Sugar tax a lite fix for a heavy problem
Behavioural change requires wide-ranging policy interventions at a deeper level
If pharmacists are not allowed to sell drugs to known drug addicts, why can’t McDonald’s refuse to sell burgers to obese individuals?" This joke, aired on a local radio station’s breakfast show, raises a good point. If we’re going to tackle obesity through public health interventions, should the government go further than a tax on sugary beverages and restrict access to foods that are associated with an increase in obesity? Why not tax people for not exercising because of the burden they place on the health system later on? Despite the logic, not many would agree to implement such measures based on scientific and moral arguments. So, why then a sugar tax to reduce obesity? Out of a range of possible interventions, the government has chosen a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages to try to enforce behavioural change. A tax is just one of many "upstream" policy targets including service delivery, government spending and taxing, advocacy and the laws outlined in The Obesity Policy Action fr...
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