Dr. Aileen McGloin:

I absolutely see parallels between the tobacco industry and the industry that produces foods that are high in sugar, fat and salt. We can learn a lot from the journey of tobacco over the last 40 to 50 years, although I hope it will not take us as long. The ban on advertising of tobacco is really important, which came in many years ago. When we banned smoking in pubs and restaurants, that was with the protection of the worker at the centre of the policy. Now we want the protection of children at the centre of our policy and I think banning unhealthy food from areas where children gather could be a really important part of our policy.

The last piece is the removal of tobacco products from being visible within a retail setting. At the moment, if you go into a supermarket, you are 16 times more likely to see an unhealthy food at the end of an aisle or at a till than a healthy food. What you should have to do when you go into a supermarket is to have to seek out unhealthy food, which have a place in our diet on occasions and so on, but they should be hidden in the same way tobacco is hidden. Drawing that parallel is exactly right in terms of how we respond as well as the journey.