The American Society of Bariatric Plastic Surgeons Proposes a Fat Tax!

The American Society of Bariatric Plastic Surgeons Proposes a Fat Tax!

(August 5, 2009, Newport Beach,California)The American Society of Bariatric Plastic Surgeons proposed a tax on fatty foods in order to decrease the incidence of obesity.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity has reached epidemic proportions. 1billion adults are overweight and 300million are clinically obese. The increased saturated fat content of foods directly leads to weight gain and eventually obesity. The WHO recommends that we “promote the availability and accessibility of a variety of low-fat, high fiber foods”.
“We cannot regulate what people eat. Maybe by taxing only those foods served with high saturated fat could we discourage consumers from buying them and encourage the restaurants to provide more healthy choices”, said Dr. Edward Domanskis, the President of the American Society of Bariatric Plastic Surgeons(ASBPS), whose members have a special interest in obesity surgery. “The money generated by this fat tax could be directed to research into causes and cures for obesity”, he continued.
The increasing tax on cigarettes, as well as public education of its risks have resulted in a 61% reduction in cigarette consumption over the past 40years according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics.
Obesity has been classified as a disease by Medicare since 2005 and so the high costs of its treatment are covered and paid for by every taxpayer. “It rightfully should be so classified,” continued Dr. Domanskis, ”for it is associated with heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes”. These risks almost immediately disappear after bariatric surgery. The Centers for Disease Control reports obesity causes an increase in breast, uterine, colon cancers.
“The fat tax proposal from the American Society of Bariatric Plastic Surgeons is self-serving”, said Dr. Domanskis, ”for if obesity continues to increase at its present rate, our plastic surgeon members will be inundated with bariatric patients seeking plastic surgeons, which we will not be able to accommodate” ,concluded Dr. Domanskis.