Tom Brake joins battle to tackle the UK's biggest killer

12.52.20pm GMT Tue 2nd Mar 2010

Local MP Tom Brake has lent his support to a petition by the British Heart Foundation which challenges all major political parties to make a renewed commitment to tackle heart and circulatory disease, which is the UK's biggest killer.

"Heart disease is one of the biggest threats to people's lives today," said Tom Brake, "we must do all we can to tackle it."

"A lot of lives depend on us taking this seriously. The BHF have my full support in their campaign to improve food labelling."

Heart patients, carers and descended on Parliament last week armed with a petition signed by 150,000 people calling for a new heart plan. They are seeking a single front-of-pack labelling scheme for food so that shoppers understand what they're eating.

The "mish-mash" of different systems is confusing shoppers and makes it harder for them to make healthy choices.

They are also looking for cardiac rehabilitation for suitable patients, and the introduction of health equality impact assessments to combat inequalities in the local health services that people get.

"Heart disease is responsible for a third of all deaths in the UK," said Peter Hollins," who is Chief Executive at the BHF. "We need to go further and faster to beat this."

"We need a Government that is willing to tackle the UK's biggest killer head on with a new heart plan."

The British Heart Foundation wants to see a clear target to reduce heart and circulatory disease in England to a level comparable to countries such as by 2020.

An increased risk of heart disease owes mostly to factors such as smoking, activity levels, alcohol consumption, obesity, cholesterol levels and blood pressure.