21 Apr 2016

Sugar tax: effective health lever or nanny state intrusion?

From Nine To Noon, 9:08 am on 21 April 2016

A new report by the business-backed think tank the New Zealand Initiative has found there is little robust evidence that sugar taxes are effective in reducing obesity. It questions the use of food taxes as a mechanism for improving public health, saying distinctions need to be made between regulations that protect us from others, and policies that protect us from ourselves. Mexico was the first country in the world to introduce a sugar tax in 2014, and Britain is to introduce a tax in two years. Susan Jebb is Professor of Diet and Population Health in the Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, at Oxford University, who chaired the British cross-government Expert Advisory Group on obesity from 2007-11.