is approved”.

Royo-Bordonada explains the importance of this petition: “The regulation of advertising aimed at minors is a fundamental and priority measure to combat childhood obesity. That is why we drafted it and included it in the plan against childhood obesity”. In fact, this state document proposes “establishing a national regulation, in dialogue with the different ministries involved and consulting the affected sectors, that regulates the marketing aimed at children with food and drinks high in calories, sugar, salt or fat”.

Cristina Ribes, director for Europe of the gasol foundationAdd: “The Lancet is a very prestigious magazine that is publishing many studies against obesity, giving voice to this letter is a loudspeaker for this request. There is a lot of scientific evidence that shows that regulating this advertising benefits the health of children, and we are very close to it”. The expert continues: “You have to give a push to have pioneering legislation. We want it to be a commitment from the Government for this legislature and, if there is no time, in the next one”.

Lack of agreement

A spokeswoman for the High Commissioner against Child Poverty, which drafted this initiative, points out that the current proposal, “as it is proposed, does not arise from the agreement between the ministries involved, as required by the plan.” In addition, he points out that this regulation is “just one of the many recommendations of the plan”, which includes more than 200 measures that include proposals for food, physical activity, good sleep habits, emotional well-being… Agriculture, for its part, does not comment on the status of the negotiations to carry out the rule, while Consumption already warned that, if it was not approved last March, it would not have time to do so in this legislature.

Royo-Bordonada responds: “The proposal has been on the table for a year and has passed all the relevant procedures. They have had a lot of time to agree on it. This can only be interpreted in one way, and that is that they are blocking it.” In his opinion, the approval of the decree “would serve so that minors do not receive enormous advertising pressure that induces them to consume unhealthy and ultra-processed foods that are bad for their health.” According to her estimates, any minor receives about 1,000 advertising impacts per month on all media (television, internet, billboards) and at least ten a day on television alone. “All serious studies show that advertising greatly influences children’s eating habits, and that the caloric intake of children who see daily advertising increases and leads to obesity. Regulating the publicity they receive is essential”.

The decree announced by Consumption seeks to prohibit the advertising of unhealthy food and beverages (including chocolates, sweets, cookies, desserts, juices, and ice creams) aimed at children and adolescents on television, radio, social networks, websites, applications, movies, and newspapers. If it goes ahead, youtubers and influencers will not be able to advertise these products either. To carry out this prohibition, the nutritional profiles of the WHO are taken as a basis, which divided food into 17 categories and established that the most insane should never be advertised, while the rest could do so if they do not exceed the amount of sugar, salt or fat marked per 100 grams for each of them.