Growing Movement Fights Soft Drinks

A growing movement against soft drinks took an odd turn this week when two unlikely groups found themselves on the same side, opposed to a San Francisco plan to tax sodas.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and the Corn Refiners Association both signed a joint letter asking San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom to reconsider a city proposal to tax soft drinks made with high-fructose corn syrup.

Both CSPI and the Corn Refiners Association oppose the plan because they say sodas made with other forms of sugar are no more healthful than those made with high-fructose corn syrup.

"We respectfully urge that the proposal be revised as soon as possible to reflect the scientific evidence that demonstrates no material differences in the health effects of high-fructose corn syrup and sugar," stated the letter signed by Michael F. Jacobson, CSPI's executive director and Audrae Erickson, president of the Corn Refiners Association. "The real issue is that excessive consumption of any sugars may lead to health problems."

Under Newsom's proposal, stores would be charged a yet-to-be-determined fee for selling soft drinks made with high-fructose corn syrup. Revenues from the tax would be used to support anti-obesity programs.

Last year, CSPI joined forces with the International Association of Consumer Food Organizations to launch an initiative called the Global Dump Soft Drinks Campaign. The campaign seeks to get soft drink companies to stop marketing their products to children under the age of 16, stop selling sugary beverages in schools and pay a small tax on their products that would pay for exercise and nutrition programs and subsidize the purchase of fruits and vegetables.

The movement has won support from groups in India, Malaysia, Sweden, Australia, Canada and Mexico, among other countries.

"Mexico finds itself in second place in the world, after the United States, in terms of overweight and obesity," said Alejandro Calvillo, director of the Mexican advocacy organization El Poder del Consumidor (Consumer Power). "It is not surprising that Mexico also finds itself in second place, after the United States, in the consumption of soft drinks."

Obesity is becoming a global health problem, with more than 1.6 billion teens and young adults classified as overweight in 2005, according to the World Health Organization. The agency blames the trend on the growing consumption of high-fat and high-sugar foods and beverages, even in low- and middle-income countries.

In the U.S., few regulations prohibit the marketing of sodas and junk foods to children in schools. CSPI's 2007 School Foods Report Card found that two-thirds of states had weak nutritional standards -- or none at all -- for the types of foods made available to students on campuses.