Obesity Policy Coalition (OPC)
The business submission focuses to address a proposal to impose a tax on sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) to the Senate Select Committee, Australia. The client, Obesity Policy Coalition (OPC) is an organization that supports and voices the importance of a healthy lifestyle for the children in Australia and stands against practices those results to an overweight and obese population of the children, hence greatly condemns the free (non-tax) sales of SSBs. The issue is important to address due to the growing concern of obese population in Australia. The paper gives a detail of this issue and further provides the reasons for the tax policy framework by stating data of obesity in Australian population and the fat and sugary content in SSBs. It states the implementation framework of the policy and the related benefits this will bring.
Obesity Policy Coalition (OPC) is a coalition between 4 public health organizations namely: Cancer Council Victoria, VicHealth, Diabetes Victoria and the Global Obesity Centre at Deakin University (a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention). Formed in 2006, the objective of OPC is to identify, analyze and advocate for evidence-based policies and regulatory actions addressing the overweight, obese and unhealthy lifestyle especially among children at local, state and national level in Australia (Obesity Policy Coalition, 2022).
The primary areas of focus is to-
- Research, analyze and propose policies to reduce obesity
- Stimulate the government to support the policy initiatives based on evidence, proposed for the overweight and obese population
- Guide the researchers and professionals in Australia regarding obesity and weight-gaining issues
- Enforce existing laws on food marketing practices in Australia to prevent obesity
- Reform laws on advertising and marketing, food labeling etc. to highlight prevention of obesity (Obesity Policy Coalition, 2022)
OPC has been active to make several referrals about misleading food labeling, marketing and advertising practices by many food and beverage industries to promote the sales of their products. It has addressed many of these issues to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) to protect specifically the children; presumably vulnerable consumers from such deceptive products (Obesity Policy Coalition, 2020).
Sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) are high on sugar increasing the risk of obesity in adults and children. Including a tax on the SSB industry as high as 20% will help to lower the sales of unhealthy beverages and will force the suppliers to lower the sugar level or shift towards sugar-free solutions. This will help to tackle the high obesity rate in Australia
The American Heart Association suggests around 100-150 calories (6-9 teaspoons) of sugar as safe intake of sugar for most of the people (Harward T.H. Chan, 2022). Consumption of excess added sugar can result in higher level of fructose, sucrose and HFCS causing fatty liver, type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, cardiovascular diseases and some types of cancer (Stanhope, 2016).
Sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) include non-alcoholic drinks with caloric sweeteners for example carbonated soft drinks, fruit drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, chocolate or other kind of flavored milk, sweetened tea and coffee . 100% natural sweetener fruit juices and diet drinks are excluded from this category (Allcott et al., 2019). A 600ml of soft drink contains as high as 16 spoons of sugar which is 3 times the daily sugar consumption limit as guided by the World Health Organization. Sugar sweetened beverages like soft drinks, energy drinks, fruit drinks, sports drinks and cordials have an extremely high sugar level which links is towards not only weight gain but also towards a number of cancers (Cancer Council WA, 2020).
Focus areas of OPC
Due to the worldwide urbanization, the beverage market has seen a spike in its sales.
In Australia alone, the market share of carbonated drinks in the year 2017 accounted to 43.1% with per capita average volume consumption of 129.16 liters (Goldstein Market Research, 2021). The current revenue generated by the soft drinks industry in Australia in 2021 amounts to US$15,038m where per person contributes US$583.13. This market is expected to grow by 4.22% annually (Statista, 2022). The contribution of children in these statistics is of significant notice. In a research conducted in the year 2017 it was found that in a week, on an average about 62.3% of children in Australia drink fruit juices at least once, 57.8% drink carbonated soft drinks, 32.4% consume cordial and 28.6% frozen drinks. Summing all these figures it can be observed that the percentage exceeds 100 hence it can be concluded that notable proportion of kids population consume more than one type of beverages once a week (Roy Morgan Research, 2017). SSBs are a predominant germ of obesity.
Obesity can be genetic or medical in some cases but is an impact of the lifestyle lived by the individual in general. Eating a lot of junk food high on calories, fat and carbohydrates, having low nutrients; not including any kind of physical activity in the daily routine; indulging in excessive screen time and improper sleep routines can individually or collectively contribute towards weight gain (Moores, 2020). The disorder of obesity not only causes disruption of normal lifestyle but invites certain diseases some of them include cellulite, asthma, arthritis, diabetes and other related problems (WHO, 2022). As a nation it becomes more important to address the issue of obesity and unhealthy lifestyle as it also impacts the nation’s economy, health and military readiness. Obesity is a major risk factor for bad health in Australia. In 2019, Australia was the 6th highest country having obese or overweight people in age group of 15 and above among the other 22 OECD member countries. According to a study in 2017-18; 1 in every 3 Australians were either overweight or obese. About 28% of adults in the highest socio-economic areas were obese in whereas 38% in the lowest (AIHW, 2020). The severity of this issue deepens in case if obesity starts from an early age.
Childhood obesity is one of the greatest concerns of the 21st century. The risk factors for obesity in children include mainly because of improper dietary habits, physical activities and sedentary behavior. Since a child’s lifestyle is highly influenced by the family practices and its environment like friends, school and media, they might be the main cause behind a child’s unhealthy practices. As a result it has greatly affected child’s physical, mental, social and emotional wellbeing. The risk of illnesses, prematurely with a range of disabilities and chronic illnesses, have increased, which has even resulted in reduction of life expectancy rate among children. In Australia, 25% i.e. 1 in every 4 children or adolescents were found to be either overweight or obese in the year 2017-18 (AIHW, 2020). Being children centric organization OPC’s motive is to ensure that the health of a child is not compromised in all costs.
Sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs)
Currently about 50 countries have imposed tax on SSB including United Kingdom, Mexico, many Pacific Islands and others (Obesity Evidance Hub, 2022). Taxation of SSB will be proven as a very crucial step toward prevention of obesity in the growing Australian population. Article 24 of the Convention speaks about a child’s right to health, and the responsibility of the State to take appropriate measures to ‘combat disease and malnutrition’ and ‘to develop preventive health care’ (Obesity Policy Coalition, 2020). Abiding by the recommendations made by World Health Organization taxation to maintain a preferably 5% or below energy intake and a maximum of 10% daily intake of sugar; taxation can be imposed on SSBs starting on or above this percent (World Health Organization, 2015).The major threat currently are the drinks high on sugar level so drinks that claim 100% sugar free, natural fruit juice, and milk based supplement drinks can be exempted from the taxation policy. Further the taxation should be levied on tier bases bifurcated into certain percentage groups. A higher amount of tax on greater level of sugar per unit and a reduced percent of tax rate for low sugar level per unit in a drink.
Industrialists defy the ideology of taxation regarding the healthy consumption of the drinks as an individual responsibility and not a matter of interference by the government. They state that the consumption is to be monitored by the individual to not exceed the limits. However countering this statement; researches show that people do not cut their diet after consuming SSBs rather these drinks stimulates appetite. Another point stated is that it is unfair for the less earning population to spend a part of their income on this tax (Obesity Evidence Hub, 2021). But this all the way makes it more important to impose the tax so that the large middle earning and poor population shift towards healthy drinking habits.
The taxation will imply multiple benefits:
1) Rise in price of soft drinks will create reduction in the purchase shifting the population towards other healthy drinks as an alternative for consumption. This will promote a practice of nutritional intake among various socio-economic classes.
2) A tiered levitation of tax will force the suppliers to reduce the sugar percentage in their drinks. To lower the tax the manufactures would constantly have to decrease the energy percent until finally meeting the desired criteria. The cycle tier can go as high as 5-6 cycles increasing the rate percentage as high as up to 40-50%.
3) The revenue earned from the tax can be a huge source of income for the Australian government as the top competitors will have no choice but to abide by the taxation policies. The levitation of tax will generate revenue for education, public health, and other public services. This can further be invested in to address the major concern of obesity in Australia.
4) The imposition of tax will result in the transforming the beverage industry towards sugar-free or Low-Calorie Sweetener (LCS) drinks and diet cokes. This will create positive impact to promote weight control and reduce the risk of various cardiovascular and other chronic diseases. They can be widely adapted by the youth as a temporary sugar replacement strategy (Harward T.H. Chan, 2022).
Importance of addressing obesity in Australia
An economic modeling undertaken by AMA depicted that 40% tax on 100g of sugar in a soft drink would reduce the consumption of these soft drinks by 12-18%, increasing the annual government revenue (AMA, 2021). A national survey undertaken in the year 2017 stated that around 60% of Australian citizens were in favor to impose tax on SSB and 77% people were in favor if the revenue generated were used as a funding to prevent obesity. An Australian study showed that levying a 20% tax on SSBs will impact decrease obesity rate of 2.7% men and 1.2% women and a sustained reduction of the reflected diseases over 25 years of time period and increase of as much as 1606 more survival of Australians (Obesity Evidence Hub, 2022).
Conclusion
On the basis of the discussion stated above of the risk the SSBs cause in the spike of obesity especially among children, and a threat of lifetime diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and some types of cancers; it is of prominent importance and the need of the hour to impose taxation on SSBs to stop the further deterioration of the health of the children of Australia. The taxation is proven an essential method that will reduce the sales of the SSBs directing people towards healthy substitutes causing a positive shift in the obesity rate of the children of Australia and a gradual rise in the life expectancy rate. Hence, for the betterment of the country’s children the government of Australia should impose tax on SSBs sales in Australia.
References
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AJOL, 2013. Sugar and health: A food-based dietary guideline for South Africa. South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 26.
Allcott, H., Lockwood, B.B. & Taubinsky, D., 2019. Should We Tax Sugar-Sweetened Beverages? An Overview of Theory and Evidence. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 33(3), pp.202-27.
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Cancer Council WA, 2020. Avoid junk foods and sugary drinks. [Online] Available at: https://www.cancerwa.asn.au/prevention/nutrition/junk-foods/ [Accessed January 2022].
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Obesity Policy Coalition, 2020. General Comment on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Obesity Policy Coalition, 2022. What we do. [Online] Available at: https://www.opc.org.au/what-we-do [Accessed January 2022].
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Roy Morgan Research, 2017. Sweet drinks much more popular with kids than older Aussies. [Online] Available at: https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7101-sweet-drinks-much-more-popular-with-kids-than-older-aussies-201701031624 [Accessed January 2022].
Stanhope, K.L., 2016. Sugar consumption, metabolic disease and obesity: The state of the controversy. Critical reviews in clinical laboratory sciences, 53(1), pp.52-67.
Statista, 2022. Soft Drinks : Australia. [Online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/non-alcoholic-drinks/soft-drinks/australia [Accessed January 2022].
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World Health Organization, 2015. WHO calls on countries to reduce sugars intake among adults and children. [Online] Available at: https://www.who.int/news/item/04-03-2015-who-calls-on-countries-to-reduce-sugars-intake-among-adults-and-children [Accessed January 2022].
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