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London tops Eritrea in tuberculosis rates, WHO sausage report is the wurst, and buckle up for cheap sugar ‘tsunami’

Parts of London have greater incidence of tuberculosis than Eritrea, Rwanda, and Iraq according to analysis by the London Assembly, which found a third of London boroughs had ‘high incidence’ of TB – more than 40 cases in 100,000 people.

The Telegraph reports that the capital accounted for 40% of UK tuberculosis cases last year, with 2,500 in total, and in some borough wards – Hounslow, Brent, Harrow, – rates were more than 150 cases in 100,000 people.

Dr Onkar Sahota, chairman of the London Assembly Health Committee, said: “If we don’t get a grip on London’s TB situation now, the harder and more expensive it will be to tackle in the years to come.’

Austrian and German ministers have stepped to defend their emblematic national dishes, branding WHO report on processed meats a ‘farce’ which scares people unnecessarily.

The Guardian reports German food and agriculture minister Christian Schmidt saying: ‘We worry people unnecessarily if we put meat in the same category as asbestos or tobacco.

‘No one should be afraid when eating a bratwurst. As with everything, what counts is the quantity: too much of something is always bad for health.’

And finally, amongst the daily swash of public health and diet hysteria, the Independent has sought to stand out warning that a ‘tsunami of cheap sugar is heading to Europe’.

Experts at the Cambridge University Centre for Diet and Activity Research warned that European sugar production is set to increase by 20% in 2017 when reforms to Common Agricultural Policy take effect.

Researchers warn the changes were brought in to benefit producers not public health and now Tam Fry of Action on Sugar said: ‘Any hope that a 10% tax on sugary drinks will curb consumption will pale into insignificance when, in 2017, a tsunami of cheap sugar will flood the European market.’