Some elected officials are working on an overhaul of the taxation of oils, thus hoping to lower the consumption of palm oil, which can be harmful to health in large quantities.
The Nutella tax may well resurface. Indeed the idea of a tax on palm oil, adopted and then abolished in the Senate in the fall of 2012, could well see the light of day this summer. According to information revealed this Sunday in the columns of the JDD, on the eve of the 50th anniversary celebration of the famous spread, several elected officials are therefore on the verge of launching a new offensive. Senators Yves Daudigny and Catherine Deroche, author of a report on behavioral taxes (wine, tobacco, etc.) would be working at this very moment on a text entirely reviewing French taxation in terms of oil.
Tax more heavily to reduce consumption
For several years, some elected officials have not stopped denouncing, in particular, the penalization of olive oil which is more heavily taxed than other oils such as palm oil, whereas it would be, according to them, much better for health. “The public health law drawn up by Marisol Touraine could harmonize these different rates,” said PS Senator Yves Daudigny to the JDD. By taxing palm oil more, two years ago there was talk of tripling the current tax, he hopes to reduce consumption. A fight that this senator and other deputies, particularly environmentalists, have been leading for several years, in particular in the name of the fight against cardiovascular diseases. Indeed, according to nutrition specialists, the saturated fatty acids it contains promote the deposition of plaques rich in cholesterol on the inner wall of the arteries, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
A tax that could save lives?
But these French elected officials are not the only ones to point the finger at the harmful effects on the health of this oil, yet commonly used, not only in Nutella, but also in many industrial cakes. Indeed, a study published in the BMJ last October, had precisely assessed the potential effect of a tax on palm oil on certain health indicators in India. Using a simulation model, they evaluated the benefits of a 20% palm oil tax applied for ten years. Thus, by considering a scenario in which no other oil replaced palm oil, this team then estimated that around 363,000 deaths from myocardial infarction or stroke could be avoided. Obviously, these results only represented a model and the experts point out that saturated fatty acids are not in themselves responsible for cardiovascular diseases. “The palmitic acid contained in palm oil can, in large quantities, lead to atherosclerosis lesions, but in reasonable quantities it is not dangerous and it must be part of a varied diet” specified Dr Patrick Serog to Why actor at the time of the controversy in 2012.
.
