Seanelle Higgins: Tax on Sugary Drinks

A recent recommendation by The U.N. health agency was made to increase taxes on sugary drinks like sodas, energy drinks, and even some all fruit juice drinks. They say that it will lead to a proportional decrease in sales on the sugary drinks and improve the health of many people globally. Taking ideas from recent tobacco studies to decrease tobacco consumption, a higher tax imposed on these sugary drinks can help countries like Chile and Mexico, where every 3 in 5 children drink a sugary drink a day. The U.N. health agency hopes to substantially increase the health of people in the next few years.


Analysis:
I think that it's a very good thing that people are working to decrease diabetes and other health issues. If the world wants to see positive growth in a stable, healthy, population, we need to work towards decreasing every disease and condition possible. In 1980, about 40% of the world was obese. This number has almost doubled  according to a recent study in 2014. That is a very high and concerning number. Hopefully this works out like the recent experiment done to decrease tobacco consumption.


Synthesis : This reminds me of the Intolerable Acts done in the colonies because it included a tax on tea, a highly consumped beverage at the time. http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/10/11/who-urges-countries-to-raise-taxes-on-sugary-drinks.html