Essay - In some countries, an increasing number of people are suffering from health problems as a result of eating too much fast food. It is therefore necessary for governments to impose a higher tax on this kind of food. To what extend do you agree or disagree with this opinion.

In some countries, an increasing number of people are suffering from health problems as a result of eating too much fast food. It is therefore necessary for governments to impose a higher tax on this kind of food. To what extend do you agree or disagree with this opinion.      

Nowadays, there is a high proportion of people consuming fast food around the globe. This has caused some severe health problems to these people. Everyone loves fast food because it is delicious. In addition, people can save the time to prepare food to their children especially the parents who are workaholic. They ignore the bad effects of the fast food such as obesity. Therefore, I agree that governments shall impose tax on fast food to some extent.

First of all, I think a higher tax shall be imposed on fast food because the health of the citizens is important to the development of the country. For instance, if a person has his daily meals with the consumption of fast food, he is likely to face the problem of obesity after a period of time. Besides, high blood pressure and high cholesterol will be followed. With the health problems suffered, he is likely to be the worker with the lowest productivity. This will affect the economy of the country as a result.

Secondly, the reason why a higher tax shall be imposed on the fast food is because it can remove the choice of people when making a choice as to what type of food to consume. It is undeniably that people choose to eat fast food as it is cheaper and it can be prepared within minutes. With a higher tax imposed, people will not choose fast food as the cost of consuming fast food will become a burden to their expenditures. Consequently, people will prefer home-cooked food which is much healthier and cheaper.

Many people make the assumption that imposing a higher tax on fast food will not reduce the number of people who suffer health problems. They argue that the advertisements of fast food broadcasted on multimedia such as television could be a reason for people to consume fast food. As fast food advertisements often broadcasted during dinner time, children are attracted to the images of the fried chicken. The result of this is children will ask their parents to bring them to fast food restaurants and enjoy the meals at there. This explains why children face health issues at a younger age. Therefore, I suggest governments can limit the time of fast food advertisements broadcasted on television. The advertisements should be broadcasted during the midnight instead of the dinner time.

In conclusion, I agree that with the higher taxes imposed on fast food, the number of people consuming fast food will decrease significantly and thereby the health problems faced by the people will decrease as a result. However, to solve the problem effectively, government should take action by changing the time of advertisement broadcasted on television. It is undoubted that fast food advertisements portray the fast food during dinner time can affect people in making decision as to what to eat especially when they are hungry.

Nowadays, it is doubtless that food-related illnesses are increasing in our modern society. Furthermore, the issue regarding the impact that eating junk food could have on our health is widely debated. As far as governments’ decisions about taxing fast-food consumers in concerned, I believe that they should find another strategy in order to promote a healthier way of eating.

Firstly, governments should not impose extra taxes on eating habits. Every human being is basically free to act as he or she likes, our behavior should be dictated by some moral and ethical principles, rather than by the fear of a fee. For instance, every patient can refuse a therapy, even if he is in a life-threatening condition, if he thinks that it is better for himself. In the same way, everyone should be left free to eat whatever they want, even if it causes some sort of disease. Governments should, therefore, improve awareness campaigns to prevent food-related diseases, in order to sensitize the citizens towards the harmful behaviors, rather than simply add a tax to the food people buy.

Furthermore, another alternative to the imposition of new taxes, could be an improvement of citizens’ knowledge about nutrition. By giving people the right information about a proper dietary intake, governments could benefit from minor costs in terms of healthcare. For example, in my opinion, nutrition and health courses should be implemented and organized in every school, from the lowest grade of education, up to the highest ones. Thus, in the future, we would witness an increasing self-consciousness about diet-related diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular accidents.----- In conclusion, I strongly disagree with the given opinion, because I believe that governments should pursue other strategies in order to face these problems. Only by increasing the knowledge about the risks of harmful eating behavior, and from a widespread information about the rules of a healthy lifestyle, it is possible to fight against these medical conditions. In this specific case, prevention in the key.

 Contributed by Ratna Parmar

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