A CANCER campaigner from Richmond travelled to Westminster to back a cause close to her heart – a drive to reduce childhood obesity.
Laura Ashurst is supporting Cancer Research UK’s new campaign, ‘Junk Free TV’.
She took part in a day of action urging MPs – including Richmond’s Rishi Sunak – to back the campaign which calls for the removal of junk food advertising on TV before the 9pm watershed to help children lead long and healthy lives.
In Yorkshire and the Humber more than one in five (21.5 per cent) children are overweight or obese, and people who are obese as children are more likely to be obese as adults which increases their risk of developing cancer.
Research suggests children who see junk food advertised on TV eat more unhealthy food.
While such ads have already been removed during children’s TV shows, young viewers are regularly exposed to alluring marketing during other programming, such as family entertainment.
Laura shared with MPs the results of the accompanying campaign report from Cancer Research UK which features interviews with eight-12 year olds.
It illustrates the persuasive impact of TV junk food advertising on youngsters, with one child saying they wanted to “lick the screen”, while others said they had “begged” and “pestered” their parents to buy junk food they’d enjoyed watching the ads for.
Of one particular advert, a child said: “It makes you feel as if you’re happy and excited, and it feels like you want to try it because the guy’s dancing in it because he’s eaten it and it tastes good.”
Mr Sunak said: “I was impressed by Laura’s passion about this matter and really appreciate her travelling to London to talk to me about it.
“I agree that chilhood obesity and the greater risk of cancer in later life is a major issue in the UK and I will consider the campaign report very carefully.”
Alison Cox, Cancer Research UK’s Director of Cancer Prevention, said: “We’re grateful for Laura’s support in helping to highlight the scale of the issue.
“Obesity is the biggest preventable cause of cancer after smoking and costs the NHS billions of pounds each year. We owe it to future generations to reduce the devastating impact caused by the obesity epidemic and help save more lives.”