Junk food and cigarettes ought to be priced considerably higher, according to Health Minister Zane DeSilva.Praising achievements of the Well Bermuda Strategy and the Healthy Schools Initiative, Mr DeSilva told The Royal Gazette that steep taxes on problem items could help to pay off the extra burden they impose.“One thing I have talked about before is that, if I had my way, I would increase the tax on junk food by 500 percent,” the Minister said, noting that the fast food chain McDonalds had taken to listing nutritional details.“It’s things like that which are on my radar screen, and taxing junk food is something I am seriously looking at, and seeing when, if and how we can do it,” Mr DeSilva continued. “As a friend of mine said, if a chocolate bar is $5, I’m still going to eat it. I said, sure, but you’re not going to eat five a day.”Recalling that as a teenager he had been dissuaded from smoking in part by the cost of cigarettes, he asked: “I think most people are selling a pack for $7.50 to $10.“Why not make it $14 or $15 a pack, take the money, and put it into our health system to help us defray some of the costs of our expensive healthcare system?“During these times when things are tight, a pack of day is costing you $3,650 a year. Those $10 a day could pay for a lot of groceries.”Useful website: www.gov.bm.