Tougher rules sought on junk food ads

Experts attending the International Conference on Obesity in Sydney are calling for tougher rules to prevent promotion of junk food to children.

They urged the rules be modeled on health campaigns against tobacco and infant formula marketing, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Boyd Swinburn, a council member of the London-based International Obesity Task Force, said it is time the long-running debate on food marketing focused on protection of children, "not whether (a particular) apple pie is healthy or not," the report said.

The task force wants to come up with a set of principles that would be endorsed by the World Health Organization, and become law in member countries.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

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