Freedom From Caries - A Child's Human Right?
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- Published: Thursday, 05 August 2021 07:35
- Written by Chris Tapper
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“Governments are legally accountable for their failure to protect children from the damage that excessive sugar consumption causes,” a leading expert will argue at a dental conference in the Autumn.
Professor Amandine Garde, is the founding director of the Law & Non-Communicable Diseases Research Unit at the University of Liverpool and has expertise on the role that the law can have on promoting better health.
A spokesperson said that Professor Garde will speak at the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry’s conference on October 5th.
Professor Garde will promote “A rights-based approach supporting population-wide, preventive measures as the most likely to ensure that the UK government and others around the world comply with their obligation to protect the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and related children’s rights.”
In particular, she will argue that governments are legally accountable for their failure to protect children from the damage that excessive sugar consumption causes.
Professor Garde will also reflect on the regulatory tools that public health campaigners have at their disposal to increase the pressure on the government to promote better health, and therefore reduce health inequities and improve compliance with children’s rights.
Professor Graham McGregor, Chairman of Action on Sugar, who with Professor Garde was at the 2018 Sugar Summit organised by the British Dental Association, said a legal or regulatory approach was probably one of the most effective ways to bring about change.
He said that “Just recently there had been a flurry of promising new policies for improving the British diet, he said, but unless targets for sugar reduction were enforced there would be little improvement.
“The food manufacturers are completely in charge of what goes into their products and will not change unless mandatory targets for sugar reduction are imposed.”
The BDA’s 2018 summit considered various steps including an approach that could mean the sale of overly-sugared products to children would be considered as a breach of human rights.
The link between sugar and human rights was highlighted in a study published by the US National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, in 2018.
The study described a 4-year-old Caucasian boy who had severe dental caries as a result of insufficient dental care. The boy refused to brush his teeth and drank sweetened drinks.
The researchers considered this dental neglect to be a manifestation of child neglect and social services were consequently called in to help the family.
The authors of the study said “Insufficient dental care by parents can be seen as dental neglect and therefore is a sign of child neglect.”
“Health care workers involved in the care of children are thus in a unique position to recognize early symptoms of child abuse and neglect. We believe that the presence of dental caries is an important clue to this diagnosis.”
“Anyone involved in the care of children should therefore be aware that dental caries is an early sign of child neglect. For this reason, families with children with severe dental caries should be offered help and support that is not restricted to dental care but also encompasses social services.”
The effects of sugar in the production of tooth caries and its role in the development of obesity and diabetes is well-known, but in 2016, a study found that sugar could potentially be as damaging to the brain as extreme abuse.
Researchers found in the study, that changes they observed to the region of the brain that controls emotional behaviour and cognitive function were more extensive than those caused by extreme early life stress, when rats were given sugary drinks.
Clare Ledingham will chair the BSPD Conference, which will be held virtually.
Registration details for the BSPD conference can be found here.
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