The paper seeks to initiate a dialogue with all interested parties on how action at European level can complement, support and coordinate action at national level. The Commission also points out that the response needs to be at European, national and regional levels.
Against the rise of the obesity epidemic, especially amongst children, the Green Paper highlights several areas for action:
how health can be mainstreamed into other EU policies;
how consumer information and education can be improved;
the role which self-regulation in the food and advertising industry can play;
ways in which urban and transport planning could be adapted to make physical activity easier and safer;
how people with lower education and income levels can be educated to make healthier choices.
An important issue that was not mentioned directly in the Green Paper however, is the role of health policies in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) - this has been the subject of a recent study conducted by the Swedish National Institute of Public Health.
EPHA briefing note on the Green Paper
Follow-up
The European Commission published in September 2006, the results of the consultation. Over 260 contributions were received.
The conclusions of the consultation are that more or less all stakeholders agree that actions need to be taken a different levels and involving a broad range of stakeholders. the result of the consultation also highlits that there is two main points of view regarding the influence of commercial communication of unhealthy products to children. While the commercial actors (food industry, retailers and advertisers) support that there is no evidence that restrictions on advertisement are an effective policy option and support that there should be no restrictions on the commercial communication directed to children and advocate for self-regulation and codes of conduct which are to be enforced by the industry themselves; health professionals, NGOs and governments support that there is a strong link between commercial communication of unhealthy foods and the diet of children and want restrictions and legislation to regulate the flow of commercial information.
Next steps: Commission to launch a Strategy on Nutrition, Diet and Physical activity in 2007
Responses
European Heart Network response (to be downloaded below)
European Respiratory Society response (to be downloaded below)
Baby Milk Action response (to be downloaded below)
CNAMTS ( French Health Insurance Scheme) response (to be downloaded below) - Not an EPHA member
