Lawmakers bat for strong FoPL norms to stop epidemic of NCDs
New Delhi: Advocating for strong and mandatory front of pack label (FoPL) warning, parliamentarians, including former Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, have expressed their concern on how rising non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including diabetes has overburdened country's health system.
Batting for stringent health warning on the unhealthy packaged foods specifying that it has HFSS (high in fat, sugar and salt), Modi said, "The warnings should be on the lines of those on the cigarette packets that "smoking is injurious to health" as it would help people make healthy and safer choices."
Another prominent BJP MP in Rajya Sabha, who also served as Director and Commandant of the Armed Forces Medical College, Lt Gen (Retd) Dr DP Vats said that the sedentary lifestyle and increased consumption of packed food is presenting an imminent threat to the nation's health and economy.
The MPs expressed their views while participating at a recently held first-of-its-kind roundtable discussion on "FoPL, impact of packaged foods on health", which was organised by the Institute for Governance, Policies and Politics (IGPP).
On the occasion, Jharkhand BJP chief and Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash called for launching an intensive awareness campaign for FoPL particularly in rural India, where packed foods have penetrated at an alarming level.
At the meet, Dr Naval K Vikram, a leading diabetologist and professor at the department of medicine at AIIMS, New Delhi, talked about the strategic role that FoPL can play in helping bring
down the NCDs.
Other MPs, who participated at the roundtable, include BJP MPs Shiv Pratap Shukla, Mahesh Poddar, Ram Kumar Verma and Sanjay Seth. As per the ICMR State Level Disease Burden Initiative, 2016, NCDs, such as heart attack, stroke, diabetes and cancer accounted for an estimated 60 lakh deaths, constituting 62 per cent of the total mortality of that year.
Diets high in salt, sugar and fats is a major risk factor for these chronic diseases and difficult to treat ailments.
