NYAM Supports State Soda Tax

NEW YORK CITY, Feb. 2, 2009 - The New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) endorses Governor Paterson’s five-point obesity prevention plan by testifying today in support of the Soda Tax. The 18 percent increase in the sales tax will apply to sugared soda and fruit drinks that contain less than 70 percent juice, a move to help decrease the consumption of unhealthy foods. The five-point obesity prevention plan includes implementing the Soda Tax; increasing the number of healthy food markets in underserved communities; instituting a ban on trans fats in restaurants; requiring chain restaurants to post calorie counts and banning the sale of junk food in schools.

The tax on sugared beverages, applies a strategy that has been effective in reducing the use of tobacco. Sugared beverages are linked to obesity

NYAM supports a tax on soda to help decrease the consumption of unhealthy foods.

in the same way tobacco is linked to lung cancer. Obesity is now second only to smoking in the list of leading causes of preventable death. Smoking rates have significantly declined in recent decades, and public health experts credit this reduction largely to the significant tobacco excise taxes imposed over the past fifteen years.

While the obesity rate has increased in the population as a whole, there are significant disparities in the prevalence of obesity among various populations. For example, 39 percent of middle-aged adults in East and Central Harlem are obese, while only 19 percent of adults of the same age are obese in Manhattan as a whole. There is no disputing that sugared soda and other sweetened drinks hold no nutritional value, provide empty calories, and often replace the intake of healthier beverages such as milk, particularly among children and adolescents. Sugared beverages are extremely accessible, due to their presence in every convenience store and supermarket as well as their low cost.

At a minimum the tax will draw attention to the issue and raise much needed revenue to strengthen the State’s public health system. The measures contained in Governor Paterson’s obesity plan will help to make healthy foods more available to disadvantaged New Yorkers, while restricting the availability of unhealthy foods, especially for young people.

NYAM supports this initiative as part of its current agenda to strengthen systems that prevent disease and promote the public’s health. NYAM’s latest endeavor in this area comes with the launch of the New York State Health Department’s Prevention Agenda Toward the Healthiest State, where we have committed to aiding the Health Department and communities throughout the state in their efforts to improve the health of New Yorkers. Obesity prevention will play a central role in achieving the goals of the Prevention Agenda.

See Testimony in support of the Soda Tax from Ruth Finkelstein, ScD, Vice-president for Health Policy

NYAM has been advancing the health of people in cities since 1847. An independent organization, NYAM addresses the health challenges facing the world’s urban populations through interdisciplinary approaches to innovative research, education, community engagement and policy leadership. Drawing on the expertise of diverse partners worldwide and more than 2,000 elected Fellows from across the professions, our current priorities are to create environments in cities that support healthy aging; to strengthen systems that prevent disease and promote the public’s health; and to implement interventions that eliminate health disparities.

Posted on February 2, 2009

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Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212-822-7285
amartin@nyam.org

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