South Australia bans junk food ads on public transport
Canberra, Jan 12: South Australia has become the first Australian state to ban junk food advertisements on public transport to tackle obesity and promote healthy diets.
The ban, which will be effective on July 1, 2025, prohibits images of unhealthy products such as chocolate, lollies, confectionery, desserts, ice creams, soft drinks, and chips from appearing on public buses, trains, and trams, reports Xinhua news agency.
Strong evidence has demonstrated that food and drink marketing can affect a child’s nutrition knowledge, food preferences and consumption patterns; obesity and type 2 diabetes have also been linked to the advertisement of unhealthy food and drinks, experts said on Saturday.
“Junk food marketing has a really powerful, persuasive influence on what our children eat,” the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) quoted Jane Martin from the Food for Health Alliance as saying.
“It is very important that advertisements are kept under state control because this advertising builds up, it’s not just on TV and digital platforms, it is where children are as they commute to school,” Martin said, adding that children are bombarded with this set of fast-food marketing everywhere they go, and it would be great if broccoli and carrots were promoted above fast-food deals.
More than 63 per cent of adults and 35 per cent of children across SA are overweight or obese, which is expected to grow by an additional 1,900 children and 48,000 adults over the next five years if no action is taken, government statistics showed.
Currently, almost 80 per cent of food and drink advertisements on SA buses promote unhealthy products, according to the Cancer Council SA. (IANS)
Man says two of his cats died after drinking raw milk recalled for bird flu
New York, Jan 12: A California man whose two cats died after drinking raw milk recalled for bird flu risk says he meant to keep his beloved pets healthy, but his efforts tragically backfired.
“It’s horrible when you realise that you’re the one that actually gave them the milk that killed them,” said Joseph Journell, 56, of San Bernardino.
Journell lost his 14-year-old tabby, Alexander, and Tuxsie, a 4-year-old tuxedo cat, in late November. A third cat, 4-year-old Big Boy, was hospitalised for a week before tests showed the animal was infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus.
The cats drank unpasteurised milk from lots recalled by Raw Farm, of Fresno, whose dairy products were pulled from California store shelves in December after health officials found the virus in milk for sale, he said.
The animals’ deaths were confirmed by state and county health officials. The cats were kept indoors, with no access to potentially infected birds, and ate conventional, not raw, pet food, the owner said.
Journell said he had been drinking Raw Farm milk himself for several months because he heard it had “better immunity and healing properties” than pasteurised milk. He thought it might be able to help Alexander, who had been losing weight. (AP)