POVERTY IN U.K. 'CAUSING MALNUTRITION'
The Observer
LONDON -- Mounting poverty during 16 years of Conservative
rule has produced malnutrition among Britons on a scale
unseen since the 1930s.
An unpublished government report leaked to The Observer
concludes that urgent action needs to be taken to improve
the diet of millions of Britons. The report is deeply
embarrassing to the government and the inquiry team was
forbidden from discussing or recommending what some of its
members believe to be an essential prerequisite to healthier
eating -- the raising of state benefits.
Led by a team of civil servants and top nutrition and
health experts, the 18-month inquiry has laid out a
blueprint for mass national action that would represent the
biggest healthy eating drive since the "Dig For Victory"
campaign of the Second World War.
The advisers will warn the government within the next
two weeks that the combination of rising poverty and the
boom in out-of-town superstores has left "whole communities
with inadequate access to the constituents of a healthy
diet."
It wants ministers to take action by setting up a group
ranging across five government departments -- health, social
security, education, agriculture and environment -- to
establish a national strategy and discover how much it would
cost.
The 21-member team suggests that in the longer term,
"ring-fenced" state funding would be needed to help people
grow food locally. It also calls for tax breaks to
encourage small scale growers and sellers of fruit and
vegetables.
The department of social security has estimated that
increasing income support by $22 Cdn a week would cost $9
billion a year.
