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WHO recommends weighty taxes on sugary drinks to fight obesity, diabetes
WHO recommends weighty taxes on sugary drinks to fight obesity, diabetes
The U.N. health agency on Tuesday recommended that countries use tax policy to increase the price of sugary drinks like sodas, sport drinks and even 100-percent fruit juices as a way to fight obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.The World Health Organization, in a statement timed for World Obesity Day, said that the prevalence of obesity worldwide more than doubled between 1980 and 2014, when nearly 40 percent of people globally were overweight.In a 36-page report on fiscal policy and diet, WHO also cited "strong evidence" that subsidies to reduce prices for fresh fruits and vegetables can help improve diets.
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U.N. agency pushes global soda taxes to curb obesity, fight disease
U.N. agency pushes global soda taxes to curb obesity, fight disease
The United Nations jumped into the soda wars Tuesday, urging the nations of the world to start taxing everything from Pepsi to papaya juice as a way to trim expanding global waistlines and fight diseases such as diabetes.The World Health Organization, in a 36-page report released on World Obesity Day, said rising consumption of sodas, sports drinks and even pure fruit juices had contributed to a doubling of global obesity rates from 1980 through 2014.A 20 percent tax on such drinks would produce roughly a comparable reduction in consumption, in line with the way government taxes on tobacco had reduced smoking rates.
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Tax sugary drinks to fight obesity, WHO urges governments
Tax sugary drinks to fight obesity, WHO urges governments
GLOBAL TRENDGENEVA.– Governments should tax sugary drinks to fight the global epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the World Health Organization said, recommendations industry swiftly branded "discriminatory" and "unproven".A 20 percent price increase could reduce consumption of sweet drinks by the same proportion, the WHO said in "Fiscal Policies for Diet and Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases", a report issued on World Obesity Day.Drinking fewer calorific sweet drinks is the best way to curb excessive weight and prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes, although fat and salt in processed foods are also at fault, WHO officials said."We are now in a place where we can say there is enough evidence to move on this and we encourage countries to implement effective tax on sugar-sweetened beverages to prevent obesity," Temo Waqanivalu, of WHO's department of Noncommunicable Diseases and Health Promotion, told a briefing.Obesity more than doubled worldwide between 1980 and 2014, with 11 percent of men and 15 percent of women classified as obese - more than 500 million people, the report said."Smart policies can help to turn the tides on this deadly epidemic, especially those aimed at reducing consumption of sugary drinks, which is fuelling obesity rates," former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, a WHO ambassador for noncommunicable diseases, said in a statement.The global soft drink market is worth nearly $870 billion in annual sales.2016 could be the year of the sugar tax, as several large nations consider levies on sweetened food and drinks to battle obesity and fatten government coffers.The U.S.-based soft drinks industry's lobbying arm - whose members include Coca-Cola Co, Pepsico Inc and Red Bull - strongly disagreed with what it called "discriminatory taxation"."It is an unproven idea that has not been shown to improve public health based on global experiences to date," the Washington-based International Council of Beverages Associations said in a statement.
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