Full report on BBC News Online

A Scottish GP has called for chocolate to be taxed in the same way as alcohol and cigarettes to tackle increasing levels of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Dr David Walker, a GP in Lanarkshire, said many people eat their entire daily calorie requirement in chocolate, on top of their normal meals.

The doctor said chocolate used to be seen as a "treat" but had now become an harmful addiction for some.

He will put his proposals to colleagues at a BMA conference in Clydebank.

Dr Walker, who is also a trained food scientist and nutritionist, told the BBC news website: "Obesity is a mushrooming problem. We are heading the same way as the United States.

"There is an explosion of obesity and the related medical conditions, like type 2 diabetes. I see chocolate as a major player in this, and I think a tax on products containing chocolate could make a real difference."

Dr Walker said that a 225g bag of chocolate sweets contained almost 1,200 calories - almost half the recommended daily calorie intake for a man - and could be eaten incredibly quickly.

He warned that many people were consuming this amount of chocolate on a daily basis, as well as their normal meals, and were unaware of the harm it was doing.

He said: "There is lots of negative publicity about other fast food and junk food but chocolate is sneaking under the radar.

"People have been lulled into a false sense of security about chocolate.

"I had one patient recently who said to me she thought chocolate was good for you. People are being brainwashed into believing this."

Under Dr Walker's proposal, to be presented at the annual conference of Scottish Local Medical Committees, revenue raised from taxing chocolate products would be used by the NHS to deal with the health problems caused by obesity.

He will also argue that the extra money raised could be spent on increasing and improving sports facilities.

Fried food?  Tax it.  That's fattening too, you know!  Mayonnaise?  Yep, fattening...butter tax it!  And so on and so on and so on...

::)

Why not tax all food except celery?

Why not tax all food except celery?


You can put peanut butter on it which is fattening, therefore it must be taxed.

Tax on Chocolate my gosh is nothing pleasing to the palate sacred?