Can you imagine that we have journalists, statistical researchers, tax accountants, and public policy analysts wasting their time for contemplating the higher taxation of fatty foods? Our corporate world pushes junk foods to our kids, and in turn our sold out governments contemplate a shifting of consumers eating behaviour through a tax system to alleviate the ever increasing health costs.

And the contradiction is that we continue to export health hazards to foreign countries. Here, in Saskatchewan, we have closed the Souris Valley Regional Care Centre, in Weyburn, and the Plains Health Centre, in Regina, mostly because such facilities were insulated with asbestos, yet we have our Prime Minister Jean Chretien phoning Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and ask him not to ban the use of Canadian asbestos. And corporate giant Philip Morris has just released a report prepared by Arthur D. Little stating that early deaths through smoking save the Czech Republic hundreds of millions of dollars a year in health care, pensions and housing costs.

The irresponsibilities of our governments and corporations to look after the interest of our own lives and health are not isolated cases, and this situation has become chronic in the New World Order where the value of money has taken over the value of life.

References

Relevant economic and social articles published by Ensign

Fat tax' idea gets mixed reviews, by André Picard, July 25, 2001 The Globe and Mail

Tobacco company cites savings from early deaths of smokers, Ben Fenton, national Post, July 18, 2001 http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20010718/621806.html