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A Review Of Roberta R. Friedman's Essay A Soda Tax

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Recommended: The effects of obesity in society

According to the Center for Control, Disease and Prevention, (CDC), the percentage of children with obesity in the United States has more than tripled since the 1970s. Today, about one in five school-aged children (ages 6–19) has obesity. The numbers are just getting higher which mean the death of children and adults can increase. But, doctors have come up with a solution. If they put a tax on sugary drinks less people would want to buy them and the less people buy them the less chances there are of people becoming overweight. These are insane statistics but will the tax on soda change anything? The article “A Soda Tax” by Roberta R. Friedman portrays the tax on soda as a good thing and that it is estimated to reduce by 10 to 12 percent. The …show more content…

The author describes sodas and sugary drinks as today's reason for child obesity and diseases such as type 2 diabetes and etc. The author states data and scientific reasoning for her explanations on why these drinks are inferior to the body and country. The author remarks that, “These drinks have very little, if any, healthy ingredients in them and now there is strong scientific evidence that they are linked to weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases.” The author uses scientific knowledge and evidence to prove her point that a tax on soda will improve the country's health rate. The author also uses statistics to show how the U.S.As sugary drink consumption rate will go down. The author writes “ Economists have determined that if the price of sugary drinks goes up 10 percent, consumption will go down by about 10-12 percent. This would reduce the number of calories from sugary beverages people drink each day, and may help with weight-loss.” The author uses statistics and facts because it strengthens the authors claim and background throughout the text. Using these statistics and facts and examples the author now has a whole better argument on why there should there be a tax on soda and why it will benefit the

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In the article “The Fat Tax,” Jonathan Rauch ironically discusses the new public policy concern with obesity. Although the article is a satire, it’s economic analysis is actually valid. In order to get his point across, Rauch uses sarcasm, appeals to logos, and degrades the issue of obesity to help Americans better understand the “big picture.” Moreover, if the diet of American consumers does not change then maybe advertising more exercise to lose weight will cut down the obesity rate; but to be just as effective, enacting the fat tax will improve health as well.

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Mark Bittman a columnist for the New York Times and author of “Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables” “July 23, 2011”, argues that people should open their eyes and fight to decrease obesity by going against the processed foods industries that make the bad foods. Bittman supports this thesis by saying how the food industry is incapable of marketing healthier foods, that instead of subsidizing production of unhealthy foods they should be taxed and make healthy food more affordable and available, then he goes on by saying how much money can be saved by taxing per ounce of sugar in sweetened beverages by one penny lastly Bittman claims how our society is profiting off of foods that make us sick and obese and how America could make a program

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Taxing Sugar Sweetened Beverages and the Resulting Effects on Obesity Margot Sanger-Katz’s article “Yes, Soda Taxes Seem to Cut Soda Drinking” in The New York Times is an interesting, albeit brief, cross-examination of different research on the effects that the implementation of taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) has on obesity and weight gain in the population. It provides brief examples assimilated together in an attempt to discuss a highly important current public health event that unfortunately comes across as a sloppy journalistic interpretation of significant scientific progress in the public health field. Though poorly executed, this article does start an important conversation: should public health policies exist that limit access to certain foods, especially if one of public health’s biggest issues is the lack of access to certain nutritious foods for low-income areas? Furthermore, does this “soda tax” actually decrease the amount of soda consumption? Although it appears that the author has missed the point, Sanger-Katz provides a link to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that actually answers both of these questions magnificently and insists that though thirty-three

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This displays the idea of the “slippery slope” mentioned in the same article. The evidence proves that the soda ban should not have even been considered in the first place because nothing is wrong with a company selling legal drinks to consumers. Others argue that the soda ban is helpful, because it encourages a healthier lifestyle. The soda ban would decrease obesity and

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The soda ban should not be placed down since it is not applying to all, but a certain amount of people. It is not going to

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There is an estimated 70,000 premature deaths per year in the United Kingdom (UK) due to poor diet (Gallagher). After a successful tax on sugary drinks in Mexico, it is estimated that a tax of at least 20% would be needed to deter customers from buying drinks in the UK. If the government imposed a 20% tax on sugary drinks, it would likely decrease quantity demanded as expected, lead to a tax revenue for the government, and create positive externalities, which are benefits to a third party. Figure One shows that the price increase in litres of sugary drinks will decrease quantity demanded.

