Roundup: British politician calls for ban of Coca Cola's Christmas truck from city for obesity concerns

For thousands of kids, it's the next best thing to watch Santa Claus arriving on his sleigh at Christmas time.

The famous magical Coca Cola Christmas truck attracts armies of youngsters as it pulls up in shopping centers across Britain in the days before December 25.

One leading politician on Thursday called for the ban of the bright-red highly illuminated Coca Cola truck from his city as part of the battle against obesity.

Councillor Richard Kemp, leader of the Liberal Democrats on Liverpool City Council, has called on the city's main shopping mall owners at Liverpool One to ban the truck from the city.

Kemp made his call on the day when the national government produced what critics have called a lukewarm and limited "Childhood Obesity Strategy."

He said: "In Liverpool, sugar is the new tobacco. At 11 years of age, 30 percent of the children in our city are obese, one in 10 of those are clinically obese."

"Almost all of them will become obese adults with a cost to the NHS of 5.1 billion pounds a year (6.72 billion U.S. dollars). This takes no account of the personal misery of the conditions which have to be treated; the shortened lives that many of them will have and the cost to businesses they work for because of sick leave."

"The causes are many and the actions needed to deal with them are even more varied. There is one thing on which everyone agrees. Too many children are drinking too many fizzy, sugary drinks. That is why last year in the run-up to Christmas, I was appalled to see a big promotion by Coca-Cola when its red van visited Liverpool as part of its advertising campaign tour around the country."

"To my mind this glorifies the sale of something which is often consumed in vast quantities with people having little knowledge of just how dangerous the sugar content can be to the long-term health of them and their children."

Former British Prime Minister David Cameron originally declared war on obesity and high-sugar content drinks, with plans for a "sugar tax."

The government's childhood obesity plan published Thursday, which proposes a voluntary target to cut sugar in children's food and drink, immediately generated widespread criticism.

The British Medical Association (BMA) representing Britain's doctors, said the government had "rowed back" on promises it had made to tackle obesity.

MP Sarah Wollaston who chairs the House of Commons health select committee, described the obesity plan as "really disappointing".

She said whole sections from the original draft have been dropped including measures on advertising junk food to children.

On earlier Thursday, government officials released a report on the proposed levy on soft drinks, the so-called sugar tax. The levy will make soft drinks companies pay a charge for drinks with added sugar, and total sugar content of five grams or more per 100 millilitres, about 5 percent sugar content. There is a higher charge for the drinks that contain eight grams or more per 100 millilitres.

The report said there are nine teaspoons of sugar in a 330 ml can of cola, instantly taking children above their recommended maximum for the day.

"A five year old should have no more than 19 grams of sugar in a day, but a typical can of cola can have 35 grams. Public health experts from the Chief Medical Officer to the British Heart Foundation agree that sugar-sweetened soft drinks are a major source of sugar for children and teenagers, and that sugar intake drives obesity." Endit