Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I table the explanatory memorandum relating to the bill and move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

The Food Safety (Trans Fats) Bill 2009 aims to reduce the Australian public’s exposure to unsafe synthetic trans fatty acids, which are known to the public as ‘trans fats’.

Synthetic trans fatty acids are non-naturally occurring fats formed by the hydrogenation of liquid vegetable oils to make them solidify. They are distinct from the naturally occurring trans fatty acids in some foods, such as meat and dairy products. Synthetic trans fats are added to certain foods to increase shelf life and improve texture. Fast foods, such as chips, chicken nuggets and pizzas, packaged snacks and bakery products such as biscuits, cakes, pies and doughnuts are most commonly affected.

Scientific evidence shows that synthetic trans fatty acids significantly increase blood cholesterol levels. They are more harmful than saturated fats, which increase ‘bad’ cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein), as they simultaneously decrease ‘good’ cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein). This significantly increases the risk of coronary heart disease, which kills tens of thousands of Australians every year. A major study into the health effects of trans fats by Mozaffarian et al in the New England Journal of Medicine in April 2006 found:

On a per-calorie basis, trans fats appear to increase the risk of coronary heart disease more than any other macronutrient, conferring a substantially increased risk at low levels of consumption (1 to 3 percent of total energy intake). In a meta-analysis of four prospective cohort studies involving nearly 140,000 subjects, including updated analyses from the two largest studies, a 2 percent increase in energy intake from trans fatty acids was associated with a 23 percent increase in the incidence of coronary heart disease …

The former President of the Australian Medical Association has echoed this conclusion, noting in November 2006 that:

Trans fats appear to increase the risk of coronary heart disease more than any other macronutrient. They may increase the risk of sudden death from a heart attack, and are associated with diabetes.

He went on to call for the immediate mandatory labelling of food containing trans fats while a complete ban is implemented. The AMA renewed this call last year in the context of recommending measures to reduce obesity in Australia.

Australians have good reason to be concerned about unregulated quantities of trans fats in our food. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports that one in two Australian adults are overweight or obese. According to the Heart Foundation, cardiovascular disease is the biggest killer of Australians, accounting for 34% of all deaths in this country in 2006 and killing one person in Australia nearly every 10 minutes.

A number of countries have responded to this public health risk by regulating the use of trans fats. In Denmark it has been illegal to sell oils and fats containing more than 2% trans fats since 2004. In the USA, nutrition labels must declare levels of trans fats that exceed 0.5 grams per serve. By the beginning of next year, California’s restaurants will be prohibited from selling margarines, oils, and shortening that contain more than half a gram of trans fat per serving. Bakery products must be included by the following year. New York’s Board of Health has implemented a similar restriction.

Yet in Australia, trans fats remain almost entirely unregulated. The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code provides that information on trans fats must be included on food labels only if ‘a nutrition claim is made in respect of cholesterol or saturated, trans, polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fatty acids; or omega-3, omega-6 or omega-9 fatty acids’. If the manufacturer chooses not to make any such claims, they need not alert the consumer to the presence of trans fats.

The only other government-level response to the issue was the National Collaboration on Trans Fats established by the previous Federal Government. This body found that the average intake of trans fats by Australians and New Zealanders was below the 1% recommended by the World Health Organisation, concluded that no regulation was necessary, and recommended that the issue be reviewed in 2009. It seems a strange approach to wait until the consumption of a known harmful substance increases before intervening. Focusing on the average rate of consumption also ignores the fact that consumption may be far higher in some individual cases. Respected Australian nutritionist, Dr Rosemary Stanton, noted that ‘trans fats can be as high as 40 per cent in some fast foods.’ Clearly, people who eat a lot of these foods will be consuming well in excess of the average intake of trans fats.

To remedy this situation, the present Bill employs the corporations power to prohibit constitutional corporations from manufacturing, distributing, offering for sale, selling or otherwise trading in food containing synthetic trans fatty acids. It also prohibits persons from manufacturing, distributing, offering for sale, selling or otherwise trading in food containing synthetic trans fatty acids for, to or on behalf of constitutional corporations. Civil penalties apply.

Given the important public health issues at stake and the inadequate existing regulatory regime, it is important to safeguard the health of Australians until such time as the States and Territories decide to act. The bill expressly provides that State or Territory legislation may override the bill, leaving State and Territory governments with the option to choose to adopt a different regulatory response. In the interim, this bill will ensure the health of Australians is not harmed by trans fats.

I commend this bill to the Senate.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.