Recent propositions for the application of new taxes on
sodas have reignited discussions surrounding the role of sugary beverages in
the rise of obesity rates around the world, and the potential public health
initiatives that hope to curtail it. While previous attempts at enacting soda taxes
were defeated, most notably in New York and California, public health advocates
seem hopeful that things will be different these days.
The fact remains that soda taxes are inherently regressive, affecting the poor and disadvantaged disproportionately. Opposition to new soda taxes have emanated not solely from powerful beverage lobbies, but also from various minority groups and advocates for the poor and disenfranchised. This has led many public health officials and advocates flabbergasted as to why communities might oppose something officials view as rooted in a common sense understanding of consumer action, obesity, and diet related disease. But as Julie Guthman has argued, solutions to such complex social problems such as obesity that rely on appeals to “common sense” are a construction of what she refers to as “apolitical geographies,” or in other words, these explanations fail to account for the social dimension and nature of power in producing or explaining environmental changes and problems.
Using what has been described as a science studies approach could go a long way to ensuring that public health initiatives bring to the table the full range and diversity of individuals that live in the local communities that social environmental problems are embedded. Too often, the question of who is at the table at the moment when social problems are defined as problems to begin with remain under-developed. Narratives that seek to pathologize certain kinds of behavior while defining certain kinds of bodies as pathological can serve to further marginalize and control communities that have been historically neglected in regards to development and resource investment. Leading to social policy interventions based on a kind of base paternalism that fails to account for issues of environmental justice. Current approaches may be limited in scope insofar as policy recommendations presuppose the closure of the problem at hand, revealing an emphasis on the forms of a perceived social problem (larger bodies) vs. the processes that engendered them (socio-economic, environmental justice).
The fact remains that soda taxes are inherently regressive, affecting the poor and disadvantaged disproportionately. Opposition to new soda taxes have emanated not solely from powerful beverage lobbies, but also from various minority groups and advocates for the poor and disenfranchised. This has led many public health officials and advocates flabbergasted as to why communities might oppose something officials view as rooted in a common sense understanding of consumer action, obesity, and diet related disease. But as Julie Guthman has argued, solutions to such complex social problems such as obesity that rely on appeals to “common sense” are a construction of what she refers to as “apolitical geographies,” or in other words, these explanations fail to account for the social dimension and nature of power in producing or explaining environmental changes and problems.
Using what has been described as a science studies approach could go a long way to ensuring that public health initiatives bring to the table the full range and diversity of individuals that live in the local communities that social environmental problems are embedded. Too often, the question of who is at the table at the moment when social problems are defined as problems to begin with remain under-developed. Narratives that seek to pathologize certain kinds of behavior while defining certain kinds of bodies as pathological can serve to further marginalize and control communities that have been historically neglected in regards to development and resource investment. Leading to social policy interventions based on a kind of base paternalism that fails to account for issues of environmental justice. Current approaches may be limited in scope insofar as policy recommendations presuppose the closure of the problem at hand, revealing an emphasis on the forms of a perceived social problem (larger bodies) vs. the processes that engendered them (socio-economic, environmental justice).
Here then is
a roundup of some of the many discussions around the web on the subject of soda
taxes.
The opposition
to New York City’s failed attempt to enact their own soda tax in 2012 serves a
reminder of the complexity of this issue and the failure to embed the science
and public health initiative in the communities it purports to improve.
However, the financial ties of some opposition groups begs the question of who
truly speaks for the communities that will be affected most by a regressive tax
on certain beverages and how the failures of the state to provide needed
support to disadvantaged sectors of the population can lead to strange
bedfellows indeed.
This Wall Street Journal report on Mexico’s version of the
soda tax attributes a 5% to 7% reduction in sales by volume to the
implementation of a one Mexican peso per liter tax. The article attributes a
strong causation between rates of obesity, soda consumption and Type 2
diabetes.
This Time magazine article on “the soda wars” highlights
some upcoming initiatives to enact soda taxes across the country, most notably
one in San Francisco, long held to be a bastion of liberal democratic politics.
The author posits a war between the conflicting interests of public health
officials and the beverage industry. But the question remains if opposition to new taxation is as simplistic as the author would like to believe.
A sample of the public health outreach programs being
mobilized by cities and counties around the country to combat the rising rates
of obesity deemed epidemic in scope and scale. An emphasis on hard science and
economic facts are prominent throughout the piece.
A local journalistic account of the upcoming soda tax in San
Francisco. The author uses polling figures to gauge the support of a proposed
tax and links consumer spending research to estimate its potential efficacy of
a soda tax on consumption levels.
A report by the obesity action coalition features a helpful
discussion between excise taxes and sales taxes.
NPR’s popular food and culture blog, The Salt asks if a soda
tax could truly prevent so many deaths or if we are relying on a simplistic
understanding of consumer behavior.
