Welcome  to  public  health  moment from  the  University  of  Minnesota. An  increasing  number  of public  health  experts  are  calling  for a  soda  pop  tax  as  a  way  to  combat  obesity, diabetes,  and  heart  disease while  reducing  health  care  costs. Roger  Feldman,  a  professor  and  health policy  expert  at  the  University  of  Minnesota, recently  wrote  an  op  ed  on  this  subject. 34%  of  Americans  are  overweight and  another  34%  or  are  obese. Obesity  is  linked  to many  diseases  and  shorter  life  expectancy, so  it  is  the  number  one public  health  problem  in  the  country. Becoming  the  number  one  public health  problem  in  the  world. We  know  what  causes  obesity. One  of  the  factors  is  overeating, or  in  this  case,  over  drinking. My  recommendation  came  simply as  a  way  to  solve  that  problem. Feldman  said  he's  confident  a  pop  tax  would work  based  on  our  history  with  cigarette  taxes. The  example  of  cigarette  taxes  gives me  a  lot  of  confidence  that a  pop  tax  would  be  a  good  idea. In  the  United  States,  the  rate  of smoking  has  fallen  dramatically  in  the  last  ten  years. From  25%  of  the  adult  population down  to  20%  of  the  adult  population. The  reason  for  the  fall  is  that  we  have increased  the  taxes  on  cigarettes. And  I  think  the  same  thing  would  happen  if  we increased  the  taxes  on  pop  for  public  health. Moment.  I'm  Mark  Inger  Brison.