Brownell Calls Soft Drink Industry “Bad as Big Tobacco”; Rudd Center to Issue New Report
Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy &
Obesity, recently authored commentary for Time magazine’s online opinion
section, advocating “a penny-per-ounce tax on any beverage with added
sugar.” According to Brownell’s October 24, 2011, article, “Nearly 20 states
or cities in the U.S. have considered or are considering the possibility of a
tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs),” but their efforts have allegedly
been thwarted by the beverage industry “in ways reminiscent of the tobacco
industry when it came under attack in the 1950s.”
Drawing parallels between the two products, Brownell dismisses claims that
SSB taxes would be “discriminatory” and ineffective by pointing to successful
government efforts to reduce smoking. He also calls out groups such as
Americans Against Food Taxes for seeking to emulate grassroots movements
and contribute to obesity-related research. In particular, Brownell criticizes
the Foundation for a Healthy America for purportedly donating $10 million
to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia during a time when the city’s mayor
sought to introduce an SSB tax. “The tobacco industry paid scientists who
did research disputing links between smoking and lung cancer, the addictive
nature of nicotine, and the dangers of second-hand smoke,” he opines. “The
soda industry funds scientists who reliably produce research showing no link
between SSB consumption and health.”
To this end, Brownell warns that the current opposition to SSB taxes risks a
backlash similar to that experienced by tobacco companies. “The beverage
industry has been successful thus far in fighting off significant taxes through
heavy lobbying, questionable tactics, and the attempt to appear public-health
minded, but they, too, are likely to be embarrassed as light shines upon them,”
he concludes. “As they scramble to protect their profits, their actions may
ultimately hurt their cause and pave the way for the very government actions
they seek to prevent.”
Meanwhile, the Rudd Center will conduct a telephone conference for credentialed media on October 31, 2011, at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern), to “release a report on sugared drink nutrition and marketing to youth.” See CQ Healthbeat, October 27, 2011.
