Dear Editor,

I am writing to express my personal views on the recent social issue saying that selling fast food should be banned as more and more people are becoming overweight or even obese.  I totally disagree with this proposal for the following reasons.

As the saying goes "Lives are equal.”  Everyone has their freedom.  To commence with, the customers have their own choice on what to eat as they have the rights.  If fast food is not allowed to be sold, customers will lose one of the choices.  They should not be forced not to eat fast food.  Besides, as for the companies of those fast food, their income will be dwindled.  It is impossible to stop selling fast food since those supplies will face the situation that the companies might be closed down.  Some people might say that, if the people are not force not to eat fast food, the phenomenon that more people are becoming obese will never end.  Despite the commonly believed scenario that fast food is the producer of obesity, can we claim that we have done adequate exercises to keep fit?  Only altering their eating habit cannot solve the problem if other factors remain.

As we all know that fast food brings lots of convenience to us; not allowing the fast food to be sold might make our lives complicated.  Hong Kong is a busy city; people keep working hours after hours.  When the parents are not at home, the only choice for dinner for children is to buy fast food.  Someone might argue that the children should learn how to cook and be able to take care of themselves.  Undeniably, children should be independent but asking a child to cook at home with no adults next to them is really dangerous.  Furthermore, buying fast food is also convenient for the workers during their lunch breaks.  The demand of fast food is enormous.  If there is no supply for fast food, the only alternative would be to go to a relatively expensive restaurant.  In addition, most of the senior form students are allowed to go out for lunch in that limited and short lunch time.  Fast food is time-saving so that students can finish their meals quickly.  It is really convenient to all students or workers.

Not only does the fast food bring about the convenience and save our time, it also saves money.  Fast food shops like McDonald’s, Fairwood and Caf? de Coral are committed to provide fast serving cuisines in affordable price.  It is sometimes cheaper buying different ingredients and cooking our own meals at home, especially when you have a small family.  Some might be against that we just save money from eating but waste money to go to the hospitals.  Yes, we should concern our health.  Fast food is not healthy as most of it contains lots of oil, sugar and MSG.  After eating this for a long time, people might develop a list of health related diseases.  But, people should strike a balance between eating fast food and cooking by themselves.  Their choices should not be taken away.  Still, not allowing fast food to be sold brings more immediate disadvantages to most.

To conclude, the selling of fast food should be kept.  At the same time, the Department of Health should promote healthy living to cultivate the residents to have a balanced diet and also exercise regularly.  Banning fast food does not help to minimize the amount of people getting fat but adds spice to social conflict.

Yours faithfully,

Li Cai Lan, Mavis (4A)