It’s always comforting to hear that there is no slippery slope, but while campaigners demand graphic warnings on alcohol and researchers look into plain packaging for food, the world’s top nanny states are getting on with the job of transferring anti-smoking policies to other products. San Francisco recently introduced cigarette-style health warnings on cans of pop and Ireland has dipped into the tobacco control playbook for its new idea of ‘booze curtains’.
The Public Health (Alcohol) Bill is a piece of good old-fashioned temperance legislation with the modern twist that the Irish government set up its own sockpuppet lobby group specifically to campaign for it. It includes a sky-high minimum price of €1 and extensive advertising restrictions. As the Department of Health explains, the aim is to ‘reduce visibility, accessibility and availability of alcohol’. To that end, it wants to protect shoppers from the untold trauma of seeing beer and wine in convenience stores.
Source: Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: The alcohol display ban – another slip down the slope
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“Plain” packaging for food could have a side effect: the elderly, and others who may need to be “tempted” to eat (e.g., chronically ill) might find it even harder to WANT to eat.
I had digestive issues this spring and at times I had to be “tempted” to eat (this after many, many years of probably eating too much). It was instructive and I admit if I felt like that, and was faced with either a wall of white packages with plain black type, or, worse, reminders of how awful every food could be consumed in excess, I’d say, “Meh, not worth it” and probably wind up malnourished.
I used to lead a pre-teen youth group and even then (some 10 years ago) there were a lot of skinny pre-teen girls in there who were already obsessed with things like calorie counts and the like. Made me worry about the possibility of a rise in eating disorders like anorexia. (or more likely: orthorexia)