Policy recommendations from the Heart & Stroke Foundation

From www.heartandstroke.ca

Tipping the Scales of Progress - Heart Disease and Stroke in Canada 2006 is the seventh edition of our biennial publication on the status of cardiovascular diseases in Canada. The emphasis in this edition is on policy recommendations for disease prevention at a population level.

Tobacco Control

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC) recommends that governments in Canada continue to develop, implement and enforce comprehensive tobacco control strategies, including:
• comprehensive smoking bans in all workplaces and public places;
• increased taxation on tobacco products.
• prohibition of tobacco product "point of sale" advertising and promotion.
• elimination of deceptive labeling e.g., "light" and "mild".

Obesity and Chronic Disease Prevention

The Heart and Stroke Foundation recommends that governments and school boards:
• require one hour per day of structured physical activity for elementary and secondary school students.
• remove unhealthy or "junk" food in school-site vending machines.
• improve healthy food choices in schools, including cafeterias.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation recommends that governments:
• remove sales taxes from restaurant foods that are ‘healthy’.
• remove sales taxes from ‘healthy’ food products such as single servings of bottled water, pre-packaged salads and fruit trays in retail stores.
• tax ‘unhealthy’ foods, but only in combination with tax incentives.
• remove sales taxes from sports and recreation equipment, such as bicycles, skates etc.
• provide tax breaks to individuals for the purchase of public transit passes.
• treat transit passes provided by companies to their employees as a non-taxable benefit.
• provide tax credits/breaks for enhancing physical activity such as the purchase of gym memberships, fitness classes etc.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation recommends that the federal government:
• implement and adequately fund a coordinated strategy to address common chronic disease
risk factors.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation recommends that governments:
• address socioeconomic factors, such as poverty, and other determinants of health that place
communities at high risk for cardiovascular disease.
• allocate at least 7% of transportation-related infrastructure2 funds toward the development of
community infrastructure that promotes the use of active modes of transportation e.g., bicycle
trails/paths, walking trails/paths and sidewalks.
• ensure that social infrastructure that supports physical activity e.g., parks and community and
recreation centers are included in the gas tax transfer program.
• enhance investments in public transit and infrastructure that promote physical activity.
• encourage mixed use developments that enable people to walk or bike to a variety of shops and
services in their neighbourhoods.

A link to the full report can be found here.