DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland, noted for fried breakfasts of epic proportions, is chewing over the possibility of a special tax on fatty foods to tackle rising obesity levels.
Faced with an epidemic of expanding waistlines as the Irish enjoy unprecedented prosperity, Health Minister Micheal Martin confirmed he was "very tentatively" examining slapping a levy on high-fat comestibles.
A proliferation of restaurants and fast-food joints during the country's celebrated "Celtic Tiger" boom of the late 1990s and an increasingly sedentary national lifestyle are among factors blamed for a rise of nearly 70 percent in the number of those overweight or obese over the last decade. "Some 60 percent of our population is now either overweight or obese and we would welcome any initiative (by the government) to tackle the problem," Michael O'Shea, chief executive of the Irish Heart Foundation, told Reuters.
http://news.excite.com/odd/article/id/82014|oddlyenough|08-26-2003::10:24|reuters.html
Faced with an epidemic of expanding waistlines as the Irish enjoy unprecedented prosperity, Health Minister Micheal Martin confirmed he was "very tentatively" examining slapping a levy on high-fat comestibles.
A proliferation of restaurants and fast-food joints during the country's celebrated "Celtic Tiger" boom of the late 1990s and an increasingly sedentary national lifestyle are among factors blamed for a rise of nearly 70 percent in the number of those overweight or obese over the last decade. "Some 60 percent of our population is now either overweight or obese and we would welcome any initiative (by the government) to tackle the problem," Michael O'Shea, chief executive of the Irish Heart Foundation, told Reuters.
http://news.excite.com/odd/article/id/82014|oddlyenough|08-26-2003::10:24|reuters.html