Health Law

Butter Is Poison And We Should Tax It, Says Professor

By Marler Clark

Every year the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association and Pennsylvania Diary Promotion Program sponsor the "butter sculpture" at the Harrisburg Farm Show.  This year, the buttery likenesses of Benjamin Franklin and the Liberty Bell were big hits.   At the end of the show, they were converted into high quality biodiesel.

Butter would become a whole lot more expensive if Auckland University epidemiologist Professor Rod Jackson gets his way.   Professor Jackson says butter is poison and should be hit with high taxes just like tabacco and alcohol.

Here's the news about the proposed butter tax from Stuff.co.nz

A top public health expert is calling for a health tax on butter, saying it's "pure, natural poison" and as bad as cigarettes.

 New Zealanders eat more butter per head than any other nationality and Auckland University epidemiologist Professor Rod Jackson says that's why our cholesterol levels are also among the world's highest.

"We have a health tax on alcohol and cigarettes and there should be a health tax on butter. It's the most poisonous commonly consumed food in New Zealand. It's about the purest form of saturated fat you can eat and it has no protein and no calcium. Butter has had all the good things taken out and just left the poison."

Find out more here.

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on April 06, 2008 (boomark / email).