Cancer Council WA, supported by a coalition of WA's peak health and medical organisations, has launched a new community movement, Un-junk, empowering West Aussies to push back against the growing influence of unhealthy food and advocate for healthier communities.
Cancer Council WA Food Policy Senior Coordinator, Dr Sharonna Mossenson, said the environments people lived in played a major role in shaping food choices.
"Unhealthy food has become increasingly difficult to avoid, with fast food outlets near schools, junk foodadvertising in public spaces, unhealthy sponsorship in community sport, and supermarket promotions encouraging unhealthy purchases," Dr Mossenson said.
"Children are growing up surrounded by constant marketing and easy access to unhealthy food, normalising its consumption as part of an everyday diet.
"Un-junk is about giving communities the tools to have their voices heard and push for healthier food environments."
Dr Mossenson said the Un-junk movement focuses on four priority areas - neighbourhoods, advertising, supermarkets and sport sponsorship - and encourages West Australians to take practical action.
"We encourage people to jump on to the Un-junk website and upload photos of unhealthy food advertising, share unhealthy supermarket promotions, write to their elected representatives, explore interactive maps, complete polls and share their own experiences," she said.
Every photo, every story and every action helps build the case for policies that put community health ahead of junk food industry profits.
Un-junk is supported by Cancer Council WA, The Kids Research Institute Australia, the Australian Health Promotion Association, Diabetes WA, FoodCore, the Heart Foundation, the Public Health Association of Australia, the Public Health Advocacy Institute, Health Consumers' Council WA and the WA Council of Social Service.
