The introduction of plain packaging laws for tobacco in Australia was a big win for bullying nanny-statism and a big loss for private property rights and personal responsibility. At the time prominent nanny staters told us that it would not lead to a slippery slope of plain packaging for food or alcohol, yet their assurances were futile.
What’s emerging in the UK and in Australia are calls from publicly fundedhealth authorities for plain packaging for junk food and alcohol. Former head of the Australian Medical Association Professor Kerryn Phelps recently went so far as to solemnly declare that “protecting children from junk food is a fundamental human rights issue for the child.”
It is a sad day for civil society when government infringements are labelled “basic human rights.” The human right to voluntarily decide for themselves, what they should and shouldn’t do for themselves is often neglected in these discussions.
By Dylan Walters
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