Should there be a tax on fizzy drinks to help obesity?

US health experts are calling for a tax on sweetened soft drinks, saying that it could help with the fight against obesity. The extra funds gained could be used to fund public health efforts. In the last year, adult obesity rates increased in 23 states according to F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America 2009, a report by the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). In addition, the percentage of obese or overweight children is at or above 30 percent in 30 states.

Dr. Thomas Farley, New York City health commissioner, Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health, and Kelly Brownell, an obesity expert at Yale University in Connecticut, joined a chorus of health experts who said the current taxes did not go far enough.

"We propose an excise tax of one percent per ounce for any beverages that have any added caloric sweetener," they wrote in their proposal, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Much as taxes on tobacco products are routine at both state and federal levels because they generate revenue and they confer a public health benefit with respect to smoking rates, we believe that taxes on beverages that help drive the obesity epidemic should and will become routine."

"A tax of one cent per ounce of beverage would increase the cost of a 20-ounce soft drink by 15 to 20 percent." They estimate that would lead to a 10 percent drop in consumption, or enough to affect weight. A consumer who drinks a conventional soft drink (20 ounces or 591 millilitres) every day and switches to a beverage below this threshold would consume approximately 174 fewer calories each day," they wrote.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated in December that a tax of three cents on every 12-ounce can of soda could raise $50 billion over 10 years.

"Currently, 33 states have sales taxes on soft drinks (mean tax rate 5.2 percent), but the taxes are too small to affect consumption and the revenues are not earmarked for programs related to health," Dr Brownell, Dr Farley and the others wrote.

They note that people were drinking more sweet drinks and the obesity rate is surging. "In Mexico, intake of sugar-sweetened drinks doubled between 1999 and 2006 in all age groups. Reducing caloric intake by 1 percent to 2 per cent per year would have a marked impact on health in all age groups."

The American Heart Association recommended that Americans cut back dramatically on sugar and singling out soft drinks as the top source of "discretionary" sugar calories.

Back in June, the democrats were considering a 10 cents tax on the price of a can fizzy drink to help pay for the healthcare reform.

In an issue of Men's Health, President Obama stated, "I think it's an idea that we should be exploring.......There's no doubt that our kids drink way too much soda. And every study that's been done about obesity shows that there is as high a correlation between increased soda consumption and obesity as just about anything else," he said in excerpts released ahead of the magazine's mid-September publication.

Two-thirds of American adults are obese or overweight and obesity-related illnesses cost the United States nearly 150 billion dollars a year, health officials were told at a conference.

17/09/2009

Like this article? Get the RSS feed: