The Food Standards Agency, UK, claimed that junk food advertisements on TV should be banned before 9 pm in order to prevent the fast growing rate of obesity among children. Taking into account the fact that 14% of the English children are obese and that 80% of the ads on TV are for junk food, the British Heart Foundation and other health organizations are backing the proposal.

A study shows that an average English child watches television for 20 hours each week. Ofcom, UK's media regulator suggested banning junk food ads during the programs frequently watched by preschool children and restricting junk food ads aimed at children under ten. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) declared that this is not enough, as long as not only children under 10 are exposed to the risks of getting obese, but the problem extends upon other groups of age too.

The Guardian informs that along with FSA, The National Heart Forum (NHF), an alliance of health and consumer organizations, is bringing a judicial review of Ofcom's refusal to have a 9pm restriction to foods and drinks high in levels of salt, sugar or fats. They consider that this would be the sole solution for regulating children's obesity and condemn Ofcom for not approving of it.

In this concern, Jane Landon, deputy chief executive of the Forum declared that "Ofcom's response to our legal challenge is to try to scare us into abandoning our claim. It is scandalous that a national regulator should use public money to attempt to outgun our limited charitable resources by ramping up costs and wasting time."

It is a fact that commercials on TV influence - positively or negatively - an individual's choices in that which concerns the way he dresses, what he eats, the way he lives. That is why recommendations for promoting healthy foods and a healthy way of life are at the moment under discussion in Whitehall.

Obviously, TV companies are very concerned about this regulations to be applied on commercials because their main income comes from the companies that pay large amounts of money to see the ads of their products broad casted all over the world.

Ofcom informed that restrictions on ads of unhealthy foods and drinks could cost TV channels about pounds 141 millions. A spokesman for the Food and Drink Federation, which represents UK manufacturers, said they have no comments on the matter before Ofcom's June 30 deadline.