Calls for taxing soda pop

Abstract

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 the subject. <Feldman: “Thirty-four percent of Americans are overweight and another 34 percent are obese. Obesity is linked to many diseases and shorter life expectancies. 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. And 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. <Feldman: “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 10 years: From 25 percent of the adult population down to 20 percent 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 Engebretson.