As MPs and policy makers chew over the Health Select Committee report that today makes nine cross-spectrum recommendations to tackle obesity, 2020health’s 2014 report, ‘Careless Eating Costs Lives,’ considered the implications of food taxation on obesity. Our findings from this report show that the taxation of a single foodstuff is in danger of sending the message that
- it’s all we have to do,
- that there is an evidence base or
- that the tax would be passed on by industry to consumers[1] and therefore an effective measure.
Mexico is being held up as an exemplar, however the cultural background bears no comparison.
Mexico implemented a national strategy for the prevention of overweight and obesity and part of that was introducing a tax of one peso per litre on soft drinks on Jan 1st 2014. Sales dropped by 6% in the first year. However the context for this success is critical.
- The major problem with drinking water: Most Mexicans do not trust or drink the tap water. More than 10% of the population have no access to running water[2]. The city’s giant 1985 earthquake burst water pipelines and sewers, increasing waterborne diseases, and officials blamed water supply systems for a spread of cholera in the 1990s. Mexicans consume 69 gallons (260 litres) of bottled water per capita each year compared to (116 litres) in the USA[3] – more than anywhere else in the world.
- Coca-cola was cheaper than water – it’s what families drank morning, noon and night[4]. Bottled water now is cheaper than soda[5]. UK tap water is safe to drink. Average per capita UK bottled water consumption is 40 litres[6].
- Other taxes:
Also in 2014, to encourage people to drink water, another law was introduced in Mexico City officials to force 65,000 restaurants install water filters with health inspectors able to impose $125 to $630 fines to those not complying.
An 8% tax on junk food[7] was also included in the obesity law on non-essential foodstuffs of over 275 calories per 100g[8].
Mexico did try to put other OECD suggestions in place[9] on labelling, education and marketing but most of these were undermined – mostly, it is claimed, by industry.
We agree there is an obesity crisis. We urge policy makers to focus on a holistic strategy to tackle it and not to expect quick or simple wins, and to insist on a high-level, high profile cross-governmental permanent task-force. The media’s focus on sugar could set us up to fail, something that neither our health and economy can afford.
[1] In Berkeley, California, only 22% of the $0.12 per 12oz can tax was passed onto consumers (http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/08/study-berkeley-soda-tax-falls-flat)
[2] http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/09/04/mexicos-bottled-water-addiction/
[3] http://phys.org/news/2014-01-mexico-city-law-habit.html#jCp
[4] http://english.periodismohumano.com/2013/03/05/the-coca-colization-of-mexico-the-spark-of-obesity/
[5] http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Mexico
[6] http://www.statista.com/statistics/283766/bottled-water-consumption-per-person-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/world/americas/mexico-junk-food-tax-is-approved.html?_r=0
[8] http://www.internationaltaxreview.com/Article/3299441/Companies-will-have-to-collect-new-Mexican-taxes-to-combat-obesity.html
[9] http://www.oneillinstituteblog.org/the-devils-in-the-detail-mexicos-broken-obesity-prevention-campaign/
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