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ISBA tells BBC Radio 4 that ad bans are not the answer to the obesity issue

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By Jennifer Faull | Deputy Editor

February 20, 2013 | 2 min read

ISBA has reaffirmed its position on Radio 4’s Media Show that the obesity issue will not be addressed by unfounded attacks on advertisers.

On the BBC show hosted by Steve Hewlett, ISBA’s director of public affairs, Ian Twinn, spoke of his doubt on the credibility of the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges’ call for a pre-9pm TV advertising ban for all food high in saturated fats, sugar and salt.

He said: “All the studies have shown that advertising has a small and at most modest impact on children’s behaviour”.

“It [a ban on advertising] is not going to impact on obesity, so why damage the ecology of business?”

Speaking opposite Professor Simon Capewell, one of the authors of the AoMRC’s Measuring Up – The Medical Profession’s Prescription For The Nation’s Obesity Crisis, published on Monday, Twinn repeated accusations that the medical industry is ‘grandstanding’ on the issue and, despite claims to the contrary, has no robust evidence to support its campaign.

Twinn concluded by calling for the medical professions to look at the evidence and to work together with government and business to shift eating and exercise patterns through the Responsibility Deal.

ISBA BBC Radio

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