The UN’s special representative on the right to food, Hilal Elver, warns poor people are being forced to choose between economic viability and nutrition. She warns this ‘catch-22’ situation violates the basic human right to adequate food and blamed the rise of industrial food production coupled with free-wheeling trade markets that have allowed large corporations to flood the world with cheap, nutrient-poor foods. ‘Within the human rights framework, states are obliged to ensure effective measures to regulate the food industry, ensure that nutrition policymaking spaces are free from private sector influence and implement comprehensive policies that combat malnutrition in all its forms.”
~ nearly 800 million people are living in hunger around the globe
~ more than 2 billion people suffer from micro-nutrient deficiency
~ 600 million people are obese.
This equates to nearly half the world’s population without access to adequate food.
Elver said that countries must go beyond simply ensuring their people the minimum requirements needed for survival and ensure access to food that is nutritionally adequate; that the international community is failing to meet globally agreed upon nutrition targets that seek to eradicate malnutrition in all its forms and she was particularly concerned by aggressive marketing strategies to promote junk food to children and developing countries.
She called on governments to move away from industrial food systems and embrace more sustainable systems based on ecological balance, ‘the first step is to recognize nutrition as an essential component of the human right to adequate food, reinforced by monitoring accountability and transparency.’
According to recent CDC figures at least 20% of every US state is obese. Research shows the hardest-hit areas are low-income neighborhoods that have few or no options to buy fresh additive-free food. Doctors warn few people are fully aware of the health dangers that come with living on junk food.
Be the first to comment