Soda Taxes Beginning to Bubble Up

View Soda Taxes bubbling up in a larger map


Though we may not be seeing something like Denmark's "Fat Tax" in the States anytime soon, legislation is popping up around the country to cut down on the one of the biggest and most infamous sources of obesity.  This map points out the varying levels of taxation with thumbtack representation - plus a few other facts.


Key: 
$ - highest level of additional sales tax on soda at 7%
Green thumbtack - 5.75% to 6.5% tax
Light blue thumbtack - 4% to 5.5% tax
Yellow thumbtack - 1% to 3%
No thumbtack - No tax
Fast food icon - high levels of consumption and other facts

Soda Marketing and the American Teen

When you're trying to get people into healthy habits - be it a more nutritional diet, creating exercise routines, etc, most of the focus is going to be on an ad campaign promoting these goals.   Some focus will be on discouraging sugary food and drinks, loafing on the couch, video games and so on.  Recently, healthy initiatives have to expend more and more  effort into pushing against this seemingly implacable structure that is the snack industry. 

But no one really considers that it might start pushing back.

You Know When Everyone Jokes that They Have a Sugar Addiction?

Yale Professor says Soda's the New Tobacco

Soda and Teen Violence - The Missing Link?

The Menino administration will be pleased to hear about this latest study coming out of the University of Vermont.  A survey meant to gauge the overall level of youth violence in the Boston area yielded unexpected results  when David Hemenway, Director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center was asked by a colleague to include some questions about diet and behavior. 

The study was based of data taken from 1,878 high school students throughout 22 public schools in the area.  Sara Solnick, of the UVM Department of Economics and former student of Hemenway's, found that high soda consumption in subjects correlated with increased aggression.  This included being significantly more likely to have carried a knife or gun and acted violently towards peers, family members or partners.

The Big Guys and the Little Guys

In my last post you saw the trailer for "Food Inc."  For those of you who haven't seen it, the film makes the connection between the food on our plate and where it comes from - and most of it comes from corporate food producers.  This relatively small number of companies still have more influence than all the little guys put together.  Little meaning local like Codman Farms in Lincoln Mass. and  Stonewall Farm in Keene, NH, which obviously don't stand a chance versus the enormous machine of Monsanto and others.

So what would break the corporate food producer hold on the industry and allow smaller food producers to operate on a more even footing with the corporations?  Fundamental changes to the current food system. 

Food Industry and Occupy - What's the Connection?

The Occupy Movement, which is coming soon to a city near you, may have a ripple effect way beyond the targeted financial industry.

 
How's that work?   

The similarity  between the corporate hold on the financial industry and the corporate hold on the food industry will be highlighted. There have been many calls for reform in both and the movie "Food Inc." illustrates how most of our food comes from a few major companies.

Gym Class Not Dead Weight in Schools

Soda taxes, fat taxes, school bans on sugary snacks and drinks - diet seems to be a key part of whatever new legislation is fielded in American state houses.  It makes perfect sense - if the public takes out the trash in its collective diet, the obesity rates will slim down to nothing.

Won't they?

The Ick Factor - Do Anti-Obesity Campaigns Cut the Mustard

We've all seen the billboards—"Don't get slapped by fat" or "Are you pouring on the pounds?". Our reactions range from a sickly feeling in the gut to the need to avert our eyes.

No public service initiative would be complete without an awareness campaign spanning billboards, television and the Internet. The nationwide anti-obesity push is no different. Boston’s own Mayor Menino has hopped on the wagon, plastering everything from subway stations to city buildings with his soda sucks campaign.

But who are the targets of these campaigns? The obese, their condition, or the conglomerates like Kraft who profit from both?

Taxation with Calorific Representation?

Denmark has just passed what has quickly become known as the "fat tax" as of Saturday, October 1st, with almost overwhelming support.  The law imposes a tax per kilogram of saturated fats on foods with a content of more than 2.3 percent and is widely regarded as the first of its kind in terms of sheer scope, though Romania, Finland and even the United Kingdom are considering following suit. 

Despite its moniker, the Danish government didn't enact the law to specifically trim its citizens' waistlines.  The country actually boasts one of the lowest population percentages of obesity in the world, but by cutting down on saturated fat intake, known to be a contributing factor in cancer and cardiovascular diseases, the hope is that the nation's relatively low life expectancy will rise. 

Change starts within, or does it?

When people think of combating obesity, they tend to think of educating about and raising awareness of high calorie foods, their effects and the healthy alternatives.  Billboards, TV ads, etc - they share a common goal in getting the individuals they're aimed at to affect a change within themselves.  Though marketing and advertising is a powerful force, on their own they can only change the targeted demographic's perception of their environment, not the reality of the environment itself.  Organic foods are still more expensive, there's still no place to exercise and there's no time to figure out a way around any of this anyways, no matter how good of an idea the man on TV says it is.

Can't have it both ways - is obesity really straining the healthcare system?

Are healthcare costs for obese people really more than those for healthy people? By current estimates, about 9.1 percent of annual US medical costs are obesity-related.  Additionally, up to 86 percent of Americans will be overweight and 51 percent obese by 2030.

Even with that data, it depends on who you ask.  The anti-obesity campaign uses this fact as a standard under which to rally the faithful.  Mayor Menino even cited it as a basis for banning the sale and marketing of soda on city property and at city sponsored events.  If expenses are more for obese people, then making soda equivalent to contraband makes sense, since it accounts for about 10 percent of the calories in the US diet. 

Soda? Easy to blame but not the only culprit.

 On April 7th this year, Mayor Menino signed a ban on selling or promoting soda on city property and at city sponsored events.  The six month phase out period ends early next month.   This may seem simplistic at best and draconian at worst but Boston public schools have been soda free since 2004.

The Robert Woods Johnson Foundation released the results  of a two year study on Boston high school students indicating that they actually consumed roughly 45 fewer calories per day.   For the visual learner among us, this  translates to about one kiwi.  But seriously, they tracked consumption during and after  school hours and found that kids did not go looking for soda to make up for the it's absence at school. 

 

Last year, Massachusetts joined  40 other states in levying a sales tax on soda and candy.  With all these measures in place, does this mean that the battle against obesity is as good as won?