This presenting concern for the quality of food as a luxury and a secondary issue regarding access to sufficient food is a fallacy that is absolutely functional to the interests of large food companies that concentrate the sale of this type of ultra-processed products that they are becoming more expensive and of poorer quality. The formula does not matter, the result is always the same: deny rights.
It should no longer be necessary to clarify that eating is not eating and that in Argentina Malnutrition is a problem that affects all social classes, but especially those who have the lowest income.
The statistics are alarming: 7 out of 10 adults and 4 out of 10 children suffer from excess malnutrition, which constitutes one of the main public health problems because this condition is directly associated with the proliferation of chronic non-communicable diseases that in Argentina cost 140 thousand deaths a year.
And to a large extent, this happens because changes in eating patterns are leading us to eat more and more but to nourish ourselves less and less. Argentines consume excessive amounts of sugars, fats and sodium and most of the time, this happens without our consent.
Here we come to the main objective of La Front Labeling Law which is not aimed at banning or demonizing any food, but rather at giving us simple and transparent access to the truth hidden by misleading marketing and advertising strategies with addictive designs, color packs, famous people and flavors.
What it is about is nothing more than ending the fake news of food so that we finally stop opting for products that make us sick thinking they are healthy. Is this going to make us stop eating junk food? Of course not. Let’s say that human beings are a little more complex and we do not necessarily abandon habits and behaviors just to know that they are unhealthy. But we will have the necessary information to do it knowingly without having to take a magnifying glass to the supermarket or take a nutrition course to understand the fine print of a product. And that will give us the freedom to decide, because there is no decision if it is not informed. In addition, this is a law that protects children who are one of the main victims of misleading advertising and the lack of regulation that enables a handful of companies to manipulate their desires by hiding stark amounts of sugars and critical nutrients in apparently harmless fruit juices, yogurts, cookies or breakfast cereals.
Finally, the Law for the Promotion of Healthy Eating It is based on scientific evidence free of conflict of interest and on the recommendations of the highest authorities in matters of health and rights of children and adolescents such as WHO and UNICEF. It also collects the best experiences and lessons learned from the countries of the region that have already implemented measures of this type with very good results in a comprehensive tool that incorporates the regulation of advertising and educational environments for the protection of children. It is also the result of an arduous work of synthesis of more than 30 projects of different banks and has been built in conjunction with the organizations of nutritionists, professionals, health workers and environmental activists who have been claiming for this cause for a long time. and width of the country.
Due to political speculation or for the defense of unspeakable interests, the opposition once again deprived us of celebrating the conquest of a right as urgent as it is priority.. Society has to be very attentive to these maneuvers and demand that legislators and those who intend to represent it to fulfill the duty of giving a frontal debate and sincere their position. There is no time to continue procrastinating or hiding behind the curtains. For the right to decide about our diet and our health, we need Clear Labeling NOW.
National Deputy of the Frente de Todos for the province of Buenos Aires and member of the Commission for Social Action and Public Health
