Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-05-15-Speech-1-103"
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"en.20060515.16.1-103"2
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".
Mr President, I wish to congratulate warmly my group colleague, Mrs Poli Bortone, upon reaching this stage of negotiations with what seems like a fruitful result for consumers. It was an extremely arduous task.
At a time when the average EU citizen is getting heavier and up to 27% of European men, 32% of European women and a staggering one-quarter of Europe’s children are now obese, I warmly welcome the European Union’s initiative in tackling obesity through a very important first step: the addressing of nutrition and health claims on food.
For far too long consumers have been influenced by marketing and advertising, much of which was without any basis. At present, consumers are faced with a deluge of marketing ploys in order to entice them to purchase food products. Often, the nutritional health claims on food products are not entirely accurate or honest. A varied and balanced diet is a prerequisite for good health and individual products have a relative importance in the context of the overall diet.
Now we are in the process of voting through a system that will provide confidence to consumers on a product-by-product basis, with nutritional and health claims based on scientific evidence. Ill health as a result of obesity is costing taxpayers millions of euro each year and exerting extreme pressure on health services. The health problems associated with obesity are well known: heart disease, strokes, high cholesterol and diabetes top the list. Common reasons cited are overeating and lack of exercise, but the problem is far wider than that. Immediate action must be taken.
This is only the tip of the iceberg for European citizens. In tandem with clear and substantiated nutritional health claims we also need to focus on organising a general information campaign on nutrition issues and the importance of acquiring healthy eating habits in a timely fashion. Today’s consumer is under pressure to prepare meals quickly. We are becoming more and more dependent on processed foods. I also welcome the increased support to SMEs. I am delighted that they will get support and appropriate technical guidance and tools to help them in due time."@en1
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