North West of England search for EU Partners - Achieving a healthy reform of the CAP
The call for partners is intended for European regions and organisations interested in achieving healthy reforms for the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). NWHBO’s main objective is to learn about other European work that is being done on health and agriculture.
NWHBO has recently carried out research over the past 12 months into the linkages between CAP and the health and cultural changes that have occurred in 5 different EU countries (UK, Sweden, Poland, Spain and Belgium). It has also launched a brand new Agriculture and Health Newsletter, ‘CAPital News’.
Organisations interested in participating as partners, or receiving either the research report or the newsletter, can contact Robert Delis, CAP Project Officer, at: r.delis@nwhbo.org.
A CAP on health? From starvation to obesity
The Faculty of Public Health - an authoritative public health body based in the UK - has released a report entitled A CAP on Health?. . It builds upon the Swedish Institute for Public Health health impact assessment on the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) issued a few years ago.
The report aims to show how CAP food policies are likely to have contributed to current public health problems. Using the UK as a case study, the report identifies which areas are damaging to health, how CAP promotes health inequalities and how it should be changed to promote healthy diets and tackle health inequalities.
The report starts by outlining the developements of the CAP followed by a comprehensive study of all food areas: milk, beef, fruit and vegetables, cereals and sugar.
The main findings of the report are as follows:
There is a link between CAP and the developement of major diseases and disorders, such as type II diabetes, obesity, high blood presure, and premature deaths related to coronary heart diseases.
The CAP does not sufficiently support healthy crops, such as the fruit and vegetable sector, but over supports others like meat, sugar and dairy products.
Many of the EU countries do not meet the minimal consumption of fruit and vegetables recommended by the WHO.
There is a shortage of fruit and vegetables in the market which make them expensive and unaffordable to low income families.
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