Some people think that shops should not be allowed to sell any food or drink that has scientifically been proved to have bad effects on people's health. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
I completely agree that shops should be prohibited from selling food and drinks scientifically confirmed to harm human health, for two core reasons related to public health protection and consumer fairness.
First, this ban is the most effective way to reduce the prevalence of diet-related public health crises. Many scientifically verified harmful products, such as sugar-sweetened beverages with proven links to childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes, or processed meats classified as Group 1 carcinogens by the WHO, are widely accessible in local shops, making them easy for consumers, especially minors, to purchase impulsively. Banning their retail availability directly cuts off the most convenient access channel, which has been shown to lower consumption rates significantly: for example, after cities in Mexico banned the sale of sugary drinks in small neighborhood stores in 2020, local sugary drink purchases dropped by 18% within 6 months, alongside a measurable fall in childhood obesity rates in low-income areas.
Second, ordinary consumers often lack the professional knowledge to identify scientifically proven health risks of food products. Many harmful foods are marketed as "healthy" or "convenient" by manufacturers, misleading people into making harmful choices unknowingly. A retail ban removes this information asymmetry, protecting vulnerable groups such as the elderly and children who are less capable of judging product risks accurately.
While some argue adults should have the right to choose their own diet, this right does not extend to products that impose long-term public health costs on society through increased medical burdens. Overall, banning the sale of scientifically proven harmful food and drink is a justified, effective policy to protect public well-being.