2023_TJC_H1General Paper_P2_Insert

TEMASEK JUNIOR COLLEGE 2023 JC2 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION Higher 1 GENERAL PAPER 8807/02 Paper 2 Insert 22 August 2023 1 hour 30 minutes No Additional Materials are required. READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST This Insert contains the passage for Paper 2. This document consists of 3 printed pages and 1 blank page.

2 A journalist considers the battle against unhealthy eating. 1 When New York began its battle of the bulge, its mayor, Michael Bloomberg, thought he knew best, and he was rich enough not to care if others disagreed. He did encounter vocal opposition when he proposed a ban on the sale of giant containers of sugary drinks. In a hearing conducted by New York City ’s Board of Health, Marty Markowitz, the borough president of Brooklyn, testified against Bloomberg ’s plan. “I’m overweight not because I drink litres of Coke, but frankly because I eat too m uch pasta, pastrami sandwiches, pizza, bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon, red velvet cake and cheesecake, don ’t exercise as much as I should, and my genes are working against me. I was an overweight kid and I’m an overweight adult.” 5 2 In the same vein as John Stuart Mill, a 19th-century philosopher who wrote about the limits of state intervention , Markowitz argued that governments can educate, inform, advocate and inspire, but should not be the final decision-maker when it comes down to what is best for the individual . Many agreed with Markowitz, but the Board of Health approved Bloomberg’s ban. 10 3 Governments around the world are faced with the same questions. How can they get citizens to take in fewer calories and exercise more? Should they even try? In the past, governments concentrated mainly on treating diseases rather than preventing them. But as the world grows older and rounder, chronic disease has attracted new attention. Ageing may be inevitable but unhealthy eating can be prevented, and chan ges in behaviour can make older people healthier. The United Nations has even devoted an entire meeting of its General Assembly to chronic disease, including tho se brought on by an unhealthy diet. But there was confusion over what the state can or should do. The World Health Organisation has since set a target to reduce deaths from chronic disease by 25% by 2025. Governments now have to find ways of meeting that goal. 15 20 4 Some think that governments have no business telling people what to eat and ho w to move. Those who overeat, like Markowitz, take pleasure from it. According to John Stuart Mill, “over himself, over his body and mind, the individual is sovereign. ” But Mill allowed for state intervention when an individual’s actions might harm others. The more each person eats, particularly meat, the greater the pressure on food supplies. And as