President Enrique Pena Nieto launched a campaign against Mexico's obesity epidemic on Thursday, urging his countrymen to exercise more as congress passed special taxes on junk food and sodas.

With seven in 10 adults either overweight or obese, Pena Nieto called for a "change of culture", saying Mexicans should walk more, climb stairs and exercise at least one hour every day.

"We can't keep our arms crossed in front of a real overweight and obesity epidemic. The lives of millions of Mexicans are literally at risk," the slim leader said.

The special taxes were approved by congress despite heavy lobbying from the food and drink industry, which warned that the levies would do little to alleviate Mexico's weight problem while hurting the economy.

Mexico now has a higher rate of overweight people than the United States, and it also has the highest prevalence of diabetes among the 34-nation Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development.

Presenting his national strategy to prevent obesity and diabetes, Pena Nieto said the health ministry will open an "observatory" to monitor and respond to the problem.

Citing a health activist, Pena Nieto urged his countrymen to "dedicate at least one hour per day to exercise or a physical activity, which doesn't require much effort but that breaks with sedentary lifestyles ... be it walking, climbing stairs."

The government will also offer a "nutritional quality" seal for healthier foods so that Mexicans know exactly what they are putting in their grocery carts.

The strategy includes a campaign to promote healthier lifestyles and better diets in a country that consumes 163 liters of sugary drinks per capita per year, the highest rate in the world.

The Mexican leader also cited the junk food and soda taxes that the congress passed, saying the funds should be used for health programs and to increase access to drinking water in schools.

The levies were part of a vast fiscal reform championed by Pena Nieto to increase the government's dismal tax haul in order to invest more in infrastructure and create a universal social security safety net.

Taxes in Mexico are equivalent to 13.7 percent of the gross domestic product, compared to an average 18.4 percent in the rest of Latin America, according to the government.

But critics warn that the slew of taxes could threaten an economy that has already slowed down this year, with the government forecasting growth of 1.7 percent this year compared to 3.9 percent in 2012.

The fiscal package was approved by the full congress after a heated debate in the senate over an increase in sales taxes for border states that had prompted the conservative opposition to walk out of a session.

After the senate sent the reform to the lower house, the chamber of deputies voted 299-160 in favor of the package.

The measures included an 8 percent tax on foods with at least 275 kilocalories per 100 grams, including snacks, sweets, chocolate, flan, peanut butter and ice cream.

Both houses also backed a 1 peso (8 US cents) per liter charge for sugary drinks.

The president of Coca Cola's Latin America group, Brian Smith, was a speaker at Pena Nieto's event, but he did not mention the new tax.

Smith said the soft-drink giant had health programs to combat obesity and was developing low-calorie beverages, but he stressed that the epidemic was due to multiple factors including sedentary lifestyles, bad diets and genetics.

"Our businesses will simply not be sustainable if communities are unhealthy," he said.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 11/02/2013 page6)