Bill introduced in parliament to protect kids from junk food ads

Baroness Thornton will introduce a Bill into Parliament on Tuesday that will introduce a 9pm watershed for junk food television adverts.

Baroness Thornton said:  “I am delighted to introduce this Bill which, if passed, will make a substantial contribution towards improving children's health, and stopping the childhood obesity epidemic.”

The Bill will end television advertising for High Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS) foods before 9pm.  And in an effort to control advertising for brands associated with HFSS food, the Bill restricts advertising of food 'ranges' with HFSS items in them.

Baroness Thornton continued: “Parents and children are clear that they want a break from the torrent of advertising for less healthy food.”

Richard Watts, co-ordinator of the Children's Food Campaign said: “We are very grateful to Baroness Thornton for introducing this Bill.  A 9pm watershed for junk food TV adverts is supported by the BMA, major health charities, children's organisations and consumer groups.”

He continued:  “All the research shows that junk food advertising is an important contributor to the current crisis in children's health.  This Bill will stop over 80 percent of the instances of children watching junk food ads.  Even the most conservative estimates suggest this could save the nation anything up to a billion pounds a year by improving children's health.”

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For more information, please contact Richard Watts on 07710 782719 or Richard@sustainweb.org

 

Notes to editors:

1. The Children's Food Campaign wants to improve children's health and well-being through better food - and food teaching - in schools, and protecting children from junk food marketing.  We are supported by over 300 organisations, almost 300 MPs and 12,000 members of the public.  We were behind the ground-breaking Children's Food Bill introduced into Parliament last year.  The Children's Food Campaign is coordinated by Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming.
   
2. Ofcom's consultation on TV food advertising to children closed in June 2006 and the regulator is due to announce its proposals. A 9pm watershed restriction on high fat, sugar and salt foods would reduce children's exposure to this type of advertising by 82%. Such a measure is supported by 29 national health charities and organisations, 14 consumer and public interest organisations, Ofcom's own advisory committee for England, the Office of the Children's Commissioner, the Food Standards Agency and over 1,000 parents and concerned individuals.  A British Heart Foundation / TNS poll last year found that 69% of parents supported a 9pm watershed.
    
3. Ofcom's own figures put the cash value of the health benefits of a 9pm watershed at up to almost a Billion pounds a year.  This calculation is based on the direct effects of advertising junk food to children, and ignores the health costs of the indirect affects of advertising, or any side-affect of the regulations on adults.
    
4. In an interview on GMTV on 25 October 2006, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown gave his support for pre-9pm watershed restrictions on junk food advertising to children, stating that “We have got to do something about television advertising before the watershed hour”.
    
5. Glenys Thornton is a backbench Labour and Co-operative member of the House of Lords. Glenys speaks regularly on children's issues in Parliament, and has championed many improvements to legislation for children – including the Children Leaving Care Act, The Sex Offences Act, The Children's Act and most recently, proposing improvements to the Education Act 2006 on behalf of the Special Education Needs Consortium. She is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Children's Group. Glenys contributed to the passage of the legislation which established the Food Standards Agency.
   
   In her teens, Glenys was a youth club leader in Bradford, her first job was in the West Riding Probation Service and she worked in children's homes during her vacations at college. After graduating, Glenys became national co-ordinator for the one parent family organisation, Gingerbread. During this period she was also a school governor and during the 1990's helped to establish a children's playgroup in Hackney.  She has worked for the CAB Service and at the Institute of Community Studies in Bethnal Green.  Following six years as the Chair of the London Labour Party (1986 – 1991) she worked for the Fabian Society as General Secretary and Director of Development. She is chairman of a small communications company, Pall Mall Consult.
    
   She is the founder and Chair of the Social Enterprise Coalition, and a director of Training for Life and the Fifteen Foundation (which supports the work of the training restaurants founded by Jamie Oliver).
    
   Glenys Thornton was born in Bradford in 1952, is married to John Carr, the Internet Safety guru and has two teenage children.