Yesterday, the British Medical Journal published an analysis paper called “Taxing unhealthy food and drinks to improve health” that essentially claims that taxing soda will help to address obesity.  As we said in our statement:

“Taxing sugar-sweetened beverages will not reduce obesity, nor will it have a truly meaningful impact on obesity-related health conditions.  There is a vast body of available science to support this.  For instance, a review by George Mason University researchers showed that even a 20 percent tax on soda would reduce an obese person’s Body Mass Index from 40 to 39.98 – an amount not even measurable on a bathroom scale.

Singling out one set of products in such an overly simplistic manner only undermines efforts to combat this complex issue.  Consumers do not support these taxes and recognize them for what they truly are – a money grab to raise revenue.”

We’ll continue to oppose these discriminatory proposals – and suspect that our readers will, too.