New Telegraph

Over 100 countries delay actions to address harmful trans fats

Two years into the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) ambitious effort to eliminate industrially produced trans fats from the global food supply, the organisation said more than 100 countries still need to take actions to remove these harmful substances from their food supplies.
A statement from the WHO, however, showed that 58 countries so far have introduced laws that will protect 3.2 billion people from the harmful substance by the end of 2021.
According to the world body, the consumption of industrially produced trans fats are estimated to cause around 500,000 deaths per year due to coronary heart disease.
“In a time when the whole world is fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, we must make every effort to protect people’s health. That must include taking all steps possible to prevent noncommunicable diseases that can make them more susceptible to the coronavirus, and cause premature death,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Our goal of eliminating trans fats by 2023 must not be delayed.”
Fifteen countries account for approximately two thirds of the worldwide deaths linked to trans fat intake.
Of these, four (Canada, Latvia, Slovenia and the US) have implemented WHO-recommended best-practice policies since 2017, either by setting mandatory limits for industrially produced trans fats to two per cent of oils and fats in all foods or banning partially hydrogenated oils (PHO).
But the remaining 11 countries (Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Iran, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Republic of Korea) still need to take urgent action.
The report highlights two encouraging trends.
First, when countries do act, they overwhelmingly adopt best-practice policies rather than less restrictive ones. New policy measures passed and/or introduced in the past year in Brazil, Turkey and Nigeria all meet WHO’s criteria for best-practice policies. Countries, such as India, that have previously implemented less restrictive measures, are now updating policies to align with best practice.
Second, regional regulations that set standards for multiple countries are becoming increasingly popular, emerging as a promising strategy for accelerating progress towards global elimination by 2023. In 2019, the European Union (EU) passed a best-practice policy, and all 35 countries that are part of the WHO American Region/Pan American Health Organisation unanimously approved a regional plan of action to eliminate industrially produced trans fats by 2025. Together, these two regional initiatives have the potential to protect an additional one billion people in more than 50 countries who were not previously protected by trans fat regulations.

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