Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Richard Davis, a registered nurse and the executive director of Vermont Citizens Campaign for Health.
Let’s say that I invite you over to my house for dinner. I offer you my special drink and I fill a 20 ounce glass with fresh tap water. Then I proceed to put 16 teaspoons of sugar into the water. For good measure, I add a liquid flavoring that is marked “hazardous material” and then subject the entire mixture to a blast of carbon dioxide.
That “appealing” drink could be Coca-Cola. Would you drink it if you had to watch it being made? Would you drink it if you knew how much sugar was in it, not to mention the syrup that would require the services of a hazardous materials unit if it were spilled from the large factory containers where it is manufactured?
All of the major beverages that children and adults drink on a regular basis such as Pepsi, Sprite and Mountain Dew to name a few, contain similar amounts of sugar. Almost every study not funded by the beverage industry that I have seen points conclusively to these so-called sugar-sweetened beverages as the leading cause of obesity, especially among children.
It is estimated that if the average child, who consumes 30 gallons of sugar-sweetened beverages a year, switched to water they would lose 30 pounds in a year. They would also decrease their chances of developing Type II diabetes as well as preventing a great deal of damage to their teeth.
According to the Alliance for a Healthier Vermont, “The average American now drinks 45 gallons of sugar sweetened beverages per year. Soda is now 3rd in the top five sources of calories for children ages 2-18. For children, each extra can or glass of SSB consumed per day increases their chance of becoming obese by 60%. A 2009 study in the New England Journal of Medicine reports that SSBs may be the single largest driver of the obesity epidemic.”
The alliance has also noted that, “… in Vermont in 2009, 26% of children ages 10 to 17 were overweight or obese; 33.9% of adults were overweight and 24% were obese. Being overweight or obese leads to a greater likelihood of heart disease, type II diabetes, asthma and certain forms of cancer. Half of all Medicare and Medicaid expenses ($163 million) in Vermont are attributed to obesity. A 2010 UVM report found the total annual cost of obesity to the State, employers and private citizens was $615 million.”
If there was a way for us to decrease the impact of one of the major causes of obesity don’t you think it would be worth the effort? Gov. Shumlin doesn’t think so. He is opposed to any effort that puts a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages despite continued pleas from Vermont pediatricians, dieticians, school nurses, health educators and dentists, to name a few.
The Alliance for a Healthier Vermont has proposed a one cent per ounce excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. It would mean the tax would be imposed at the manufacturing or processing end of things. This small tax would generate a revenue for Vermont of about $27 million which would significantly help current health-care reform efforts.
Proponents of an sugar-sweetened beverages excise tax provide compelling arguments that it would decrease consumption in much the same way that increased taxes on tobacco have led to decreases in rates of smoking. Obesity is at epidemic proportions and we need to use the best tools we have to control it so that we can eventually see decreases in obesity rates.
The tax would be applied to soda, sweetened iced teas like Snapple, sports drinks like Gatorade, energy drinks like Red Bull, drinks with added sugar like Kool-Aid, and flavored water like Vitamin Water. Milk-based products, such as chocolate milk, and diet soda would not be taxed.
I think it is important to know which groups support the tax so we can understand the politics. They are: Vermont Medical Society, American Academy of Pediatrics Vermont Chapter, Vermont State Dental Society, American Heart Association, Vermont Academy of Family Physicians, Vermont Dental Hygienists’ Association, Vermont Nurse Practitioners Association, AARP-VT, American Cancer Society, Vermont Pharmacists Association, Health Care Ombudsman’s Office, VPIRG ,Voices for Vermont’s Children, Vermont Association of Naturopathic Physicians ,Vermont Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, Vermont Citizens Campaign for Health, Vermont Association of Nurse Anesthetists, Health Connections of the Upper Valley, Vermont Association of Diabetic Educators.
Those who oppose the tax are supported by the Vermont Retails Grocers Association. This should be a situation where the financial arguments of the business community should not become more important than the need to protect public health. Let the governor know he is on the wrong side of this issue.
If you want to hear an excellent discussion of the issues go to the Vermont Public Radio website, vpr.net, and listen to the Feb. 24 broadcast of Vermont Edition. Information is also available at: allianceforahealthiervt.org.
