Junk Food Ad Regulation

16/11/2006

Istanbul, Nov 15 - European Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou defended on Wednesday self-regulation of junk food advertising, despite calls from the WHO and others for tighter rules on commercials aimed at children.

Amid forecasts obesity could affect one in 10 children in Europe and Central Asia by 2010, experts are urging tighter regulation of child-focused advertising in a World Health Organisation-backed charter drafted for approval in Istanbul.

Health ministers and other senior officials from some 50 European countries are meeting in Turkey to draw up guidelines for fighting obesity.

The charter being drawn up by the WHO, the specialised U.N. agency for health, is expected to be signed on Thursday. It is not binding but its strategy to combat obesity is expected to be closely watched by health experts and governments.

European Commissioner Kyprianou said he preferred to let companies regulate themselves.

"The approach we have chosen is to try first the self-regulatory approach so we are challenging the industry to come out with specific commitments," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the two-day conference. "I think it's working."

Kyprianou said self-regulation was quicker and companies were more likely to stick to their own commitments, rather than seeking loopholes.

"First of all it's speedier, it can produce results. To have legislation adopted and implemented in the EU it could easily take seven years," he said.

Earlier this year nine soft drink companies including Coca Cola and Pepsi said they would stop airing ads for children under 12 and take vending machines out of primary schools.

But Kyprianou said Brussels would resort to regulation if necessary to stem the growing obesity problem and the industry had about two years to prove itself.

"If self regulation fails then we have no option but to proceed with a more strict regulatory approach."

"I think we could have a more conclusive position on whether we're completely happy with self-regulation within a couple of years, before the end of this commission," he said.

The present term of the European Union's executive arm runs until October 2009.

Experts at the conference in Istanbul were critical of self-regulation, and Professor Kaare Norum, of the Institute of Nutritional Research at the University of Oslo, said it did not work.

WHO Director of Health Programmes for Europe Dr Gudjon Magnusson agreed: "As far as we know it has never succeeded and that's because ... you have to get all the companies to agree to one common framework and there are always companies which see the advantage of breaking the commitment."

The draft of the WHO-backed charter calls for "the adoption of regulations to substantially reduce the extent and impact of commercial promotion of energy-dense food and beverages, particularly to children".