Regulating Our Food Choices
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 3 February 2016
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sugar tax is the hot topic that has got governments, health campaigners and the food industry talking. As rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes rise in many parts of the world, some say taxes on sugary drinks are a simple way of encouraging healthier choices. But should governments make those kinds of judgements? Katy Watson in Mexico and the US, meets those who think a 'sin tax' is the best way forward for fast food and fizzy drinks. She asks Mexico’s government and drinks industry how their sugar tax has affected sales of the products subject to extra tax. And, she hears from food industry lobbysists and those who think that government has no role to play in our food choices.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to a Business Daily sugar tax special with me, Katie Watson in Mexico City. |
| 0:07.4 | Today we'll be looking at the increasingly hot topic of what governments, communities and companies can do to help people get healthier. |
| 0:14.4 | And why many in the food industry in the US aren't happy about it. |
| 0:18.3 | That's all in Business Daily with me, Katie Watson. |
| 0:24.6 | Thank you. I'm happy about it. That's all in Business Daily with me, Katie Watson. Here in Mexico, where rates of obesity and type two diabetes are soaring, |
| 0:29.2 | the government two years ago introduced attacks on sugary drinks and junk food. |
| 0:33.3 | Mexicans are the most enthusiastic consumers of fizzy drinks or soda in the world. |
| 0:38.1 | The average Mexican drinks around 160 litres a year. |
| 0:42.1 | This high level of consumption, many health campaigners and doctors say, |
| 0:45.9 | has contributed to a health epidemic. |
| 0:48.2 | By some counts, child obesity rates are the highest in the world. |
| 0:52.4 | But has the tax worked and will it reduce the rates of obesity |
| 0:55.9 | and type 2 diabetes here? I went to meet a childhood obesity specialist Dr. Salvador Villalpando. |
| 1:03.9 | Mexican moms are very comfortable having chubby kids in their homes. That makes like some sense of responsibility that the income that comes |
| 1:15.0 | into the houses is very well used in feeding the kids. Obesity is not seen as a disease here. |
| 1:23.1 | The fizzy drinks tax and legislation around sugary drinks, |
| 1:27.9 | do you as a doctor see that as a game changer? |
| 1:31.0 | Has that made a big difference? |
| 1:32.2 | Not a big difference, but it has made a difference. |
| 1:34.6 | I'm very sure of that. |
| 1:36.4 | But it's not the only thing that's going to change. |
| 1:40.8 | It's not a game changer. |
... |
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