The state”™s health commissioner in a letter this week called for an open discussion with the president of the American Beverage Association about the role soda plays in obesity. It was the latest gauntlet in a newfound government vs. soda pop war.?The letter comes as both the state and the federal governments eye sugary beverages as a tax mother lode and simultaneously as a ripe target to reduce the obesity epidemic. ?State Health Commissioner Richard Daines sent a letter to Susan Neely, president of the beverage association, calling a recent move by Pepsi to reduce its number of soda machines a ploy.
Albany”™s Legislative Gazette quoted Daines as writing to Neely: “The industry’s strategy could not be clearer; lull parents into complacency with a symbolic announcement about almost nonexistent soda sales in schools, then lure children into a new round of massive overconsumption during the summer when school’s out and parents and children will replace school breakfasts and lunches with more trips to the fast food outlet.”?Even as Gov. David Paterson said recently he backs the soda tax unless a better billion-dollar idea bubbles up, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee took testimony last month on the same tax on the federal level as a way to pay for federal health care.
The blogosphere from Albany has the state soda tax DOA; the committee work in Washington, D.C., is too preliminary to have garnered much notice.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office included the federal soda tax option in its report on health care funding in December. The office estimated that adding three cents per 12-ounce serving to sweetened drinks ”“ but not to diet drinks ”“ would generate $24 billion over the next four years. Lawmakers have thus far not indicated what, if any, tax they are considering.
Consumer Reports magazine reported a three-cent tax on sodas as well as other sugary drinks, including energy and sports drinks such as Gatorade was being considered federally. Diet sodas would be exempt.?“While many factors promote weight gain, soft drinks are the only food or beverage that has been shown to increase the risk of overweight and obesity, which, in turn, increase the risk of diabetes, stroke, and many other health problems,” Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which supports the idea, said. “Soft drinks are nutritionally worthless and are directly related to weight gain, partly because beverages are more conducive to weight gain than solid foods.”?According to Jacobson, beverage companies sell to Americans “506 12-oz. servings per year, or 1.4 servings per day, for every man, woman, and child.”
In New York, the effort, which Paterson estimates will generate $450 million for state coffers in its first year alone, has so far displayed feet of clay, with numerous media outlets declaring via headcounts that the tax stands little chance of passage.
Citing an upped deposit requirement last year, Terry Ryan, executive vice president of Pepsi Bottling of New York, said, “This is the second year in a row of the soft-drink industry being hit, because they”™re the largest target.”
