More than 200 medical students at the University of Otago have signed a letter urging the Government to remove GST from milk and implement legislation that would require Fonterra to sell milk to the domestic market "at prices considered affordable", Medical Students for Global Awareness spokesman Stefan Fairweather says.
"The Ministry of Health's own guidelines for children and young people recommend water and low-fat milk as drinks of choice," Mr Fairweather said.
"Yet the Government continues to foster a market for dairy products that prices it out of the range that can be afforded by many New Zealand families. This is hardly ethical."
He said a recent publication by Otago public health researchers Moira Smith and Louise Signal had shown high domestic milk prices were potentially contributing to New Zealand's obesity epidemic and growing incidence of chronic disease "as more families either don't buy high-priced milk or turn to cheaper, less healthy sugar sweetened carbonated beverages as alternative drinks."
By charging GST on healthy foods, New Zealand was out of step with almost all OECD countries, he said.
"As future doctors, we're being trained and entrusted with ensuring the health of our population.
"If the Government will not act on what we and a raft of other more highly trained professionals are urging, perhaps our best form of action will be with our vote on November 26.'