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population would cut the number of children and adults struggling with obesity and other health-related conditions. The last few years, the numbers of children and adults facing obesity have drastically increased. “Obesity causes diabetes, heart disease, and cancer,” emphasizes Dr. Steven Safyer President and CEO of Montefiore Medical Center. Such high populations suffer due to absent understanding what the proper serving size is. Congro acknowledged in Sugary Drinks over 16-Ounces Banned, “Unless they get the educational portion along with it, they won’t understand why it’s being a banned and how it relates to them personally.”

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The soda ban is a defective idea in itself because of the loopholes in the plan. As Karin Klien talks about the problem in her article “Sodas a Problem but…”, “Convenience stores such as 7-Eleven are overseen by State and would be exempt , but a Burger King across the street would be restricted” (Klien, 288). In addition, there isn’t a need for this soda ban because it makes no sense for a customer at a fast food restaurant (like Subway) to walk across the street and go to a 7-eleven, which is a state-ran store that has drinks that are over 16oz., and even over 64oz. People could even go to a grocery store and buy a 2-liter bottle of the sugary drink because it isn’t run by the city. Another way the soda ban contradicts itself is because of how you’d get the same amount of sugar if you were to drink a drink from a smoothie

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It is believed that many of the soft drink companies are the main reason for the rise of obesity in America. As stated in the article Coca-Cola and the fight against the global obesity epidemic, “The soft drink industry as a whole, and Coke in particular, has received harsh criticism for contributing to the global obesity epidemic. ”(Gertner 15).This suggests that as soft drinks and other processed foods are becoming more popular it is heavily contributing to the recent rise in people becoming overweight. Before fast food and soft drinks were popular, less people were obese which leads to the speculation that it is a cause for the problem. On the other hand there are studies that reveal that dietary factors don’t always affect a person’s weight.

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Many people think that taxing sugar is controversial because Americans can and do have that freedom of choice. That is not entirely true because back in the day Britain would tax America for sugar and tea. The only problem is that American people have become so addicted to sugar and fast food that giving it up is not an option. Sugar has played a major key role in the obesity epidemic America is going through, but a solution can always be found. In Catherine Roberts and Thomas Germain’s consumer report article, The New War on Obesity, Barry Popkin, Ph.D, informs that “ Taxation of sugary beverages and junk food is where we have the most solid evidence of an effect” (4).

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The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that “The Asia-Pacific region is generally considered the epicentre of the diabetes crisis” (Chan, 2016). Encouragement of unhealthy eating and overconsumption has left many wealthy countries with rising obesity rates. To slow the growing rates of obesity, taxation on sugary drinks and processed foods are in main focus in the article “Sugar Soda Tax Not Enough to Halt the March of Obesity in Asia” (Biswas & Hartley, 2017). Taxes on processed foods and sugary drinks is not going to be as successful to the wealthier population. Biswas and Hartley mentioned that Denmark had a “fat tax that covered all products with saturated fats” (Biswas & Hartley, 2017).

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Some countries have already found out that obesity is a problem and they are taxing lots of unhealthy food higher. Last, Bittman states that “A 20 percent increase in the price of sugary drinks nationally could result in about a 20 percent decrease in consumption, which in the next decade could prevent 1.5 million Americans from becoming obese and 400,000 cases of diabetes, saving about $30 billion. ”(78) The United States spend lots of money on health, and if people can save this much money, then that money can be used on things to help the economy. Taxing food would be good for the people and on the government because fewer people would be obese and the government would save a lot of money and could get out of the massive debt that they are

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Although if we had a tax on sugar we would be able to afford better education about exercise and balanced diets. Other people also say that tax on soft drinks would do little to reduce obesity and will only hit Australian families where it hurts most – their pockets. I think if the sugar tax was introduced it would encourage people to drink more water from the tap and so they would save money by not drinking soft drinks. I support the sugar tax to help the countries escalating soft drink crisis. The university of Queensland public health school study showed that if a 20% sugar tax was introduced over 25 years there would be 4400 fewer cases of heart disease, 1100 fewer strokes, 1000 less cancer cases, it would raise $250 million a year, the reduction on annual health spend would be $29 million and it would help stop escalating weight gain.

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As a result the amount of unhealthy foods purchased from the vending machines fell and a significant amount of revenue was collected from the tax (Garson and Engelhard,

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Introduction The topic which is critical issues on the implications of teens and children’s consumptions of sodas and other sugary beverages. Beverages are different types of drinks made for human consumption to quench thirst. Sugary drinks or soft drink

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