"Experts" Tell UK to Increase H&S Nanny Laws

[zenkidori]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7091047.stm

Government ministers should shrug off media accusations that they are running a nanny state and introduce tougher public health measures, experts say.

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics said the time had come to consider a whole host of interventions in the UK after the introduction of a smoking ban.

Its proposes raising alcohol prices, restricting pub opening hours and better food labelling to fight obesity.

The government said it was taking steps to protect public health.

The report by the panel of experts, which include scientists, lawyers and philosophers, said there was a balance to be struck between individual freedom and wider public protection.

But they urged the government not to be afraid to act where there was evidence people were being put at risk by environmental factors.

It praised the action taken over the smoking bans, introduced across the UK countries in recent years, as an example of where the "greater good" outweighs an individual's right to make a personal choice.

The experts said the government and industry should not see such measures as tantamount to creating a nanny state.

Instead, public health interventions should be seen as a "stewardship" role where proportional intervention was only taken when other measures had failed.

The report called on ministers to reconsider the relaxation in pub opening hours and look into increasing the price of alcohol through taxation.

It also said industry should introduce the most effective food labelling methods once the Food Standards Agency review of the issue is completed.

Activity

And it called for town planners and architects to be trained to design buildings and public spaces that encourage physical activity.

There is also an argument for intervening where children with serious respiratory conditions are exposed to smoking at home, it added. But the report did stress that those measures should be determined by the courts.

Lord John Krebs, the chairman of the committee which produced the report, said: "People often reject the idea of a nanny state.

"But the government has a duty to look after the health of everyone and sometimes that means guiding or restricting our choices."

Lord Krebs said there had been a "huge cultural change over what is acceptable" with the introduction of the smoking bans and urged the government to "implement tougher measures".

Dr Tim Crayford, of the Association of Directors of Public Health, agreed the climate was changing.

He said: "We need the government to provide more leadership."

Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, added: "Their call to examine the impact of 24-hour licensing is particularly welcome as this is most likely to impact on the health of the nation in the long-term."

The government said it was taking steps to protect public health and defended its record on alcohol in particular.

Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said: "The government has introduced a comprehensive strategy to tackle the health and social affects of harmful drinking across the board."

It's a brave new world...

[Hidden_Hunter]

About the only agreeable thing on there is the increased labeling on food, that way it's nobodies fault but you're own when you become a fatfuck (and you can't claim otherwise)

[tigger]

Instead, public health interventions should be seen as a "stewardship" role where proportional intervention was only taken when other measures had failed.

"Stewardship" huh? Let me see here ... "steward" = "a person who has charge of the household of another, buying or obtaining food, directing the servants, etc."

Sounds a lot like a nanny to me .

[Blind_Io]

[ruuman]

All I can say to that article is:

FUCK OFF!!

LEAVE US ALONE
GO AND DO SOMETHING USEFUL

....like die

[Blind_Io]

Originally Posted by ruuman

All I can say to that article is:

FUCK OFF!!

LEAVE US ALONE
GO AND DO SOMETHING USEFUL

....like die

... then we can use your rotting nannying corpse to fertilize the garden.

[ruuman]

^ glad to see were on the same page

[Cobol74]

Originally Posted by Blind_Io

... then we can use your rotting nannying corpse to fertilize the garden.

Harsh, ... but fair in this case.

[Ford Prefect]

somehow when my english teachers forced me to read all the standard utopia/dystopia novels throughout my school years, I figured that this was done to make the students think about where a society can eventually end up when individuals are no longer considered to be able to decide what´s good for them... so am I the only one who read these sorts of books?

[tigger]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

... so am I the only one who read these sorts of books?

Stuff like 1984? The movie Soylent Green? You're definitely not the only one. Maybe Health and Safety outlawed works on "dystopias" in the UK ? Because if I lived in London ... damn. I'd be tearing down cameras faster than they could put them up.

[Ford Prefect]

well I found the cameras a bit alarming last time I went to London, but what really bothers me are the nazi smoking laws... I mean it´s not just that they prevent me from smoking in places where it might bother others, that I can cope with, it´s the fact that they basically manage to prevent me from smoking alltogether. At Munich airport I can take a walk to a smoking section when I´m stuck there because my plane´s been delayed by 5 hours, at heathrow you have to go all the way outside, across the street, and into a little glas hut... what the hell is wrong with having a small room in the terminal for the smokers where we don´t bother anyone???

[thedguy]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

well I found the cameras a bit alarming last time I went to London, but what really bothers me are the nazi smoking laws... I mean it´s not just that they prevent me from smoking in places where it might bother others, that I can cope with, it´s the fact that they basically manage to prevent me from smoking alltogether. At Munich airport I can take a walk to a smoking section when I´m stuck there because my plane´s been delayed by 5 hours, at heathrow you have to go all the way outside, across the street, and into a little glas hut... what the hell is wrong with having a small room in the terminal for the smokers where we don´t bother anyone???

The hope is that you'll quit smoking on the basis that the non-smokers have made smoking entirely way to inconvenient for you. Or they fear the tiniest bit of second hand smoke... probably the latter.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by thedguy

The hope is that you'll quit smoking on the basis that the non-smokers have made smoking entirely way to inconvenient for you. Or they fear the tiniest bit of second hand smoke... probably the latter.

precisely, but it´s my body, and when I do things like smoke, drink excessively, or drive my car over a racetrack at insane speeds I know that I am putting it at risk, but sooner or later my time will come this way or the other, and I´d like to spend at least some parts of it doing things that I think are fun...

hell I´d rather be happy, than healthy and bored...

[zenkidori]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

somehow when my english teachers forced me to read all the standard utopia/dystopia novels throughout my school years, I figured that this was done to make the students think about where a society can eventually end up when individuals are no longer considered to be able to decide what´s good for them... so am I the only one who read these sorts of books?

I read all kinds of those books in high school, including brave new world, 1984, gattica and others.

I'm drinking excessivly right now.

go fuck yourselves health and safety, HAR HAR HAR!

[liberal noob]

In the US new fire trucks are now "required" to have reflective chevrons on the back. I see more nanny laws on the horizon.

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

hell I´d rather be happy, than healthy and bored...

Same here.

[smib]

Originally Posted by liberal noob

In the US new fire trucks are now "required" to have reflective chevrons on the back. I see more nanny laws on the horizon.

Do you know the reasoning behind this? For the life of me I can't think of anything. Fire trucks are huge, red, loud, and if on their way to a fire extremely loud and flashing all over, why on earth is some shiny tape on the back required?

[tigger]

Originally Posted by smib

Do you know the reasoning behind this? For the life of me I can't think of anything.

Well people managed to slam into the back of highway department dumptrucks, which are huge and bright orange. Maybe some areas have problems with people running into firetrucks? Yeah, seems retarded to me too . I think that if you can't see a fire truck you shouldn't be on the road anyway.

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

hell I´d rather be happy, than healthy and bored...

Agreed. I don't smoke, but I expect to breathe it in a bar, and I can deal with that. In trying to preserve the "greater good" lawmakers are alienating minorities, to me at least, they are failing to strike a balance on many issues. Smoking for one, and regulation of the automotive industry comes to mind too.

[Night_Hawk]

I hope I can manage to tour europe sometime before gas engines are criminalized

[phuckingduck]

Originally Posted by Night_Hawk

I hope I can manage to tour europe sometime before gas engines are criminalized

QFT

I've long had a dream of touring Europe in a small two seat car like a Morgan. With the advent of speed cameras, swiss road rules, and tougher rules for Americans traveling in Europe soon, it just doesn't seem as attractive anymore.