The Citizen Assembly supports the introduction of “sugar taxes” hitting drinks and sweet foods. This measure is one of the six reforms aimed at promoting the Health adopted by the 100 members of this organ drawn.
This package of measures also requires the increase in existing taxes on alcohol and tobacco. Incittar taxes should reduce the consumption of these products by making their price less attractive, the citizen assembly said in a press release published on Tuesday.
The proposal which obtained the highest support is that of “strengthening health skills at all stages of life”. The objective is that the population can make informed choices in food, physical activity and mental health through more educational offers and more targeted training in the medical profession.
National Health Law
The Citizen Assembly also calls for the implementation of a national health law, the creation of a national skills center “health promotion and prevention” and the development of national information campaigns aimed at raising awareness among the general public.
The group has envisaged “several possibilities” of such a law, including “training on how to eat or how to read the labels of food or products that are bought”, detailed in the 12:30 pm one of the participants, Mégane Favaretto, de Bévilard (BE).
The Citizen Assembly also advocates more strict advertising prohibitions for products containing nicotine and alcohol. These must constitute a targeted financial incentive for healthier consumption choices.
-These six proposals “reflect the reforms that the population considers to be the most urgent to promote health and, in the long term, reduce health costs”, writes the citizen assembly. Conversely, four proposals did not find a majority, one of which requested the suppression of subsidies for the production of alcohol and tobacco.
Wish to be “heard”
The final report of the Citizen Assembly will be submitted on May 20 to the Federal Councilor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider. Representatives of the political support group will discuss the results and put them in the political context.
According to Mégane Favaretto, the assembly hopes that her proposals will be “heard” and “discussed from a political point of view”.
The project was led by the universities of Geneva and Zurich and coordinated by the Center for Studies on the Democracy of Aarau (ZDA). He examines if and how citizen assemblies drawn by lot can supplement democratic debates.
For Daniel Kübler, co-initiator at the University of Zurich, these works “clearly show that people from different backgrounds are able to familiarize themselves with complex themes, and find together solutions based on respect and dialogue likely to bring together a majority”.
repayment
